Merry Christmas Eve, my friends! I hope that you’re tucked in at home and ready for a relaxing weekend. I can hardly believe how cold it is outside! I’m writing this while looking out at a white Christmas wonderland. We’re looking forward to a cozy day at home and then Christmas Eve service tonight. I’m wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas weekend.

ON THE BLOG this week:  Sweet, tart, and full of cranberries, apples, raisins, and spices, cranberry chutney is sure to become a must-have on the holiday table.

Chewy coconut oatmeal cookies are the ultimate five-ingredient cookie, irresistible to any coconut lover, grab a mixing bowl and get started. Did I mention that oatmeal coconut cookies are gluten and dairy free? This is an oatmeal cookie recipe without flour or dairy.

Creamy peppermint candy cane ice cream sprinkled throughout with candy cane pieces is perfect with a brownie or topped with chocolate.

Peppermint Marshmallow Fudge is rich and creamy chocolate fudge, flavored with peppermint, and loaded with bites of marshmallow. A sprinkling of crushed candy canes on top makes this an altogether perfect holiday treat.

Creamy goat cheese, spicy jam, salty ham, and peppery arugula are combined in the best ham sandwich you’ll ever eat. Packed with delicious fillings, this is not your ordinary ham sandwich recipe.

With all the flavors you love in loaded baked potatoes, this rich and creamy, this easy Baked Potato Soup will satisfy any hungry crowd that pulls up a chair at your table. 

And this spicy beef and three bean chili comes together quickly on the stovetop or you can simmer it all day in the slow cooker. My kids are already asking for chili again, so we will be making a giant batch of this chili this week.

What I’m CRAVING: all the vegetables! I had a lot of fun baking this week, but man am I ever ready to dive back into my produce-loving happy place. A display of on-the-stalk Brussels sprouts at Trader Joe’s last week caught my eye, so naturally, I need to try roasting them on the stalk now.

My FAVORITE THING this week is the game What’s Your Price? I played this game with friends and it was a huge hit. It cracked us up to see what some of us were will

Creamy goat cheese, spicy jam, salty ham, and peppery arugula are combined in the best ham sandwich you’ll ever eat.

Packed with delicious fillings, this is not your ordinary ham sandwich recipe. I typically pile the fillings on a long French baguette and then slice it into small finger sandwiches. However you make this, it won’t last long.

I serve this ham sandwich for holiday get-togethers, family movie nights, easy lunches, and snacks throughout the year.

We’ve made this amazing sandwich so many times over the past couple of years, I wanted to share it again, to make sure you’ll have the recipe fresh in your memory and at your fingertips when you have leftover ham in the house after Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

Best Ham Sandwich

While visiting Sioux Falls with The National Pork Board a few years ago, Chef Neel built a similar sandwich and he called it the “best ever ham sandwich.”

This post was originally sponsored by The National Pork Board and this ham sandwich recipe was inspired by that trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota a few years ago.

While I expected the sandwich to be tasty, I’m reluctant to ever label anything the “best” of its kind. I took one bite and was sold. This was, indeed, the cream of the crop of deli ham sandwiches.

The creamy goat cheese and savory ham are a perfect combination. A spoonful of spicy pepper jam took the whole thing to sigh-worthy heights.

Ham Sandwich Recipe

I knew right away I’d be making my own version of that sandwich after I returned home again. The recipe I’m sharing with you today is one you’re going to want to make over and over again.

To make this ham s

Chewy coconut oatmeal cookies are the ultimate five-ingredient cookie, irresistible to any coconut lover, grab a mixing bowl and get started.

Did I mention that oatmeal coconut cookies are gluten and dairy free? This is an oatmeal cookie recipe without flour or dairy.

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

These cookies are so chewy, so irresistible, I actually burned my mouth eating a second cookie while they were still piping hot from the oven.

If you have a coconut lover in your life, you need these coconut lover’s cookies. This is the chewiest, most coconut filled cookie I have ever tasted.

With just a handful of ingredients, a bowl, and a spoon, you can stir these coconut oatmeal cookies together in about three minutes. They are beyond easy to make!

