Welcome to the weekend, my friends! I hope your week (and your weather) have been fantastic and that you’re enjoying the holidays however you choose to celebrate them. We enjoyed a dusting of snow this week and I was in heaven for the brief day that it lasted on the trees. 

I can dream of a white Christmas, but this year, it’s only a dream. We’re supposed to hit 60 degrees on Monday (just a few degrees lower than the forecast for Phoenix) – what kind of nonsense is that? At least I can look forward to an afternoon walk in the warmer weather.

What we’re EATING: It’s been a seriously delicious week over here without a single new blog post to show for it. (And I’m not at all sad about that right now.)

Sean made the Ground Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry the other night and I may be guilty of having hidden the last serving for my lunch – zero guilt here, that’s how we roll. I tossed the leftover beef and broccoli with some leftover Noodles with Cabbage and the combination was so flipping good it gave me an idea for another new recipe.

I made a batch of Cinnamon Crinkle Cookies and then proceeded to eat an absurd number of them with my morning and midday and late afternoon coffee. I’m pretty sure that when a cookie encourages me to drink more and more coffee, it might not be a good thing, but the cookies are just so perfectly chewy with a buttery cinnamon sugar flavor, sigh. I love them.

We’ve been on a roll with Breakfast Sandwiches lately, although they often get made closer to lunchtime. I’ve also been informed that “Dad’s sandwiches are better than yours, Mom” with the added non-apologetic comment, “Sorry, but it’s true.” So, it looks like I may need to investigate exactly what makes his better. (Odds are good that it’s a whole lot of meat, as my carnivore crew can’t get enough bacon and sausage in their breakfasts.)

I made a version of this Cashew Chicken Salad, but wound up swapping so many ingredients both because they sounded good and because I didn’t have everything on hand, it became a whole new recipe. Not sad about that though, as I made notes so that I can make it again. The whole family was eating the chicken salad on crackers, right out of the mixing bowl.

My youngest son helped, actually did most of the work, to make his favorite dinner last night and it was perfection. Buttered Steak Bites (with mushrooms) and a big pot of Truffle Mac and Cheese, along with a Read more

Cranberry Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This cranberry orange cake with cream cheese frosting is bursting with holiday flavors. Perfectly moist with the softest cake crumb – the combination of sweet oranges and tart cranberries makes it perfect for Christmas.

It’s not even Christmas until you’ve had some sort of orange cranberry baked good. Am I right? The flavors and scent of those two fruits together just sings! Have you tried our orange cranberry bliss bars?? Or our cranberry orange bubble bread (perfect for Christmas morning!)?? Now you can try this orange cranberry cake too!

Oh hi there! My name’s Fiona and I’m so excited to meet you! I blog over at Just So Tasty, and today’s my first guest post on Oh Sweet Basil.

I love baking, eating cake, and listening to country music. (Is that embarrassing? The country music part I mean???) And making tasty treats for the people I love is one of my absolute favorite things.

I was so excited when Carrian asked me to share recipes on Oh Sweet Basil, so today I’m starting off with this easy Cranberry Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. It’s a perfectly moist vanilla sheet cake infused with fresh oranges and dotted with tart cranberries. Then it’s frosted with tangy cream cheese icing and decorated with sugared cranberries and orange zest.

What Do I Need to Make Cranberry Orange Cake?

Here is just a quick list of the ingredients so you can get an overview of what you will need. All the measurements and details can be found in the recipe card down below.

Sugared Cranberries

• Granulated Sugar
• Water
• Fresh Cranberries

Cranberry Orange Cake

• Dry Ingredients: Cake Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt
• Wet Ingredients: Unsalted Butter, Granulated Sugar, Egg Whites, Vanilla Extract, Milk, Sour Cream
• Cranberries tossed in Flour to keep them from sinking in the cake
• Orange Zest and Juice (fresh)

Cream Cheese Frosting

• Unsalted Butter
• Cream Cheese
• Powdered Sugar
• Whipping Cream or Milk
• Orange Zest

How to Make Cranberry Orange Cake

There are three different parts to this recipe – the sugared cranberries (used for aesthetic reason and are optional), the cake and the frosting. Here are the basic steps for making this cake:

Sugared Cranberries

1. Dissolve some of the sugar into the water in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat to create a simple syrup.
2. Stir in the fresh cranberries until they are well coated and then remove the berries with a slotted s

Weekly Menu Plan – Dec. 25 to 31

Here is your weekly menu plan for next week. Merry Christmas!!

Monday: CHRISTMAS DAY – Best Prime Rib

Tuesday: Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo

Wednesday: Smoked Brisket

Thursday: French Onion Chicken

Friday: Date Night

Saturday: Brisket Chili – use from of that leftover smoked brisket to make this fabulous chili!

