Last Minute Christmas Goodies!

We have a small list of goodies that I make every year around Christmas.  Usually the week of Christmas I will get out the recipes and stay in the kitchen for hours.  We are honestly on our second batch of sausage balls and I wouldn’t be surprised if I make more before Saturday! :-)  They are perfect for breakfast.  I think that I’ll make them year round to keep on hand for fast breakfasts. 
This year I added to my yummy goodies, peanut butter balls!  My cousin, Joelle makes these for her family every year and has so for years.  I ask for the recipe since they sounded like they would be a favorite of mine, and I was right!!
My sausage ball recipe is probably a lot like yours, heck it came from Paula Dean herself!  But I’ll share it anyways, just in case you might not have one.
And what would Christmas be without cookies?!  We have never made them ourselves; cut them out and decorate.  I know!  Shock.  But this year, thanks to Zack {because he said he used to do it every year with his Grandmother} I said, sure!  We had a lot of fun.  Although we didn’t use our own home made mix {we will next year} we did make home made icing.  Which is perfect for sugar cookie decorating because it dries hard. 

Sugar Cookie Frosting

• 2 1/2 Cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 Tablespoon softened butter
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and use your hand mixer to mix together.  You can then divide and color the frosting as you’d like, using food coloring.

Sausage Balls

• 1 pound ground sausage
• 4 cups sharp cheese, grated
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 3 cups Bisquick baking mix

Mix all ingredients together in bowl, roll into 1 inch balls and bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.  Store in airtight container.

Peanut Butter Balls

• 1 12oz jar of peanut butter
• 2 sticks real butter, softened
• 1 1/2 boxes confectionary sugar
• dash of salt
• 1 6oz package milk chocolate chips
• 2oz paraffin wax

Mix together the first 4 ingredients and roll and shape into balls. 
Melt chocolate and wax together in double boiler.  Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate, place on wax paper to dry.  Store in airtight container.
Have y’all made the reindeers food yet?  Well, it’s not too late!  I’ll be making two batches tonight and I’ll share that recipe with ya’ll tomorrow so that you can make those reindeer {and your family} happy too!