Needhams and Eggnog Cheesecake

As mentioned in a previous entry, I made Needhams for Christmas. For those who don't know what a Needham is, it's essentially a sweet coconut filling, coated in chocolate. The filling also has butter, salt, milk, and.... mashed potatoes. Don't knock it til you try it, they're delicious.

Last Christmas I made Eggnog Cheesecake for my extended family's annual party. People liked it so much that I was told I would officially be in charge of bringing it every year. So, of course, I had to make it this year. And, once again, it was a big hit.
The filling is eggnog flavored, the crust is made from crushed gingersnaps, and a sprinkling of nutmeg on top.

Messes and Marshmallows

Confession: I forgot to take pictures of the whoopie pies I made for family and friends. Also forgot to take pictures of the candy cane marshmallows that accompanied the whoopie pies in their boxes. I do, however, have a picture of some of the mess that making said treats. For the record, my hand mixer is normally black.

I've also been really bad about updating this thing lately; life's been busy and I've been forgetful. So now I have to backtrack a little bit to catch up on some recent projects. Let's start with the Maple Marshmallows I made over a month ago that I never did a blog post about.

Essentially, I just substituted Maple Extract where the recipe called for Vanilla. These marshmallows were a softer marshmallow, think Peeps brand. Next time, I might add more gelatin to get more of a standard marshmallow texture, and use a shallower pan to make them smaller. Regardless, they were really good.