The only ingredients that you’ll need are:

• coconut oil
• light brown sugar
• egg
• old fashioned oats
• sweetened coconut flakes

If you truly love coconut, if you would happily eat shredded coconut by the spoonful, if you think there is no such thing as too much coconut, you’ll probably love these as much as I do.

True confession: I wound up eating these cookies for my lunch, dinner, and breakfast the following morning.

While I enjoy most desserts, my sweet tooth is usually pretty easily satisfied with just a couple of cookies. The oatmeal coconut cookies were so good that I found them completely irresistible.

Coconut Oil Oatmeal Cookies

I’ve made lots of coconut treats that use sweetened coconut flakes in the dough. Toffee Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies combine some of my favorite things into one delicious cookie and I’ll never turn down Coconut Scone Cookies for breakfast.

For these cookies, I got even more coconut flavor into the cookies by using melted coconut oil in the dough.

Coconut oil acts very similarly to butter when baked resulting in a flaky, moist cookie. It also makes this recipe completely dairy free.

I love baking for people and knowing that I can share these favorite cookies with both my dairy free friends and wheat free friends is delightful! That said, most people would never guess these cookies don’t have any butter in them.

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Sweet, tart, and full of cranberries, apples, raisins, and spices, cranberry chutney is sure to become a must-have on the holiday table.

Cranberry Chutney

I am a HUGE fan of cranberries that is clear. But what I love is creating recipes that celebrate the tartness of the cranberries and don’t just overpower it with sugar.

There are so many ways to create that balance and this chutney does that beautifully with a combination of sugars from other fruits, spices, heat from red pepper flakes, acid, and a deeper sweet note that comes from brown sugar, not white.

I know it is a bit of a stretch to say this will replace your cranberry sauce. But give it a chance it just might. The delicious scents that come from putting everything in the pan and just letting it simmer might be even better than eating it.

Apple Cranberry Chutney

I am always curious to know how others serve cranberry chutney. Do you serve it hot or cold? It is a very important question and some have strong opinions about it. I am team it depends, just hold the canned cranberry sauce though.

If I am serving it to go on a warm savory item like pork chops, ham, or a turkey, I like to warm it up. It doesn’t make sense to put a super cold item on top of something that is best enjoyed hot.

So if I make the apple cranberry chutney the day before I plan to serve it, I reheat it on low in a saucepan. It doesn’t need to be brought to a boil or anything, just a low simmer is perfect. If I am going to serve it cold, I set it out for about an hour before serving, just enough to take the refrigerator chill off of it.

There are countless ways to serve cranberry chutney! You can use it in dips or on a sandwich. Top a crostini or spoon it on top of a puff pastry baked brie.

The options are endless for the sw

Peppermint Marshmallow Fudge is rich and creamy chocolate fudge, flavored with peppermint, and loaded with bites of marshmallow. A sprinkling of crushed candy canes on top makes this an altogether perfect holiday treat.

Candy Cane Fudge

My plan was to make a few batches of this candy cane fudge early and then hide them in the freezer for gifting later, but I wound up sending this off to work with my husband because I couldn’t stay out of it.

I’ve fallen in love with Five Minute Fudge recipes. The fudge turns out smooth and creamy without all of the traditional time spent stirring the pot on the stove.

With the holiday gift-giving season just up ahead, I thought it was time to make a version of my favorite chocolate fudge with a few extra festive touches.

The candy canes sprinkled on top, coupled with the bites of fluffy marshmallows, were an easy way to turn simple chocolate fudge into something full of Christmas cheer.

Marshmallow Fudge

This Peppermint Marshmallow Fudge is just right for bringing to a holiday party or gifting to friends, teachers, co-workers. . . just about everybody will love these little squares of mint chocolate fudge-y goodness. In fact, I cut them into smaller pieces than usual just to make sure there would be plenty to share.

Just the tiniest piece of this Peppermint Marshmallow Fudge satisfied me… for about an hour. Then I’d find myself back in the kitchen slicing off another teeny sliver. This is dangerously rich, sweet and tempting!

It’s a good thing it isn’t candy-making season year-round,