Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

 

I am honestly starting to believe that time goes through a black hole and is never to be seen again. That is the only explanation as to why it seems like no time has passed and yet it’s already mid-November.

Today marks the 8^th week of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats, a wonderful blog hop hosted by Brenda.

I absolutely love the holidays and all holiday food. But I have a strict flavor calendar. Like pumpkin in the months of October and November only and maple in late November and all of December. Gingerbread flavors are strictly for December only.

So because it is still November I’m going to post another pumpkin recipe. I hope to get a few more in before the end of the month.

 

Now I know I just said pumpkin is should stay within the October/November time frame, but some people are cooky and like eating pumpkin in December as well, which is why I’m including this pumpkin cheesecake for the Christmas Treats blog hop.

Now these were supposed to be bars, but I liked the idea of turning this cheesecake-pie combo into a circle because I have a spring form pan and that would make getting the cheesecake out so much easier.

I don’t have many recipes for cheesecake because it’s not really something I think about often or order when I’m at a restaurant. However, every time I do make cheesecake I wonder why I don’t make it more often. Quite frankly I can’t think of a good reason not to make cheesecake.

 

The filling is oh so creamy and soft and just mmmmmm. And the pumpkin shines through just enough. I have no complaints about the filling at all. If this was cooked by itself I would eat the entire thing with a fork.

The crust was a nice surprise. Most cheesecakes ask for a cookie/graham cracker crust, but this one is more of a pie crust, which I loved. I suck at making pie crusts and they never taste any good. But this one was yummy, yummy in my tummy.

The only complaint about this recipe was the cream cheese frosting. That thing liquefied so easily and I don’t understand what happened! It set up perfectly in the bowl, but as soon as I put it on the cheesecake it just became liquid. But don’t let that deter you from making this luscious dessert!

 

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake
Adapted from Eats Well with Others
Makes one 8-inch round cheesecake

Ingredients
Crust
¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 egg yolk

Filling
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
¼ cups + 2 tbsp. pumpkin puree
1 tbsp. pure maple syrup
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. ginger
1 large egg, room temperature

Frosting
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Directions
Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch round spring form pan with tin foil.

For the crust: place flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Rub the butter in with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Mix in the egg yolk until the dough starts to come together. Pat the dough into a uniform disk and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes. Roll out dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Dock the top of the crust with a fork and cover with tin foil. Bake for about 10 minutes. Take off the tin foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Allow the crust to cool as you make the filling.

Turn oven temperature down to 300 F.

For filling: beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until completely combined. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, syrup, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Pour mixture into the bowl with the cream cheese and sugar. Mix everything together until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Whisk in egg.

Pour filling into the prepared crust and bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges are set and the center jiggles slightly. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

For the frosting: beat together the cream cheese and the butter until fluffy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Mix until smooth. Spread frosting over chilled cheesecake. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

Fudgy Chocolate Chunk Brownies

I love cookies, I really do. But if I see a tower of brownies sitting on a party plate I’m going to go check it out. If it looks fudgy and dense I’m going to be all over it! Don’t get me wrong, cookies are amazing, but sometimes they just give false hopes. I can’t tell you how many times I have bitten into a cookie, thinking the center was soft and gooey, and instead it just crumbles in my mouth. It’s a huge let down and anyone who says differently is a little liar.

 

So for the 7^th week of Christmas Treats, hosted by Brenda of Meal Planning Magic, I’m sharing these wonderfully fudgy, chocolatey, dense, and all around fabulous brownies.

I’m pretty sure these are the best brownies I have made so far, true story. I made these back in the summer for a night out with friends and I regret only eating one because all my friends ate the rest later that night. But then again I did eat a majority of these little darlings.

 

I used to not like chocolate chips in the brownie, thinking their sole purpose was to distract from a mediocre chocolate taste, but the chocolate chips added to these brownies was just an added chocolate bonus.

