My Early Christmas Present To You!

I know I'm giving it a couple days early, but this way, if you are so inclined, you have time to follow through.

My two recipes that are always sought after and truly NEVER fail. I can count on one hand the amount of times I have given out these recipes, because, well, when you do something well, you want people to think that it's because you are fabulous, not because you are just hoarding a very easy secret.  

Just please make sure we don't end up at the same potluck, okay?? lol

I really wish that I could post pictures for you also, but they never last long enough for a photo-op.  You're just going to have to trust me....

Let's start with the meatballs, shall we? I am seriously making a sextuple batch for our Christmas dinner at my mom's. 

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

Meatballs: 

lean ground beef 1 egg rice

Roll nice little meatballs and put in a casserole dish. You do not brown these meatballs unless you are doing them in the slow cooker, which I don't recommend.

Sauce:

1/3 cup brown sugar  

1 tbsp cornstarch  

2 tbsp vinegar

1 cup pineapple tidbits and juice 

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 small green pepper (optional)

Mix up some sauce (personally I double this for 1 lb hamburger and quadruple it for a double batch of meatballs, especially if serving with rice). Pour it all over the meatballs.

Bake in the oven at 350º for the first hour, then drop to 250º for another two or so hours.

Add the green pepper rings near the end, or use some pineapple rings for decoration near the end of the cooking time.

And now for the cookies:

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

(If you google this one for a picture, just be careful, not everyone does it right!)

1/2 cup margarine  

1/2 cup peanut butter  

1/2 cup white sugar 

1/2 cup packed brown sugar 

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour  

3/4 tsp baking soda  

1/4 tsp salt

1-2 packages of mini peanut butter cups. (Usually sold in bags, can be found in Walmart candy section)

1. Beat butter, sugars and peanut butter until smooth

2. Mix in egg and vanilla

3. Add in dry ingredients

4. Roll dough into small balls and place in the centre of mini cupcake tins.

5. Bake for 8 minutes at 350º. Note, the cookies will not LOOK done, but they still spend some time in the pan and continue to brown after they are out. Do not over cook!

6. Immediately out of the oven, gently press into the centre of each cookie one mini peanut butter cup. Don't press through the bottom of the cookie.

Tip: At this point I put the muffin tin in the freezer, and usually have two going. Don't tip them upside down to get the cookie out. Once the are cold, you can either twist the top of the cookie and then carefully pull it out, or use a knife and just gently pry it out of the tin. This process takes a while if you rely on them to cool on the counter.

Another tip: One batch won't be enough.

Enjoy!

And Merry Christmas!