Christmas Countdown
Are you ready for something a little different? For the next six days, I’ll be counting down to a merry little Christmas here at Grace Grits and Gardening. After several busy weeks of going and doing, I’m ready to focus entirely on yuletide cheer. The waiting and anticipating. The sights and sounds and memories. The sheer delight of it.
Consider today’s Christmas Countdown post to be the first of a (nearly) week-long Grace Grits advent calendar. My plan is to provide one simple thing a day to enhance your Christmas spirit. Each daily focus will be different—something to nibble or something to forage or craft, a last minute gift idea for a friend. Or perhaps just something to think about as you anticipate the magic of Christmas morning.
And every post will include a musical pairing, of course. Be sure to give it a listen.
First up…
Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
Christmas is definitely the time for baking and enjoying all the sweets, right?
I made these luscious raspberry cheesecake bars for book club last week. It was my first time to try this recipe, and I’m happy to say the ingredients were basic, the steps EASY, the result delicious. I don’t know about you, but over here in my baking world, easy + delicious = the ideal combination.
This recipe is attributed to the mighty talented Betty Crocker.
Through the years, I wonder how many of our holiday family meals included at least one recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook? I remember how my sister and I sat at the kitchen table and marveled over the color photos in the cookie section while Momma baked Chocolate Crinkles and Jam Thumbprint Cookies. We always helped a little by adding and stirring ingredients. And we always licked the beaters.
A few things to note about these raspberry cheesecake bars:
The recipe calls for 24 thin chocolate wafer cookies. I wasn’t sure exactly which chocolate wafer cookies Ms. Crocker wanted me to use, but I knew I couldn’t go wrong with Oreos. I used almost an entire package of Oreo Thins.
After the bars cooled, I sprinkled a little silver sanding sugar on top because you can’t have too much sparkle at Christmastime.
I cut these jewels into tiny little squares so that a serving wasn’t a complete sugar overload. Of course, you can provide whatever serving sizes you like.
(Click HERE to go to the recipe.)
These raspberry cheesecake bars will make a festive dessert for your holiday table at Christmas or New Year’s Eve. I mean seriously, you can never go wrong with raspberries and Oreos.
I’ll see you tomorrow for more Christmas Countdown cheer.
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
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