Oh and the fudginess of these brownies is serious! I thought about buying vanilla ice cream just so I could tone down the fudge factor. But alas I found myself ice cream-less and reaching for a second third helping of brownie.

Fudgy Chocolate Chunk Brownies

From Something Swanky

Makes one 8x8 inch pan

Ingredients

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ cup milk chocolate chunks/chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8x8 inch pan with tin foil. Grease foil with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, only adding the second after the first has been fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla extract. Scrape the bowl as necessary. Add the flour to the butter mixture. Mix until the flour has disappeared. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Cool in the pan until room temperature. Cut brownie into squares and serve.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

 

I can’t believe it is almost the end of October and I haven’t shared any pumpkin recipes! But I will change that right now.

Today also happens to be the 5^th week of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats. It is so insane to think that Christmas is that close!

So back to all things pumpkin: I always buy several cans of pumpkin puree because of all the ideas I have to use it with. And how any of those ideas are executed? Only a small fraction, which is sad because fall is the best time of all to bake. If it were acceptable to make things with pumpkin, maple, and molasses all year round I would be a very happy girl.

So for the 5^th week of Christmas Treats I’m sharing these lovely pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting (two seasonal flavors wrapped into one!

 

 

I wasn’t too excited about these cupcakes when I took my first bite, but that all changed the second day. I think the flavors just needed time to soak in and deepen. The cupcake because super moist and perfectly spiced. One of my favorite things about nutmeg is the little specks is leaves in the batter it is added to. It promises and delivers great things every time.

The frosting was so creamy. I love a good cream cheese frosting; if I were only allowed to have one type of frosting for the rest of my life, it would be of the cream cheese variety. Although with this recipe I think I should have added a tad more powdered sugar to stiffen it up a bit and a little more maple syrup to make it taste more mapley.

Once again, thank you Brenda for hosting such a wonderful bloghop.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Slightly adapted from Diethood

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 cup sugar

½ cup canola oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Frosting

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup powdered sugar

½ tsp. pure maple syrup

¼ pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a standard 12 cup cupcake tray with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil until smooth. Stir in the eggs, one at a time, until completely incorporated. Mix in the pumpkin puree and stir until combined. Stir in the vanilla. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold the batter until just combined.

Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared cupcake tray. Bake on the center rack for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tray for 5 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting: beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gently add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla until completely incorporated. Frost cupcakes as desired.

Baked Powdered Donuts

Face it: we all have our guilty pleasures. Most of the time those pleasures have to do with food. I actually have a set of foods that I cannot buy at all unless I want to eat the entire bag/box in one sitting for instance, doughnuts. I cannot buy any kind of doughnut whether it be glazed, powdered, or chocolate coated because I seriously will start off with only eating one and 10 minutes later I’m left with an empty box of doughnuts.

At least I admit I have a problem. That’s the first step, right?

 

Anyways because this is the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats I figured I might as well post about one of my all-time guilty pleasures.

These donuts were absolutely fantastic and the nutmeg makes them taste extra Christmassy. And these are baked, not fried, so that makes these a little healthier, right? Oh who am I kidding, I ate them all anyways (no shame)

I found that the moisture in the donut soaked up the powdered sugar pretty quickly, so if you go the powdered sugar route, coat them in powdered sugar right before serving.

As always, many thanks to Brenda from Meal Planning Magic for hosting the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

 

Baked Powdered Donuts
Slightly adapted from Salad in a Jar
Makes 8

Ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
1 large egg
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Powdered sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a donut pan with cooking spray.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, yogurt, egg, oil, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix until just combined.

Spoon batter into a piping bag or ziplock bag with the tip snipped off. My batter was very runny so plan accordingly. Fill each donut cavity half way with batter. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.

Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. As the donuts cool, place about ½ a cup of powdered sugar into a ziplock bag. Place a completely cooled donut in the bag, close the bag, and shake until the donut is coated in powdered sugar. Repeat with the remaining donuts.

Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Today is the 3^rd week out of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats and I’m sharing something scrumptious for an indulgent Christmas breakfast.

  

I am not a big breakfast person because when I want breakfast I want it right then, which means instant oatmeal and multi-grain Cheerios (don’t give me that look, I love me some oatmeal and some Cheerios!). Anyways most breakfast foods take forever to cook and one of the most dragged out breakfast treats are cinnamon rolls.

                                   

Seriously, who has time to wake up at 5 in the morning to have piping hot cinnamon rolls ready by 8:30 am? No one in their right mind, unless you are still five years old ding to see what Santa has brought them, and I highly doubt a five year old will be in the kitchen whipping up some yeasted bread. If you have seen this happen, please send me a picture of this event because that would be way awesome!

Anyways, back to cinnamon rolls. Audra, from The Baker Chick, posted these quite a while ago, and these were the reason I started a cinnamon roll board on my Pinterest account (no shame). They looked so easy and delicious I just had to try them. And boy I’m so glad I did because WOW! These were gone in the blink of an eye.

                               

This is a recipe for instant gratification cinnamon rolls. There is no wait period for letting yeast rise, punch down, roll out, and rise again. You just roll out the tender dough, sprinkle on the filling, cut, bake, and enjoy.

By the way when I say tender dough, I really do mean tender! These cinnamon rolls don’t taste like sugared up biscuits, but they really taste like bread, really good bread at that! And the filling was just sooooo sweet and sticky. I will look forward to making these again Christmas morning!

Thank you Brenda of Meal Planning Magic for hosting such a wonderful event!

                          

Cinnamon Roll Muffins

From The Baker Chick

Makes 1 dozen muffins

Ingredients

Muffins

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 large egg, room temperature
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp. milk

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla, and egg. Pour in the buttermilk and stir to combine. Gently mix in the flour. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon from the filling ingredients.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for a minute or two. Roll the dough out into a 24x12 inch rectangle. Spread the surface of the dough with the softened butter. Sprinkle the filling on top of the butter. Pat down the mixture to make sure it sticks. Roll dough (length wise) into a log. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Place each piece, spiral side up, into each greased muffin cup. Bake for 15 minute or until the dough turns a light golden color.

Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool in the pan for a minute or to before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Drizzle the tops of each cinnamon roll with the glaze. To make the glaze, just stir together the powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth.

Buttercream-filled Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Truffles

Today marks the second week out of twelve for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats. And what else screams Christmas other than sinckerdoodles?
Besides chocolate chips cookies I’m pretty sure snickerdoodles are the favorite cookie to make during the holidays.

What I’m sharing today isn’t really the classic snickerdoodle, not at all! Today is all about vanilla buttercream-filled snickerdoodle cookie dough truffles! Yes it is a mouthful to say, but when has that ever stopped anyone from eating deliciously sweet goodies? It certainly doesn’t happen to me. In fact, the longer the title, the better, because it promises that much flavor.

 

 

When I saw these on Darla’s blog, I knew I had to make them. I mean just look at her photos and tell me you aren’t already drooling over the smooth snerckerdoodle balls cloaked in smooth chocolate.
I decided to go with a semi-sweet chocolate coating because white chocolate tends to make my stomach churn, and in all honesty I don’t even miss the white chocolate because these cookie dough truffles re so amazing! Every time I finished one I found myself going back for seconds, sometimes even grabbing two because I knew I would be back for thirds.

Many thanks goes to Brenda, author of Meal Planning Magic, for hosting such a wonderful event!   

 

 

Buttercream-filled Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Truffles
From Bakingdom
Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chilled vanilla buttercream (or use full recipe below)
1 12oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. In the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in about 10 oz. of the sweetened condensed milk. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Gradually add in the flour and mix until combined. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add more sweetened condensed milk; if the mixture is too wet, mix in some more flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

While the dough is chilling, roll 1 tsp. sized pieces of buttercream into balls. Chill the buttercream balls.

