Holidays

Cinnamon Roll House Centerpiece

11 · Dec 5, 2016 · 1 Comment

There is something truly magical about baking during the Christmas season. I have very fond memories in the kitchen with my family during the holidays making all kinds of goodies. Cookies, fudge, peanut brittle, my favorite cinnamon roll and all kinds of candies and goodies to pass out to friends and family. I loved to watch my parents in the kitchen working on these projects together. When I was little, my Dad never really spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen except for Christmas. That was the time of year he would join my Mom in the kitchen helping her make up the magical Christmas goodies and making up the scrumptious plates that would be whisked off to our loved ones.

The years we made cinnamon rolls were some of my favorite. As I thought back on those memories, I thought it would be fun to make a centerpiece for our Christmas table out of cinnamon rolls. I mean really, that’s a perfect holiday centerpiece!

I headed off to Walmart to get some inspiration and boy did I find it. I found this fun Gingerbread House Bundt Pan and thought it would be great to make the house out of CINNAMON ROLLS!

It would bring back those memories in the Christmas kitchen with my parents along with bringing in a new tradition with my kiddos. To make it even easier, I decided to make our cinnamon roll house with Pillsbury Grand Cinnamon Rolls. Super easy & tasty as well.

You know when you dream up an idea and then cross your fingers and toes in hopes that it will work? Well, I was beyond thrilled with how this one turned out and it hardly took any of our precious holiday time to make the magic happen. Here’s a quick little video to show you how to make one as well…

I’m mean really, how fun is that?

All you really need to do is…

Spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Layer your Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls in the gingerbread house pan. I used three cans of Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls Make sure to press it a bit into the nooks and crannies.

Bake at 350˚ for 50-60 minutes.

You may need to cover it with foil after about 30 minutes to avoid over browning on the bottom.

Once it is baked all the way through (make sure to test with a cake tester), remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack.

I dressed mine up with holiday greenery, some cranberries, powdered sugar and then at the last minute thought I would try it with a drizzle of the icing on top.

First, I laid down some of the greenery on a cake plate.

Then I placed my cinnamon roll house on top and dusted it with powdered sugar and placed a few cranberries and a festive sprig of holly at the door…

Then I thought, you could either leave it like this with the powdered sugar, you could even decorate it with Royal Icing just like a gingerbread house OR, you could drizzle the icing that comes with the Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls on top of the roof.

I love it BOTH ways! I decided it didn’t need the full Royal Icing treatment. I love the rustic look of the powdered sugar and/or the Pillsbury icing. PLUS, it makes it so much easier to make and extra tasty as well.

So, what do you think? Are you inspired to make a Cinnamon Roll House for your Christmas table?

Disclaimer // This is a Pillsbury sponsored post. All thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own. Rest assured, I will never promote a brand that I don’t truly love and use in my every day life.

Peppermint Mocha White Chocolate Steamer

11 · Nov 22, 2016 · Leave a Comment

As much as I adore pumpkin, I get even more excited about PEPPERMINT season! I totally remember the first time I had peppermint ice cream as a kid. It was back in the day when peppermint ice cream was only around during the Christmas season. I would save all of the little peppermint pieces in my bowl and savor them for hours after that little bowl of ice cream was long gone. It’s because of that love that I decided to try out a fun new flavor combination for this winter. Peppermint Mocha White Chocolate Steamer… Yep, YUM!

It’s not really a full hot chocolate, it’s more of a steamer (flavored hot milk) with a little bit of white chocolate. Yep, once again… YUM!

I used my favorite International Delight Peppermint Mocha Creamer for this steamer, but you can also create a scrumptious Sugar Cookie steamer with the International Delight Sugar Cookie Creamer. Another perfect pairing with some warm milk!

For the peppermint mocha white chocolate steamer, I placed a few pieces of white chocolate in the bottom of my mug…

I just happened to find some white chocolate with some peppermint in it, so that was perfect. I added the milk and let the chocolate melt a little bit before I added the creamer.

Then I added a splash of the creamer and stirred it with a peppermint stick or peppermint lolly.

The peppermint melts in the the hot milk and creates a scrumptious holiday treat! Your family and friends are going to LOVE it, it’s like Christmas in a cup!

Looking for more ways to create special holiday memories with International Delight? You can sign-up for their newsletter for great tips, recipes and I’m sure a coupon or two! You can also follow ID on Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

12 · Oct 20, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Love it or hate it, pumpkin is the flavor of Fall and no-bake pumpkin cheesecake is the way to enjoy the season. Give your oven a break and make cheesecake!

The minute the air has a slight chill it time to whip out the boots, scarves and all things pumpkin spice. From lattes to muffins pumpkin has become the official flavor of Fall. Our family is rather ambivalent on the subject. We don’t run out mid August and start stalking the Starbucks guy asking when the PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) release date will be, but we do enjoy a good pumpkin muffin or dessert. We especially LOVE pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving.

I have been hosting our family’s Thanksgiving for several years now and yes, we love pumpkin pie but… I don’t love the pies taking up precious oven space on that all important day. I wanted to come up with something just as tasty, but easier to make. Preferably, I would rather not have to bake it at all! That’s when I came up with this SCRUMPTIOUS no-bake pumpkin cheesecake using my favorite International Delight Simply Pure Vanilla Creamer as a base for the cheesecake.

If you haven’t tried it yet, Simply Pure is just that… Simply milk, cream & sugar. Here are the ingredients.

