Favorite Winter Recipes

None of these recipes really have to just be for the winter, but since that's when I made them, that's what I'm calling them! I'm sorry I don't have any pictures, but when you make these yourself you'll be able to see them in person!

Three Bean Chili

Ingredients
Ground beef/chuck/turkey (whatever you want really)
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Onion
2 Cloves Minced Garlic
2 Tomatos
15 oz can Black beans (drained)
15 oz can Kidney beans (drained)
15 oz can Navy beans (drained)
15 oz can Tomato Sauce
Chili Powder Mix
2 TBSP Chili Powder
1 TBSP Ground Cumin
2 tsp Cornstarch
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1.5 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Ground Coriander
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Dash of Cinnamon

Directions
In a small pan cook the onions and ground beef over medium high heat until the meat is no longer pink. Transfer the meat and onions either into a dutch oven or a crock pot. Add all the other ingredients, and stir together. If it's in the crock pot, cook it on high for as long as you want. In the dutch oven cook it over Medium- Medium High heat for at least 35 minutes.

Make sure you taste the chili before you serve it! You might want to add more salt, chili powder, or cayenne pepper. If the chili is too spicy you can add a little sugar or sour cream to cut the spice.


Butterbeer

Ingredients
Butterscotch Rum
Cream Soda
1 small tub Marshmallow Fluff
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions
For the drink combine 1 part butterscotch rum with 3 parts cream soda (or you can add more or less of the rum to your taste)

For the topping, mix the tub of Marshmallow fluff with the whipping cream and 1 TBSP of butterscotch rum until it can hold a peak. Take a spoon and drop it on top of the drink. So yummy!

Christmas Tree Bugels
I can't claim these as my own, my Aunt Debbie taught me how to make these, but they are one of my absolute FAVORITE Christmas Snacks!

Ingredients
Bugels
Chocolate Chips
White Chocolate Chips
Creamy Peanut Butter
Green/Red/Gold/White Sprinkles
Milk (optional)

Directions
Go through your Bugels and pick out the ones with the most open centers (the ones you would put on your fingers as a kid and pretend you had witch fingers). Fill a piping bag or a Ziplock FREEZER bag (regular ones will burst) with your peanut butter. Pipe the peanut butter into the Bugels.

Put the Chocolate chips in a microwave safe container and microwave at 30 second intervals stirring between each until you get the chocolate all the way melted.

Melting white chocolate is more difficult and you're supposed to use a double boiler if you have one. If not, there's a way to cheat, but it's still not easy. Put the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe container and add a TINY bit of milk. Heat it at 30 second intervals until it melts adding a TINY bit of milk as needed. If you're using a double boiler or a ghetto home-made one (a pot filled with water under another pot), you don't have to add the milk unless you're just getting really impatient.

Dip your peanut butter filled Bugels into the chocolate covering all sides (you can leave the bottom uncovered if you want) and set on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. While the chocolate is still melted, dust the Bugels with the sprinkles of your choice, and let dry*.

*If you cheated and used milk to melt your white chocolate, you should put those in the freezer ASAP so that the Bugels stay crunchy.

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Swirl Cupcakes
Ok, neither the cupcake or the frosting recipe is mine, I found them both on Pinterest, but it was my idea to combine them, and they were SO good!!

Cupcake
Click here for the website I got the recipe from.
Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons lightly beaten egg (break egg, mix with fork, measure)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Batter:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon red food coloring
3/4 teaspoons vanilla
3 tablespoons sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 (I needed 9) muffin cups with paper liners.

Prepare filling first. With a mixing spoon, beat together softened cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and stir until smooth. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In a second mixing bowl, stir together oil, sugar, vinegar, egg, red food coloring, vanilla and sour cream. Mix very well, then add the flour mixture and stir just until blended.

Measure out approximately 1/3 cup red mixture and set aside. Divide remaining red mixture among the 8 muffin cups – each cup should be a little over 1/3 of the way full. Spoon cream cheese mixture over red mixture, dividing evenly between all cups. Drop small spoonfuls of reserved red batter on top of cream cheese mixture, making a bulls-eye pattern.

Bake for 20-23 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Carefully remove lift muffins from cups.

Best served slightly chilled. – Makes 8-9

Icing Ingredients
Original Icing recipe here.
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. heavy cream

Icing Directions
Combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 TBSP nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
LOTS of Cinnamon Sugar Mix

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough into bowl with cinnamon-sugar mix and coat the cookie dough ball.

Set cinnamon-sugar coated dough onto a lined/greased cookie sheet

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)

Buffalo Chicken Crescent Roll Ring
I can't take credit for this either, I found this on Pinterest, but it's super yummy! Click here for the recipe website. The only thing I did differently was leave out the celery.

Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 packet ranch powder mix
Diced celery to taste
Buffalo wing sauce to taste
Diced/shredded chicken, cooked (2-3 chicken breasts worth, or 1-2 cans of canned chicken)
2 packages crescent rolls
Ranch dressing for dipping (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a cooking sheet, spread the unrolled crescent rolls out leaving a small circle in the middle. Mix chicken and buffalo sauce to taste and add in celery. In separate bowl, mix cream cheese and 1/2 ranch packet together. Microwaving cream cheese for about 30 seconds makes mixing easier. Mix all ingredients together.

Place spoonfuls of mixture on crescent rolls and fold rolls over to form a ring shape and cook for about 15 minutes or until crescent rolls are nicely browned. Serve with ranch dressing and extra hot sauce for dipping.

I hope you enjoy these!!