Once the dough has chilled, use a medium-small cookie scoop to portion out the dough. Roll portioned out dough into balls. Flatten each ball and place one buttercream ball in the middle. Roll the dough around the buttercream. Chill for another 20-30 minutes.

Place a large heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water (or use a double boiler). Pour the chocolate chips into the bowl and wait for it to melt. Stir occasionally. Once the chocolate has completely melted remove from heat.

Use a toothpick or lollipop stick to dip each cookie dough ball into the chocolate. Tap the stick on the side of the ball to shake off the excess chocolate. Place onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Chill the chocolate-covered dough balls until the chocolate has hardened.

Vanilla Buttercream
from Bakingdom
makes enough for this particular project

Ingredients
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 tbsp. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until sooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the salt, heavy cream, and vanilla until completely incorporated.

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

It has been over a month since I last posted…. I would tell you why, but then you would just be reading about how school has taken over my life, which in all honesty it really has. I have been studying and working on homework and getting tutored almost every waking hour. I hardly have time for proper meals (Hello, Mr. P&J, same time same place tonight?)

I just don’t have time to think about baking anymore. I knew this was going to happen, which is why I made a whole bunch of goodies specifically for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats prior to school starting. I know I should make the actual blog a priority, but I just love Christmas so much!

Anyways, these are the bestest muffins for Christmas. I gave some to my sister’s boyfriend and the first thing he said when he bit into it was “This tastes like Christmas!”. So I think these muffins are perfect for the kickoff of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.

These sweet glazed doughnut muffins are perfectly seasoned with nutmeg and cinnamon, the two most perfect Christmas spices. And these muffins also taste great for several days (if they last that long). I personally loved eating my way from the bottom up, saving the sweet, crusty (terrible descriptive word, I know) glaze.

Also, look at those speckles in there! I love speckled things, just saying.

And many thanks to Brenda, writer of Meal Planning Magic, for hosting this year's 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats!

 

 

Glazed Doughnut Muffins
Slightly adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen
Makes 6 Muffins

Ingredients
Muffins
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp. canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
3/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk

Glaze
1 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp. hot water

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line 6 muffin cups with paper liners or grease tins with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat butter and oil with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add sugar and stir until smooth. Add the egg and beat until combined. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla until combined. Fold in the flour, alternating with the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Stir until just combined (a few lumps is ok).

Evenly distribute the batter between the 6 prepared cups (I used my medium-small cookie scoop to portion out the batter and got 4 scoops to fit in each cup with minimal left over batter). Bake in the center rack for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling on a cooling rack to cool completely. Dip the tops of each muffin into the glaze once cooled.

To make the glaze: in a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and hot water. Whisk until smooth.

Note: the glaze starts to sink into the muffin the day after making them, but it doesn't alter their taste at all.

Sugar-Dusted Drop Sugar Cookies

Finals are done, I’m on break, and I’m reunited with my stand mixer; everything is now good.

But I have been procrastinating. I’ve had bakers block for the past few weeks due to those 5 hour calculus study sessions, but when I got home I had no idea what to make.

I know I wanted to make something festivy and Christmasy for you all, but I honestly had no idea what to make. Then I remembered sugar cookies are both festive and easy! Well, the traditional sugar cookie isn’t easy; it’s labor intensive and I didn’t want to do too much, so I found a recipe for drop sugar cookies. 

These are as easy as making chocolate chip cookies. Just cream the butter and sugar, add some egg yolks (which gives these a nice pale yellow color) and vanilla, mix in your flour mixture, scoop, roll in sugar and plop onto a tray.

The edges hold firm as the center is nice and soft. The raw sugar crystals lend a little bit of a crunch factor that is really nice too. I have never used raw sugar before, so I wasn’t totally sure how it was going to turn out. But after crunching down on the sugar crystals I realized I like the raw sugar coating more than sugar cookies rolled in regular white sugar.

