Moll Anderson: Dreamy Holiday Desserts

CBN.com Moll Anderson demonstrated a few holiday recipes with Michelle Wilson. To get these recipes, go to Moll Anderson's Web Site.

Michelle Wilson:  So Moll, you have set up some wonderful items for us.

Moll Anderson:  Basically we’re starting with what I think is one of the coolest desserts - and could be a gift. You could buy a beautiful box and set these in there.

Wilson:  They look beautiful.

Anderson:  They’re called snowballs.

Wilson:  They look like truffles.

Anderson:  Well, they do look like truffles and they are so easy - literally. Guess what? A package of Oreo cookies: you just literally crumble them up just like so and toss them in there.

Wilson:  With the cream and everything?

Anderson:  With the cream and everything. And you get them all crushed up inside here like that. Then we’re going to take some cream cheese; we get the whipped cream cheese. I’m going to give you that spatula.

Wilson:  So just put all of this in here?

Anderson:  I want you to put all that in here, and literally we’re going to mix it up.

Wilson:  It smells good.

Anderson:  Doesn’t it smell great?

Wilson:  It smells very rich.

Anderson:  OK, while Michelle is still working on that: you need melting chocolate - this is vanilla, which is great; and they come in bars. I just took some of those and put them in a little bowl, right here in the microwave, melted.

Wilson:  So how long do you melt it? Because sometimes it’s kind of tricky melting chocolate.

Anderson:  Well, the first time I think about a minute, and then you stir it up and then do like 30 second intervals. That way it doesn’t get too hot. But look at that. Doesn’t that look fabulous?

Wilson:  I just want to eat that and eat this right now.

Anderson:  Now this is so much fun to do. What we’re going to do here - we’re going to make balls, just like that. See! I’m telling you kids will have a blast doing this. Then I’m going to take this and kind of roll it around in the chocolate. If you can see that, we have made a little snowball.

Wilson:  An Oreo snowball truffle!

Anderson:  Now the real test Michelle.

Wilson: Oh, goodness. I get to try one!

Anderson:  You get to try one. Pick one - not from the bottom so that they all go tumbling. OK, take a little bite and tell me what you think honestly. Isn’t that fabulous?

Wilson:  Hmmm. This is wonderful. It tastes wonderful!

Anderson:  They’re not low cal, but they are not supposed to be.

Wilson:  This is really, really, really good! Isn’t it amazing?

Anderson:  Now this is a beautiful dessert. And what’s really exciting about this is: it’s all done in one skillet.

Wilson: One skillet!

Anderson:  Can you believe that?

Wilson:  Wow, talk about no stress!

Anderson:  No stress is about no mess, right? Alright, so this is a cranberry upside down cake. And it is so simple. Are you ready for this?

Wilson: I'm ready.

Anderson: OK, your favorite golden cake mix. Alright, so this is not about from scratch; it’s not necessary. It’s about getting it done so you can go and enjoy the holidays. So what I have done is that I have gone ahead and mixed up one golden cake mix. Then I’ve also got ¾ cup of brown sugar. And we’re going to use ½ cup of butter. Ready for this?

Wilson:  Yes.

Anderson:  Here is my black skillet. I’ve already gone ahead and melted the brown sugar and butter in the bottom of the skillet. Now I’ve got that here. Now the ingredient that, of course, is the most important is the cranberries. So I’ve got one whole bag of beautiful red cranberries. I’m going to take those and I’m literally going to pour the whole bowl and I’m going to spread them out. Then we have our cake mix.

Wilson: So you just pour that, dump that in there?

Anderson:  Yes, we’ll try to do this so it’s not like coming over the edges. But I am going to take all of this and just fill the whole entire cake batter into this and just spread it around.

Wilson:  Make sure you cover all of the cranberries.

Anderson:  Yes, and I pre-heated my oven to 350. And it’s waiting. And look at that. Isn’t that pretty? And it’s so simple. I am going to stick that in here.

Wilson:  So how long is it going to take to cook?

Anderson:  It will take about, let’s see, I think 45 minutes. You take a simple cake mix, because it’s all about relaxing and getting back to the holidays, no stress. I put that in here and put the whole bowl of cranberries in here and pour the batter on the top. And this is the finished product. It’s beautiful. And now comes the test. It’s even so good that I can’t refuse.

Anderson:  So, now we have two desserts down.

Wilson:  It would be perfect on the buffet; no mess except for a couple of bowls, right?

Anderson:  All right, we’re moving on to some drinks. This is kind of exciting here. We’ve got this wonderful hot chocolate and eggnog drink. We just take your instant hot chocolate mix, but we’re going to go a little farther. We love eggnog, so we’re going to take a little bit of eggnog here, and just pour the eggnog in.

Wilson:  You can’t leave whipped cream out.

Anderson:  No, you got to have whipped cream! We’re going to take that, and of course, I like to go a little crazy, and then we’re going to sprinkle on here, some crushed peppermint. OK, then this is fun, oops, a little bit of chocolate drizzle.

Wilson:  It looks fabulous.

Anderson:  Then, it’s all about the special little touches; it’s all about presentation. Look at that.

Wilson:  I love it; I love it. It’s so adorable, yes.

Anderson:  You want to take a sip of that?

Wilson:  Yes I do, you have to tell me if I get any on my…

Anderson:  Yes, watch the nose; you could do one of those milk ads.

Anderson:  Now, that’s perfect for the kids or late night. But I’ve got another drink that is really fun. It is a cranberry pomegranate spritzer. You take cranberry juice, Sprite or 7-Up, some sparkling water, and then also the pomegranate juice. This is a pomegranate. We opened it up and took the seeds out. This is a fun, extra little touch: and aren’t they beautiful? They almost glisten like jewels. You take these (pomegranates have wonderful antioxidants inside them), and then take a little mint sprig and put it on there like so, and garnish. Well girl, here’s to a no stress holiday.

Wilson:  Thank you for really helping our holidays to start the right way.

Anderson:  Oh, it’s been fun.

Wilson:  Cheers. Happy holidays to you; God bless.

FREE RECIPES
Want the recipes from this segment? Go to Moll Anderson's Web Site