It is National Chocolate Cake Day! What is your favorite kind of chocolate cake? Here are some of our favorites:

Enjoy your day!!!!

The holiday season is here! What a special time! Time to celebrate with family and friends – and of course – eat! An important part of the holiday meals is to continue to make traditional foods that we have every year! Thanksgiving meal at our house is pretty much set, we might sneak in a new dessert or vegetable dish, but the rest is everyone’s favorites from the past.

My Grandma Steinhauser’s Cranberry Relish has been on my list for a long time. Memories of her make this extra special. It is also a perfect accompanient to the turkey leftovers.

Start by placing 12 oz (or one package) of fresh cranberries in the food processor. Roughly grind up. Cut up 12 oz (or one package) of large marshmallows.

Place 1 cup sugar, cut-up marshmallows and ground cranberries in a medium bowl.

Mix together, cover and place in refrigerator overnight.

An hour or two before ready to serve, gather the apples, chopped nuts and whipping cream.

Chop the apples and nuts, whip the cream. Fold all ingredients together with cranberry mixture. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

So good! The tartness of the cranberries combined with the sweetness of the marshmallows and apples and the crunch of the nuts is an amazing combination. Hoping you enjoy it as much as we do!

Print Recipe

Grandma Steinhauser’s Cranberry Relish

This is one of my favorites at the Thanksgiving table!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Refrigerate overnight and before meal10 hours hrs

Total Time10 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cranberry, Holiday Craft, Marshmellow

Author: Mary Beth

Ingredients

• 12 oz fresh cranberries
• 12 oz large marshmallows
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups apples, chopped can leave the peels on, I prefer Gala
• 1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream whipped, or 1 cup whipped cream

Instructions

• Place fresh cranberries in food processor and coarsely grind up.
• Use kitchen shears to cup up marshmallows, occasionally dipping ends of shears in water to avoid marshmallows sticking to shears.
• In medium bowl, mix ground cranberries, cut-up marshmallows, and sugar. Mix together, cover and refrigerate overnight.
• About 1-2 hours before serving, add the chopped apples, chopped nuts and whipped cream to the cranberry mixture. Gently fold all the ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

Traditionally served at Steinhauser and Carr Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.

Halloween will be here soon! What kind of festive witchy treats do you plan to make? Time to grab some Halloween decorations and make some brightly colored frosting.

We have been making these Chocolate Party Cupcakes for years – a birthday and special occasion tradition at our house. Cathy Oesterling shared this recipe with me when we were working for University Extension together. It is so fun to use favorite traditional recipes for family gatherings. It creates memories and makes them extra special.

Easy to make! These cupcakes are made from a chocolate cake mix, with a cream cheese and chocolate chip filling added. So each bite of cupcake has a bit of chocolate, a bit of cream cheese and some tasty chocolate chips…YUM!

Pipe your favorite frosting, or the buttercream frosting in the recipe below, on top of the cupcakes once they are cool. Tint the frosting with bright colors, like lime green and neon orange. Top with Halloween decorations and fall colored sprinkles.

These little witches hats are from the Fancy Flours website. They offer so many creative baking decorations and cooking supplies for cakes, cookies and candy. So many ideas for your festive holiday baking, no matter what the season.

Have fun making spooky and festive Halloween treats!

Click on the link below for the recipes for the cupcake and frosting:

You can make your own witches hats. Here is one example that uses Oreo Thins, Hershey Kisses and Candy Corn. Click on the link below for directions.

Happy Halloween!!!!