The holidays are officially upon us! I would normally say finally as there always seems to be so much build up, but this year flew by at record speed! I am really not sure how we have already arrived at Christmas week. If you are looking for some last minute Christmas recipes, or aren’t a crazy person like me that plans months in advance and is just decided your menu now, here are my favorite Lemon & Mocha recipes for the holidays. I hope it provides some inspiration or at least gives you something to drool over for a few minutes. Best wishes for happy holidays filled with love, health and happiness from the Lemon & Mocha family to your own!

Prosciutto & Gruyere Pinwheels. These tasty bites will go fast, but you can make them ahead and keep them in the freezer so you will be all set to heat up another batch.

Baked Crab Dip. A family recipe and my favorite holiday appetizer. Cheesy and gooey are always qualities of a great crowd pleaser.

New England Harvest Salad. Filled with vibrant winter flavors and superfoods, this salad will definitely impress your guests.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranate Molasses and Vanilla Pecan Butter. More than looking like an ideal Christmas dish with the red and green colors, this side dish will be the star on your table.

Lemon, Garlic & Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower. A simple vegetable dish for even the pickiest of eaters!

Balsamic Roasted Mushrooms. I could eat 3 bowls of these bad boys. Make these now.

Dry Rubbed Roast Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Garlic & Balsamic Sauce. Fool-proof Christmas dinner and tasty to boot.

Greek Yogurt Cornbread. All holiday meals require the perfect roll or bread to be lathered in butter. If you only bring one to your table make it this outrageously moist cornbread.

Lemon Cheesecake with Cranberry Raspberry Compote. Beautiful and seconds-worthy.

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. How can you resist these festive fudgy brownies?

World’s Smoothest Chocolate Fudge. The original holiday favorite! Make my stepmom’s fudge recipe and you won’t even need to buy anyone presents. Yes, it is that good.

Chocolate Peppermint Fudge. A delightfully rich, yet refreshing twist on the original.

Egg Nog Ice Cream. This isn’t your grandma’s ice cream. Scoop responsibly.

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup. If you’re planning on having a big Christmas morning breakfast, these pancakes are amazing, but the blueberry syrup? Out of this world.

Nutella Stuffed French Toast with Vanilla Pecan Butter. It’s the holidays, go ahead and have dessert for breakfast.

10 Minute mini Breakfast Tacos. Perfect for those who want a quick and tasty breakfast before diving into the presents.

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Today is part three of Lemon & Mocha’s holiday brownie extravaganza series! After this we are going to take a minor break from the brownies, but they will be back soon, I promise!

When I was looking over my brownies that I had dipped, drizzled, dunked and doused in chocolate I realized the brownies were missing their tasty counterpart: the blondie. A blondie is basically a chocolate-less brownie and I love them equally. Ok, maybe the chocolate lover in me likes brownies more, but blondies are also extremely tasty. Especially when they have chocolate chips.

But I am excited to say that these 100% chocolate-free blondies were one of my favorites from my brownie baking bonanza. Maple walnut blondies. They are chewy, with a bit of crunch from the walnuts, and have a very subtle maple flavor.

The recipe I used mentioned that using real maple syrup would have a more mild maple taste, while using maple flavored syrup would produce a pronounced maple blondie. I only had the real stuff in my fridge so that’s what I went with and a lot of people told me that they were pleasantly surprised by the subtly of the maple. So step away from the chocolate and make these delicious maple walnut blondies!

Maple Walnut Blondies

 

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Yield: 16 blondies

Ingredients

• 11 tablespoons unsalted butter, half melted
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup, divided
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ¾ cups walnuts, chopped and divided

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9x9” baking pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine the butter, brown sugar and salt.
3. Add ½ cup of the maple syrup and the egg, then stir to combine.
4. Add the flour and baking soda, then stir to combine. Once completely combined, stir in 1 ½ cups of the walnuts.
5. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of maple syrup over the batter then swirl into the batter with the spatula. Evenly sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of walnuts onto the top.
6. Bake about 30 minutes, or until the blondies are golden and just set in the center. Be sure not to overbake. Let blondies cool in the pan completely on a wire rack. Cut and serve.

Notes

For a subtle maple flavor, use real maple syrup. For a pronounced maple flavor, use maple flavored syrup.

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Ever since I experimented with chocolate peppermint fudge last year, dark chocolate and peppermint has been added to my list of favorite dessert flavor combinations. Of course there is a list.

The decadent chocolate paired with the refreshing peppermint aftertaste is a nice break from all the rich desserts of the holiday season. Packing a triple peppermint punch, these fudgy brownies are for true peppermint lovers.

First, peppermint extract is baked into the brownies. Second, when the hot and gooey brownies come out of the oven, peppermint bark is layered on top to melt in a thin layer. Third, crushed candy canes are sprinkled on the top to add a nice crunch, to make them look festive and of course to add extra peppermint flavor.

Thankfully Matt is all pepperminted out this season so I have our batch of these all to myself, lucky me!

The best part of these brownies, other than their deliciousness, is how fancy they look, but how simple they actually are to bake. So bake some up this holiday season, and remember to keep some for yourself!

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

 

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Yield: 16 brownies

Ingredients

• 1 batch brownie batter
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 6-8 squares peppermint bark, broken into chunks
• 3 candy canes, crushed

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8” brownie pan and set aside. If you want thin brownies like mine then use a 9x13” pan instead with the same amount of brownie batter. This will give you 32 brownies instead of 16.
2. Add the peppermint extract to the prepared brownie batter then pour into the prepared pan. Bake according to the package instructions, being sure not to overbake as brownies will continue to cook once you remove them from the oven. I usually pull mine out 3-5 minutes before the package’s minimum baking time.
3. As soon as the brownies are out of the oven, run a knife around the edges then evenly top with the chunks of peppermint bark before covering the pan with tin foil so the chocolate can melt.
4. After a few minutes, remove the tin foil then carefully spread the melty peppermint bark with a spatula in an even layer on top of the brownies. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the top then refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened. Cut and serve.

