Category: Kids

Christmas Oreo Cheesecakes

(makes 15)

21 Winter Oreo cookies, 15 left whole, 6 crushed (the Oreos with the red center)
16 ounces (1 pound) cream cheese, softened – That’s two blocks of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon green gel food coloring

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line a cupcake baking pan with cupcake liners.

Place 6 whole Oreo cookies in a food processor and grind them up. If you don’t have a food processor, put them in a plastic bag and crush them. Set aside.

Put 1 Winter Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake liner.

In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine), mix the cream cheese on medium speed for 3 minutes until smooth.
Add in the sugar and mix until combined, about 1-2 minutes on medium speed. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix.
Slowly add in the lightly beaten eggs and mix on low speed until the eggs are completely combined.
Now add in the sour cream and fold it in with a spatula.

Add the green gel food coloring and fold it in.

Throw in the Oreo crumbs and fold them in.

Fill an ice cream scooper 3/4 of the way and scoop the batter on top of the Oreo. You want to fill them up to the top.

Bake at 275 degrees F for 30 minutes.
Once you take the cheesecakes out of the oven, you’ll notice that they puff up and there are some cracks. Don’t worry. The cheesecakes will deflate (and look normal) and the cracks will disappear once they’re refrigerated.
Immediately chill the cheesecakes in the refrigerator overnight. (keep them in the cupcake pan)

Once the cheesecakes are chilled and you want to be super festive with red stripes on the top of the cheesecakes: Take a piping bag and cut a small tip. Set aside. Melt red candy melts in the microwave and then fill the piping bag with the melted red candy melts. Pipe the candy melts onto the top of the chilled cheesecakes. via

 

Hot Potato Christmas Game

For my kids’ holiday parties at school, I always provided this game.

Prep: Get enough small trinkets to have one for each child….and lots of wrapping paper.

Start by wrapping one gift. Then add another item and wrap again. Continue till all gifts are wrapped into the layers. Hint: start with the smallest gift, to conserve paper. At the party, Play hot potato with the kids: Sit them in a circle and start some music, kids pass the gift around the circle, when the music stops. That child gets to unwrap a layer and collect the gift! That child leaves the game and you play on until everyone gets a gift. Fun, and believe it or not, some kids just never get to unwrap gifts at home.

Penguin Olive Appetizers

Jumbo pitted olives
small pitted olives
soften cream cheese
whole carrots
toothpicks

Drain the juice from your olives. Peel the carrots and slice into coins. Take the jumbo olive and cut out a small wedge. Fill with cream cheese. Cut a small triangle out of the carrot coin. The triangle now becomes the penguin’s beak. Insert the large end of the triangle into the opening of the small olive. Place the small olive on top of the jumbo olive, secure with a toothpick. Place carrot coin on the bottom of the jumbo olive, pushing the toothpick far enough in so it pierces the carrot. Line up the penguins on a platter for an adorable penguin army. Enjoy! via