Sunday: NEW YEAR’S EVE – Ham and Cheese Sliders

READ: Weekly Menu Plan – Dec. 25 to 31

White Chocolate Sugar Cookies with Peppermint Royal Icing

We love a classic Christmas cookie, but lately we’ve been enjoying new versions of old favorites. We have taken your traditional sugar cookie and transformed them into something magical – White Chocolate Sugar Cookies with Peppermint Royal Icing!

The white chocolate makes the cookies so decadent, and the peppermint in the royal icing makes them your quintessential Christmas cookie.  They are soft and pillow-y, just how a sugar cookie should be, and the royal icing is glossy and gorgeous! I guarantee these cookies are going to becoming a new Christmas favorite!

Whenever I make sugar cookies, it immediately takes me back to my childhood.  I remember my mom making sugar cookies while she let me and my siblings make a huge mess of tiny pieces of paper flying everywhere as we cut out snowflakes to hang in our windows. We thought hanging snowflakes in the windows was the sure way to guarantee a white Christmas, or at least snow that year!

Now I ask myself, why in the world did I want it to snow?! I’m not the biggest fan now.  Maybe that makes me old.  Or just boring.  Or maybe it makes me smart!  I’m going with smart! Snow is cold (and I loathe cold), wet, messy, dangerous for driving, and just bothersome. Before you all go crazy on me, it is pretty!  Freshly fallen snow on the trees and rooftops is gorgeous!  As long as I don’t have to go anywhere and can admire if from the comfort of my warm home, it can snow all it wants!  I just became 95-years-old!

Nailed it!

Okay, now I’ve gotten all side-tracked! These sugar cookies are easy!  Have you ever seen those mesmerizing videos of people doing the most ornate and beautiful cookie decorating ever?  I could watch those all day!  They make it look so easy that anyone could do it!  And then have you ever tried to do it?  Hahaha!  You could put me on an episode of Nailed It with some of my creations!  So I stick with the simple shapes and decorating!

Plus, this way my kids can help, and kids love everything about making sugar cookies! I mean, what is there not to love?!  Making the dough, rolling it out, cutting out shapes, baking the cookies, and then decorating them…it’s like one big party!

Extract Mania

These white chocolate sugar cookies with peppermint royal icing just scream Christmas, but one thing I love about these cookies is that you can swap the extract for any flavor to fit any holiday or season.  Here are some ideas:

• LEMON for spring or summer, Mother’s Day, a baby or bridal shower
• COCONUT for summer or Easter
• MAPLE for fall or Thanksgiving
• ORANGE for just about an reason or season
• CAKE BATTER…say what?  Yes, I did see cake batter extract the other day at the store. I bet that would be delish in this recipe!
• RASPBERRY for Valentine’s Day or a girls night
• ROOT BEER becaus

Peppermint Double Chocolate Cookies

Peppermint Double Chocolate Cookies have a rich chocolate taste and are infused with peppermint. They’re dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes for the perfect holiday cookie!

Double chocolate cookies are my absolute favorite. I love the rich chocolate taste, fudgy texture, and double dose of chocolate. And with a glass of cold milk? Perfection.

My soft-batch double chocolate chip cookies are actually one of the most popular recipes on my blog. So I wanted to make a holiday version in time for Christmas to share on Oh Sweet Basil.

The combination of rich chocolate and cool peppermint flavor is the perfect pairing. Then the candy canes make them so pretty for your Christmas cookie exchange.

Ingredients for Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

For the Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

• Flour: just regular all-purpose flour
• Cocoa Powder: dutch processed cocoa is preferred
• Cornstarch: adds a chewiness to the cookies
• Baking Soda: gives the cookies some rise and fluffiness
• Salt: enhances all the flavors
• Unsalted Butter: softened to room temperature
• Brown Sugar: adds sweetness and rich flavor
• Granulated Sugar: adds sweetness
• Egg: gives the cookies structure
• Peppermint Extract: can be reduced for a milder mint flavor
• Vanilla Extract: adds flavors
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: dark chocolate chips could also be used or a mix of the two

For the Chocolate Peppermint Topping

• Semi-Sweet Chocolate: gets melted for the chocolate dip
• Vegetable Oil: helps smooth out the chocolate and gives it a nice shine
• Candy Canes: crushed up for a decorative topping

The measurements for all the ingredients are detailed in the recipe card at the end of the post. You can also print and/or save the recipe there.

How to Make Peppermint Chocolate Cookies

To get started, first we make our cookie dough. We whisk together our dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, corn starch, baking soda and salt), so they’re ready to be added to the batter later.

Then we cream together the butter and sugars in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment (I like to use a combo of brown sugar and white sugar) – and add in the egg, vanilla and peppermint extract. The dry ingredients are then carefully added to the wet ingredients, and finally we add in the chocolate chips.

Then it’s time to chill the dough. Chilling is recommended because the double chocolate cookie dough is thick and sticky. If you don’t chill the dou