Notes

I highly recommend using 1 package of Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix to make these.

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There is something about the holiday season that makes me want to stuff my face with any baked good or candy I can get my hands on. And boy, oh boy have I been indulging. The holiday season only comes around once a year and the wedding diet can wait until the New Year, right? RIGHT? I’m going to assume you all responded with a resounding yes so I can get right back to stuffing my face and not bother feeling guilty about it.

Last Christmas I experimented with several fudge variations and I enjoyed it so much, as did my family, friends, and of course my stomach, that I decided a redux was in order this year. While this delicious thought was floating around in my head I kept coming across mouthwatering brownie recipes on the internet.

So fate and my desire to consume baked goods prompted this year’s holiday brownie extravaganza! I baked FIVE brownie varieties and they were all amazing so of course I will be sharing them all with you. This first one I’m sharing is so outrageous you may have to pause right now and take a deep breath. Ready?

Chocolate drizzled peanut butter crunch chocolate brownies. What happens when you coat crispy crunchy Special K with melted peanut butter syrup? Peanut butter crunch is born.

And what happens when you put the peanut butter crunch in and on top of gooey fudgy brownies then drizzle the whole thing with melted chocolate? A call to the doctor because your friend, coworker or roommate is concerned as to why you just fainted in your chair reading this post. Yes, this is real folks, and you should make them today. Your holiday season indulgent self will thank you, along with any brownie receivers if you’re nice enough to share.

Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Crunch Chocolate Brownies

 

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Yield: 24 brownies

Ingredients

• 1 batch brownie batter, enough for a 9 x 13 pan
• 1 cup peanut butter
• ½ cup corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups Special K, or similar cornflake cereal
• 1¾ cup chocolate chips, semisweet or milk, divided
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13” pan and set aside.
2. Prepare the brownie batter according to package directions. Pour half the brownie batter into the prepared pan.
3. Put the Special K in a large bowl and set aside.
4. Combine the peanut butter and corn syrup in a small bowl. Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and continue to heat in 30 second increments until the peanut butter mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla then pour the peanut butter mixture over the Special K and carefully toss to fully coat.
5. Evenly distribute ¾ of the peanut butter crunch mixture onto the brownie batter in the pan by dropping small clumps of the peanut butter crunch mixture right onto the batter. Pour on the other half of the brownie batter being sure to cover as much of the peanut butter crunch mixture as possible. It is okay if it doesn’t all get covered.
6. Bake according to package directions. Be sure not to overbake as brownies will continue to cook once you remove them from the oven. I usually pull mine out 3-5 minutes before the package’s minimum baking time.
7. As soon as the brownies are out of the oven, run a knife around the edges then evenly sprinkle 1 cup of the chocolate chips on top before covering the pan with tin foil so the chocolate can melt.
8. Meanwhile, place the remaining chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a small bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds on half power then stir. Heat for 15 seconds on half power then stir. Continue until the chocolate is smooth.
9. Remove the tin foil from the brownies and carefully spread the melty chocolate chips with a spatula in an even layer on top of the brownies. Top with the remaining peanut butter crunch mixture then drizzle with the melted chocolate. Refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened. Cut and serve.

Notes

I highly recommend using 2 packages of Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix to make these.

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Have you heard of Boloco? They are a Boston based burrito joint, but these are not your average Mexican burritos. Self-described as “globally inspired burritos” they take it to the next delicious level with creations like Bangkok Thai, laden with addictive spicy peanut sauce, and the Mediterranean, complete with black bean hummus made in house.

Although Boloco, which is a mashup of Boston Local Company, is mostly based in Boston, they do have several locations in Massachusetts outside of Boston and have spots in New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and even Maryland! And in case you were wondering, no Boloco is not paying me for this or even aware I’m writing this blog post, I just love their food that much!

One of my favorites was a recent addition last year: the New England Harvest Salad. I normally don’t get so jazzed up over a salad, but this dish is so outrageously tasty I eventually had to re-create it myself. This here is a sautéed kale salad topped with quinoa, roasted squash and fresh cranberries, shredded beets, roasted balsamic mushrooms (told you those bad boys were going to make an appearance!) and goat cheese.

If you told me I could only eat one salad for the rest of my life I would pick this one without even hesitating. In addition to the addictive mouthwatering qualities of this salad, which caused it to never even make it to the table and instead be eaten standing at the counter, this salad is healthy. Just look at all those superfoods!

Since all the components are warm, other than the shredded beets and goat cheese, I made extra so all Matt and I had to do was throw the leftovers in the microwave the next day then top with the cold ingredients for a quick, healthy and satisfying dinner.

New England Harvest Salad

 

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Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 16 ounces peeled and cut butternut squash (1” cubes)
• ⅔ cup fresh cranberries
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 10 ounces roughly chopped kale, hard stems removed
• 1 small red beet
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 batch Balsamic Roasted Mushrooms
• 8 ounces goat cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil and set aside.
2. Toss the squash and cranberries with the 1½ tablespoons of the olive oil then place on the prepared baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes or until the squash is tender.
3. Meanwhile heat the remaining 1½ tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the kale and half a cup water. Cook until the kale is tender and the water has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Peel the beet with a vegetable peeler then grate with a microplane. Set aside.
5. To plate the salad first layer the kale. Top with the quinoa, followed by the shredded beets, balsamic roasted mushrooms and the roasted squash and cranberries. Finish by sprinkling with the goat cheese. Serve warm.

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