Today also marks the 12^th week of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats. I have been bad and haven’t participated in the countdown for several weeks. That’s what college does to you, it takes away from the important things in life. I kid… sort of. So here is my contribution to the last week of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats. Thank you Brenda for hosting such a fun blog hop!

Sugar-Dusted Drop Sugar Cookies 
Slightly adapted from Dramatic Pancake
Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients
3-4 tbsp. raw sugar (for rolling)
½ cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks, room temperature
¾ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. cream of tartar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Place the raw sugar in a bowl and set aside

Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of a stand mixer until light in color and fluffy in texture. Beat the egg yolks in one at a time. Add the vanilla. Scrape the bowl down as necessary.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Go back to the stand mixer and turn the speed down to low. Add half of the flour mixture and beat. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, repeat with remaining flour mixture. Turn the speed up to medium and beat until the dough sort of comes together like play-dough.

Portion out the dough by using a small/medium cookie scoop. Release the dough and roll the tops of the dough in the raw sugar. Place cookie dough sugar side up onto the prepared baking tray. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until the tops have become slightly crackled. Cool on the tray for two minutes before removing onto a cooling rack.

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

I am going to talk to you about marshmallow popcorn balls.

Most people have probably had a popcorn ball or two (most likely dozens) in their lifetime, but I am not most people. I have never had a popcorn ball, ever!

Quite frankly I’m not much of a popcorn person to begin with. When I’m at the movies (which is once or twice every year… maybe) I get a hot dog and junior mints or gummy stars. Popcorn just isn’t on my radar. When I saw these popcorn balls over at A Farmgirl’s Dabbles I immediately became intrigued because it was just like a rice krispie treat, only popcornified. After reading her post I set out to buy a box of microwave kettle korn (which I am not obsessed with – maybe I just don’t like buttered/non-flavored popcorn) and saved it for a rainy day.

I finally got a chance to make these little marshmallow balls when I was having a hard time deciding what to share for the 8^th week in 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats hosted by Brenda from Meal Planning Magic.

The saltiness and crunchiness of the kettle korn paired with the sweet, gooey, and butter marshmallow is a match made in sticky crunchy heaven. Brenda used peanuts and orange gummies, but because I couldn’t find orange gummies, I swapped it out for fall-festive M&Ms. Of course you don’t have to have peanuts; you can use cashews instead or maybe candied nuts. And since Mars Inc. busts out a festive bag of M&Ms for every holiday, these popcorn balls can be made for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and all those other fun holidays.

Check out the other treats down below for some great ideas for holiday treats.  

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

Slightly adapted from A Farmgirl’s Dabbles

Makes 9-11 balls

Ingredients

1 (76.3 g) bag microwave kettle korn

5 oz. mini marshmallows

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

½ cup dry-roasted salted peanuts

½ cup M&Ms

Directions

Microwave popcorn according to the package directions. Empty the bag into a large bowl. Make sure to pick out the un-popped kernels, no one wants to bite down on that!

In a medium saucepan, melt the marshmallows and butter on medium heat. Stir frequently until the marshmallows have completely melted. The melted mixture will have a yellowish tint, but that’s because of the butter. This mixture is super-duper sticky, so watch out.

Pour the melted marshmallow mixture over the popped popcorn. Wait a minute before diving in to coat the popcorn in the melted marshmallow because it will be hot. Grease your hands with cooking spray or butter and mix the popcorn around the evenly coat it in marshmallow goo. Add in the peanuts and M&Ms. Mix, fold, and stir to evenly distribute the add-ins. Wait a few minutes for the mixture to set so you can shape them into balls.

Once the mixture has set a little bit and isn’t as sticky, grab a hand full of the sticky popcorn mixture and shape into balls. Be sure not to press too hard. Enjoy.