Holiday Treats

WHEW! Busy day, but I've marked most things off my list. I haven't done any candy or cookie making yet - I'm saving it for while my mother is here. I know she'll enjoy being part of it. But here are a couple of things we'll be making.

Above are Peanutty Pie Crust Clusters. This was the grand prize winner in this year's Pillsbury Bake-Off. You can find the recipe here.

Many of you know that I've been a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-Off twice. The contest is held every other year, in a different city each time. 100 finalists are selected to attend the Bake-Off and cook under pressure! Pillsbury treats their finalists so well and the Bake-Off trip is always so much fun.

My first Bake-Off adventure was in 1998 and was held in Orlando. The trip was awesome, but I didn't win anything else. In 2000, I was again a finalist and traveled to San Francisco to the Bake-Off. This time my recipe was in the top FOUR! I won $10,000 and a beautiful Waterford crystal bowl. The winner goes home with $1,000,000! Boy, I was close!

I haven't entered the Bake-Off since then. Pillsbury only allows contestants to be finalists 3 times, so I have one more shot at it. Maybe I'll enter again next time.

The recipe below for Mallow Nut Fudgies was given to me by a friend. She had made these for one of the luncheons I attended last week and I can attest that they are delicious! The recipe came from Publix. If you have trouble reading it, click on it and it will get bigger. It calls for the pretzel chips shown below.

I'm so glad I made so much progress on my long list today! That means I can hexie tonight!