Bookish Christmas

     The holidays are over, and we are now awaiting the arrival of 2017. I thought I'd share the book related things I got for Christmas (Or bought with Christmas money). My wonderful Mom bought me the book I'd been wanting since it was announced, Heartless by Marissa Meyer, and I decided to round out my series' with my Christmas money. I bought Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor since I only had Dreams of Gods and Monsters. And I also bought Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon since I had books 3-5.

     I bought A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin and Pandemonium and Requiem by Lauren Oliver. The Delirium trilogy is one of my favorites and I was kinda disappointed when I couldn't find books 2 and 3 at Hasting's closing sale.

      The book on top in the first photo is Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton, I was reading it from the library before we moved, but my current library doesn't have any of Maggie Sefton's books, and my E-Library has all but this one. 

(I bought all of my books used to get more for my money, but I also don't mind having well loved books.)

     Did you get any books for the holidays? I'd love to hear what you received and how you're enjoying them!

Making Monday: Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake

     This is my absolute favorite treat that I make every year. I've been making this Layered Pumpkin cheesecake for 6 or 7 years now, and everyone loves it. I originally found this recipe in one of the perforated holiday recipe card books at the grocery store, but the online recipe can be found here.

Photo from BettyCrocker.com

Ingredients

Crust
2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 32)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Cheesecake
4 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

     1 Heat oven to 300°F. Grease 9-inch springform pan with shortening or cooking spray. Wrap foil around pan to catch drips. In small bowl, mix cookie crumbs and butter. Press crumb mixture in bottom and 1 inch up side of pan. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 5 minutes.

     2 In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed just until smooth and creamy; do not overbeat. On low speed, gradually beat in sugar. On low speed, beat in eggs, one at a time, just until blended. Spoon 3 cups of the cream cheese mixture into pan; spread evenly.

     3 Stir pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg into remaining cream cheese mixture; mix with wire whisk until smooth. Spoon over mixture in pan.

     4 Bake 1 hour 25 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until edges are set but center of cheesecake still jiggles slightly when moved.

     5 Turn oven off; open oven door at least 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven; place on cooling rack. Without releasing side of pan, run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake. Cool in pan on cooling rack 30 minutes. Cover loosely; refrigerate at least 6 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

     6 Run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake again; carefully remove side of pan. Place cheesecake on serving plate. Store cheesecake covered in refrigerator.

Making Monday: Two Ingredient Fudge

This week, I'll be sharing how we make our fudge. My personal favorite uses Andes Mints, but we also make milk chocolate, Oreo, peanut butter, and pecan. This is the best fudge that I've had and it's super simple to make.

1-12 oz can of Sweetened condensed milk
3 Cups baking chips of choice
1 tsp. Vanilla (We use Los Cinco Soles Vanilla)

Directions
     You can do this on a double boiler or in the microwave. Put everything in a bowl together and mix until combined. Pour into lined pan and refrigerate until set.

Making Monday: Dipped Gingersnaps

     With the holiday season upon us, I'd like to share a recipe on Mondays leading up to Christmas. This week, I'm sharing my family's favorite gingersnap recipe. This recipe is from Taste of Home magazine and is called Dipped Gingersnaps. (Find the recipe here.) The recipe says it makes about 14 dozen, but we usually only get 7-8 dozen.
    Enjoy!

2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
Additional sugar (for rolling the cookies in)
2 packages (10 to 12 ounces each) white baking chips
1/4 cup shortening.

Directions
     In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil. Beat in eggs. Stir in molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
     Shape into 3/4-in. balls and roll in sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until cookie springs back when touched lightly. Remove to wire racks to cool.
In a microwave, melt chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip cookies halfway into the melted chips; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set.

(Yield: about 14-1/2 dozen. )

Easter Weekend

   This weekend was Easter weekend. We dyed eggs, I made pies, and Mom and I made lunch. We dyed eggs yesterday, and when we were all done, I had some leftover dye, which I decided to use to dye some Corriedale I had.

   I'm calling this one Sulley (from Monsters Inc)

   This one's just pink with glitter.

I don't have any photos of the pies I made, but I'll share the recipes I used.

For the chocolate pie, Chocolate Cream Pie II I've made this pie for every holiday for the last couple of years, I've never had a problem with the filling setting up, but this time, it was more like pudding in a crust. I'm thinking it should've been set in the fridge for a longer period.

For the coconut cream pie, Emeril Lagasee's Coconut Cream Pie My mom says she loves this pie, I've never tried it because I don't like coconut, but you should try it for yourself.

For the cherry pie I made, I used this recipe and 1 can of cherry pie filling. Pour the can of cherry pie filling into a baked 9-inch deep dish pie crust, prepare the vanilla pudding per the instructions, and pour over the cherries. Chill in fridge at least 3 hours before serving. I'm allergic to cherries, but my PawPaw, who I made this for, said it was really good. He took the whole pie home.

I hope you all have had a great Easter weekend, full of chocolate, family, and fun. I'll see you back here later this week.