INGREDIENTS: SKIM MILK, CANE SUGAR, CREAM, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: NATURAL FLAVOR, GUAR GUM.

What’s Guar Gum you ask? Well, it’s a natural food additive produced from the Guar Beans that helps to make Simply Pure nice and creamy. It stabilizes the other ingredients, acts as a thickening agent and doesn’t allow ice crystals to form. You eat it every time you eat ice cream too.

I chose Simply Pure Vanilla for the no-bake cheese cake but, if you’re head-over-heels for all things pumpkin and want to amp up the pumpkin game, you can always use International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer. International Delight has all kinds of fun ideas that you can use their tasty creamers with. You know… Creamer isn’t just for coffee! Follow them on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest to find all kinds of fun recipes.

This no-bake cheese cake is so easy to whip-up that you might even find yourself whipping it up for an everyday treat, not just a holiday one. I put together a quick video to show how easy it is to make this tasty dessert.

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

Save Print

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

4 hours

Total time

4 hours 20 mins

This new take on pumpkin pie will win the day and save the oven! You might even find that you make it for a special treat anytime, not just the holidays.

Author: Heather // WhipperBerry

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

50 ginger snap cookies
5 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups Simply Pure Vanilla Creamer
2 packets unflavored gelatin
2 - 8 oz. packages room temperature cream cheese
15 oz. can pumpkin puree
3-4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt
Whipped cream

Instructions

Place 40 ginger snap cookies into a large Ziplock bag or the food processor. Using a meat mallet or rolling pin, crush the cookies into a sand like consistency. If using a food processor, pulse a few times to get the consistency of sand.
Place crushed cookies into a large bowl and combine with melted butter. If using the food processor, add the butter and pulse to combine the butter.
Spray a spring form pan with cooking spray and pour the cookie mixture into the pan. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, pack the cookie mixture into a nice layer of crust. Set the crust aside.
In a small bowl, pour ½ a cup of Simply Pure Vanilla Creamer and whisk in the gelatin packets. Set aside and allow the gelatin to bloom.
In a medium sauce pan, pour the remainder of the Simply Pure Vanilla Creamer and place over medium heat. Add the room temperature cream cheese and gently stir to combine the two ingredients.
Once the cream cheese has melted into the creamer add the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, sugar vanilla and salt. Whisk together and let come just to a light boil and then remove from the heat. Make sure to continue to stir occasionally.
Remove from heat and taste the mixture to make sure you have the right flavors. If you prefer your cheesecake a little sweeter, add more sugar. If you like it with a little more spice, add more pumpkin pie spice.
Pour the cheescake mixture into the spring form pan and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
When ready to serve, make up some more cookie crumbs with the ginger snap cookies reserving 6-8 for garnish. Sprinkle the crumbs onto of the no-bake cheesecake and then decorate with whipped cream clouds topped with cookies.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

How to Create Damage Free Holiday Decor

0 · Dec 6, 2015 · Leave a Comment

+ This How to Create a Damage Free Holiday Decor post is brought to you by the folks at Command™ Products +

It’s no secret that I love to decorate for Christmas… Most of us do typically.

I start dreaming up my Christmas decor around September and it’s always grand with all kinds of fun elements that typically aren’t possible in nature or would require some home modification. Then I whittle my crazy ideas down a bit and come up with a more feasible plan and typically my Husband will say, “You can’t do that, it would put too many holes in the wall!”

Anyone with me on that?

What is it with men and nail holes in walls?

In years past that would mean that one of us would win… Either I would get to place nails to my hearts content to create the scene that I had envisioned OR… My husband gets his way and I pout for a few days. Neither option wasn’t great in my mind.

That is until I discovered how to have a damage-free Holiday with the Command™ Products!!

How to create DAMAGE-FREE Holiday Decor

I LOVE these little gems!! They have saved my bacon AND my Christmas dreams on countless occasions.

I use them ALL THE TIME when I’m creating fun vignettes around the house. They really come in handy around the holidays. This year, I have been wanting to create a kind of simple Scandinavian feel for Christmas. Simple colors, simple decor.

To me when I think of Scandinavian decor I think of red and white felt ball garlands and I wanted to create a fun little scene in my living room with some garlands. The problem was, the room I wanted to decorate doesn’t have a mantle or anything to hang the garlands from. I initially thought that I could place little nails on the wall and it would do the trick, BUT… I didn’t want to rock my husband’s world.

I turned to my favorite decorating tools, Command Hooks so that I could do a little damage-free holiday decorating …

I even hung our stockings right on the wall and they look great!

I love that you can get Command Hooks that are CLEAR so they don’t distract from what you are trying to create.

Now here’s the deal… I wanted to create my scene with my chalkboard wall, this wall has chalk all over it. Normally that would be an issue with any type of adhesive. All I did was clean a little spot where I wanted to place the hooks with alcohol, place the hooks, wait for an hour and then hang my display.

It’s that simple!

Here’s a little secret… I also used some Command Hooks to hide my cords from the tree and the lights.

I used a couple of hooks on the underside of my buffet to tuck those cords away out of site. LOVE IT!!

Want to know my extra special secret… I even hung my light fixture and wreath with a Command product but that’s a post for another day!

So… How are YOU going to have a damage-free holiday?

+ Disclaimer // I am proud to be a Command Brand sponsored blogger, and as part of my responsibilities, I get the opportunity to evaluate Command Brand products. Opinions are my own and additional products used in the project were selected by me.+

Holidays

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

How to create DAMAGE-FREE Holiday Decor

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