Holiday treats

With the holidays right around the corner I am sure you are wondering what yummy treats will be best for your holiday party. Well here are a few of my all time favorites:  


One quick and delicious recipe that is guaranteed to be a winner is Food.com's Canoli dip recipe.

Canoli Dip

2 cups ricotta cheese
8 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips
waffle bowl or cone (for dipping)

Mix all ingredients together except the waffle cone or waffle bowl
Chill
To serve -  I put the canoli dip in one of the waffle bowls and broke up the rest for dipping

Tastes just like a Canoli!

Another family favorite and wonderful treat that is bound to makes mouth smile is Taco Cupcakes which can be found on Emily Bites

Taco "Cupcakes"

Source: Emily Bites Original

Ingredients:
1 ½ t chili oil (found near the Asian ingredients)
½ lb 95% lean ground beef
1 T taco seasoning
¾ c canned black beans, drained and rinsed
16 wonton wrappers (found in the produce section)
5 T + 1 t of queso dip or salsa con queso (I used Wholly Guacamole Queso Blanco)
1 c chunky salsa (I used Wholly Guacamole Medium Salsa)
1 c reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese (I used Weight Watchers brand)

Directions:
1.    Pre-heat the oven to 375. Lightly mist 8 cups in a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
2.    Heat chili oil in a sauté pan or large skillet over medium-high heat, add the ground beef and taco seasoning and brown beef, breaking it up with a spoon. Add black beans and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until warm.
3.    Push a wonton wrapper into the bottom of each of the eight sprayed cups in the muffin tin. Spoon a teaspoon of queso dip into each wonton wrapper and spread across the bottom. Follow by spooning some of the meat/beans mixture into each cup (using about half the total mixture) and then splitting ½ cup of the salsa evenly into each cup. Sprinkle about half the shredded Mexican cheese evenly over the top of each cup. Press another wonton wrapper on top and repeat the layering steps with the remaining ingredients.
4.    Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin.

Yields 8 taco cupcakes. Weight Watchers Points Plus: 4 per cupcake (P+ calculated using the recipe builder onweightwatchers.com)
Nutrition Information per cupcake from myfitnesspal.com: 164 calories, 12 g carbs, 7 g fat, 12 g protein, 1 g fiber

It is a party must have and will be at my holiday party for sure. 

Happy Holidays and Party on!