I'm just another working mom seeking a few moments of Zen and zinfandel between soccer practice and supper. My former beach bartender husband founded 
This giveaway is closed. The winner is Lisa R. who commented, “We love our homemade strawberry cheesecake.” Thanks to everyone who entered!
Be sure to read the end of this post; I’m giving away a $50 Visa gift card just in time for the holidays!
Once we flip our calendar to December (yes I still have an old school wall calendar just for the girls and their social diva in training activities like bowling), we are pretty well booked every weekend. One of my favorite things about the holidays is visiting with family and friends we don’t get to see often.
Let’s face it, though, the patience level of kids falls off the face of the planet during the holidays. Even just a half-hour drive across town to have lunch with friends quickly disintegrates into “Are we there yet?” And that’s just as you’re pulling out of your driveway.
That’s when you crank the Christmas music and hand out bribes, I mean cookies. This is all, of course, just intended to raise your sweet darlings’ blood sugar. I would never condone parenting via bribery! (Ahem.) A few crumbs in your back seat is worth the silence.
It’s always good to arrive with a little housewarming gift and what better way to say you care about someone than to bring chocolate?
Here’s my mother’s famous fudge cake recipe, a holiday favorite that goes back to 1967 for my family!
Mama’s Famous Fudge Cake
Beat 4 eggs, add 2 cups sugar, 1 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 4 squares of melted baking chocolate, 1 tsp. vanilla – add 2 cups of flour with 1 tsp baking powder and 1/1/2 tsp salt and 1 cup of chopped nuts.
Line a large greased pan with two pieces of paper towel – then two pieces of wax paper on top of that. The cake would burn if you did not do this!!
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes – turn oven off and leave in oven 5 minutes. Cool slightly before turning out on counter (I turn mine out on a chop block).
Icing
Melt 1 stick margarine, 3 squares chocolate and 12 marshmallows
Add 3 tsp of milk and 1 tsp vanilla. When melted and warm add 1 box of confectionary sugar – blend well. You may need a little more milk.
Spread on cake. For thicker icing you can add 2 cups miniature marshmallows to the icing (my mom says she never does this, though.)
Cool and cut into squares and keep well covered.
Enjoy!
Would you like to be entered in a drawing for a Visa $50 gift card? Simply leave a comment on this post about one of your family’s favorite holiday desserts. For an extra comment, post about this giveaway to Twitter (but do leave a comment here telling me you’ve done so.) A random winner will be drawn from all eligible comments (U.S. addresses only) by midnight Wednesday, December 16. I’ll get this in the mail to you ASAP for last-minute holiday shopping!
i love peppermint patty brownies… such a great winter treat!
.-= shannon´s last blog ..Where have you been sent? =-.
Dh and I bought some springform pans about 2 years ago and made our first cheesecake-now it is a tradition-we make a chocolate swirl and a sour cream one.
I love making Thin Mint cheesecake. I save a box of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies and make the crust out of them. If I have some on hand I’ll top off the cheesecake with holiday mint M&Ms.
Definitely homemade peppermint bark (the william sonoma kind is a fav too!)
tweet
http://twitter.com/whitlump/status/6742827677
Pumpkin Pie is our all time favorite holiday dessert.
I think my favorite is a well made Pumpkin roll .when it’s made right it’s heaven on earth!!
tweeted the giveaway: http://twitter.com/happyenchilada2/status/6753887327
One of my absolute fave are our Christmas cookies! They are a family recipe, and I have no idea where they came from, and never had any others like them!
starboundstudios(at)charter(dot)net
I love the Crepes my husband makes.
.-= Christy´s last blog ..Kohl’s 30% off & Free Shipping Codes =-.
peanut butter blossom cookies
we make thumbprint cookies….sugar cookies with the jam filling….they are so tasty and a nice break from all the chocolate desserts
mjharvey26 at yahoo dot com
My favorite are triple chocolate oatmeal cookies – brownie mix and butter, oats, chocolate chips and andies mints. They are delicious!
My family is about 35 people and each unit brings cooking christmas morning, and my favorite are snowballs with a cherry center
zelpuz77 [at] yahoo [dot] com
I’m really into cake baking and cake decorating, so my favorite holiday treat is a chocolate chocolate chip cake with peppermint filling. Decorated with red and green m&m’s on the outside
Regular chocolate chip cookies. I’m the simple type.
One of our favorites is my Great-Grandma’s Ginger Cookies and another is my Grandma’s Peanut Butter Fudge! Yumm
Thanks for the giveaway and Merry Christmas!
I think we love homemade caramel popcorn, but then… pumpkin cheesecake, eggnog and cookies of all kinds and…well, it gets pretty hard to pick a favorite after a while.
.-= Chantel´s last blog ..Its Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas…. =-.
Our family enjoys making the “puppy chow” or “muddy buddies”!
My 3 year old just loves to have a helping hand…but I think mommy makes the biggest mess out of us all!!
Oh let’s not forget orange cake with lemon icing with sprinkles. Oh and my husband’s favorite “death by chocolate”
thankyou for the giveaway and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
We enjoy Punchbowl cake during not only christmas but all holidays! This is a great giveaway
Congratulations to the winner! Great Fudge recipe by the way too!