Tis The Season Top Treats of 2010

I always enjoy discovering and or inventing new recipes for holiday parties, family, and friends.
This year the top three are:
Oreo Cookie Truffles
Lunch Box Cookies
Pina Colada Parfait

Oreo Cookie Truffles
In food processor whirl together one package of Oreo cookies till fine. Then mix in one package of room temperature cream cheese. Form into small balls. Chill.
Get some milk or dark chocolate for melting. I find the easiest way to melt chocolate is to put it in a wide bowl and then place that bowl in a pie pan of hot water. Now you can nuke it in the microwave without the risk of burning and ruining the chocolate. Nuke to melt and stir to smooth. Allow to cool enough for dipping. Dip chilled Oreo balls into melted chocolate and place pan with parchment paper on it. Dip two fingers into the melted chocolate and goop over on top of freshly dipped Oreo truffle ball. This makes a fancy chocolate topping that will look like it was store bought. Chill. These can be left out for eating but not much more than two days because of the cream cheese inside.
And, for those people that don't like chocolate you can use the vanilla Oreos and white chocolate.

Pina Colada Parfait
1 container marshmallow creme
1 large container Cool Whip (thawed)
1/2 bag white chocolate chips (melted - see above recipe for easy melting directions)
1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
2 tablespoons coconut pudding powder
1/4 cup Malibu Rum
1 medium size can of crushed pineapple (drain and squeeze)
Graham cracker crumbs with some sugar mixed in
Whip together the marshmallow creme, Cool Whip. Now whip in the coconut extract, rum, pudding powder and crushed pineapple. Finally whip in the melted white chocolate chips.
In a wine or Champagne glass plop in some of the mixture. Hand sprinkle a thin layer of Graham cracker mix. Plop on another layer of the whipped mixture. Sprinkle with Graham cracker mix. On top of that plunk one centered dollop of the whipped mixture. Finish it off with a Maraschino cherry (with or without stem) and a little fancy drink umbrella.

Lunch Box Cookies
I had a cookie like this once from a bakery in Winfield, BC. It is pretty much a shortbread type cookie. I'm not one to like those candied cherries like the ones in fruit cake, but in this cookie they are surprisingly good. I searched out a recipe that was like the cookie and then tweaked it by adding the candied fruit.
1 cup room temperature butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/3 cup flour
1 cup quartered green and red candied cherries
Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla extract. Stir in the chopped cherries. Dump in the flour and with your hands work it in to form a soft but stiff dough. Now, place onto a sheet of parchment paper and mold it lengthwise to form a long roll. Roll the parchment paper around it completely. Chill for at least four hours.
Set oven to 325. Put a piece of parchment paper on cookie pan. Unroll the parchment from the cookie dough and with sharp knife cut 1/2 inch slices. Place slices onto cookie pan and bake for about 11 minutes. Just like shortbread cookies, do not allow to brown. Cool and serve.