Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Our Christmas Brunch gift for you!

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Here’s your Christmas Brunch gift! WE LOVE YOU!

This year, our family has been learning more about what it means to DELIGHT. Delight in each other, delight in the quiet with Jesus, delight in each bite of food we take, delight in community, delight in worship…

It’s been, well, delightful.

With this word at the forefront of my mind, as I was creating the gift I wanted to give all of you this year, I realized that our Christmas Brunch together has been just that: delightful.

Beyond the fellowship and the food, recognizing that the LIGHT of Jesus makes everything in life – even the hard parts – absolutely delightful.

Your Gift

We put this little book for you. Not only does it include all of the recipes we enjoyed during our 2024 Christmas Brunch, we added a few extras too. And, the best part: A Delightful Devotional for you and your dear ones to enjoy.

This devotional section of the book will walk you through spending time reflecting on the past 12 months and how God’s light radiated into every part – yes even and especially in the challenges.

I’m so thankful for all of you. I love that you regularly send me encouragement – I need it. The community built together here is one of a kind, and I thank you for the gift you are to me.

You are a delight.

To enjoy your Delightful Christmas Brunch eBook, simply click on the link below and it’ll be yours. God bless you with a very Merry Christmas!

Get your free gift here.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Dark Chocolate Espresso Pie

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It’s our 2024 Christmas Brunch: Dark Chocolate Espresso Pie Recipe!

Oh yes, we are doing this!

A few months ago, our family hosted a Neighborhood Pie Party. Everyone from several blocks around was invited and asked to bring a favorite pie to share. It was a wonderful party with over 40 people in attendance!

Someone brought in a Mocha Pie and it was so very good. I decided to try and duplicate it for our 2024 Christmas Brunch!

It’s so easyYum

You know me. I rarely make anything that’s complicated. So I took the easiest chocolate pie recipe ever and turned it into a Dark Chocolate Espresso Pie with very little effort!

This pie includes simple ingredients like dark chocolate chips, whipping cream, and butter. Ah, and ground espresso.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Pie

Dark Chocolate Espresso Pie
 
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Serves: 8-12
Ingredients
  • 10-ounces dark chocolate chips
  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups whipping cream
  • 3 Tablespoons ground espresso
  • 9-inch pie crust (regular, graham cracker, or oreo)
Instructions
  1. In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate chips and butter together.
  2. Once melted, whip the chocolate mixture with cream and ground espresso using beaters or in a high power blender until smooth and thick.
  3. Pour mixture into a prepared pie crust.
  4. Chill pie for at least two hours before serving.

This is the fifth and final 2024 Christmas Brunch recipe, and it’s a perfect one to end on. But we aren’t done yet. Come back tomorrow for our Thank You Gift!

The other four recipes featured in our Christmas Brunch:

Coming up next: A very sweet gift for you!

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Santa’s Big Batch Drop Cookies

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It’s our 2024 Christmas Brunch: Santa’s Big Batch Drop Cookies recipe!

You’ll use four sticks of butter with this one, but it’s worth it. Why? Well, because these are delicious. But even better? You’ll end up with enough cookies to enjoy at home and share with others too.

The best thing about these cookies is that they are a wonderful sugar cookie – but without all the work of rolling out and cutting out dough. We love the tradition of making cut-out cookies too. But when Santa is busy, this is where we turn.

You’ll get about 40 cookies with this recipe!

Santa’s Big Batch Drop CookiesYum

Santa's Big Batch Drop Cookies
 
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Serves: 3-4 dozen
Ingredients
  • 2 cups melted butter
  • 2 cups raw sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 cups flour
Instructions
  1. Cream butter and sugar together.
  2. Stir in baking soda, vanilla, and eggs.
  3. Add flour until well-combined.
  4. Drop scoops of cookie dough onto cookie sheets two inches apart and bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.
  5. Remove cookies from pan when they look slightly underdone so that they are soft in the middle.

You can roll balls of dough in colored sugar before baking if you want to make them more festive. We find that a fun Christmas plate offers all we need to fancy these up!

I love that you are a part of our fun 2024 Christmas Brunch! In case you missed them, here are the other recipes we’ve shared so far:

Up next: Dark Chocolate Espresso Pie

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Hot Cocoa Punch

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It’s our 2024 Christmas Brunch: Hot Cocoa Punch Recipe!

What’s special about Hot Cocoa Punch? EVERYTHING.

The mug, the taste, the fun treat. We made this for our kids last week, because of course we had to taste test all of our Christmas Brunch recipes before we shared them with you. What did they think?

Hot Cocoa Punch is a perfectly fun treat, and tastes wonderful after enjoying our Holiday Spice Muffins and Christmas Casserole.

Step 1: Make Hot Cocoa

Make it with a packet. Make it from scratch. Do whatever works for you. At our house we do either/or depending on our ability of the day. But our favorite Hot Cocoa is this and it’s worth taking a few extra minutes to make a batch.

Step 2: Pull out the vanilla ice cream

Again, buy it at the store or make it from scratch. If you can make Vanilla Ice Cream like this – WOW is it good! (Maybe you should ask for a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for Christmas!)

Step 3: Put your punch together

Scoop Ice Cream into Mugs. Then pour in some hot cocoa. Suddenly you’ve got a creamy, frothy mug of delicious Hot Cocoa Punch!

This is easy, fun, and can be made with the finest of ingredients or with a packet and a spoon!

Hot Cocoa Punch RecipeYum

Hot Cocoa Punch
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup water
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • 1 cup raw sugar or brown sugar
  • 10 cups whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1.5 quarts vanilla ice cream (or one recipe of Homemade)
Instructions
  1. In large saucepan stir together water, cocoa and sugar.
  2. Bring to a boil.
  3. Stir in milk and heat until small bubbles begin to form around the edges, stirring constantly.
  4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
  5. Scoop vanilla pudding into holiday mugs.
  6. Add hot cocoa to each mug and serve right away.

I love that you are a part of our fun 2024 Christmas Brunch! Shared so far:

Up next: Santa’s Big Batch Drop Cookies

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Christmas Casserole Recipe

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It’s our 2024 Christmas Brunch: Christmas Casserole Recipe!

You are going to love this Christmas Casserole recipe! It is simple, hearty, flavorful, and you can make it ahead of time for ease.

How easy is it? Well, it’s easier if we cheat just a little bit.

Yes indeed. I buy a package of frozen peppers and onions and dump it right into my skillet instead of cutting fresh veggies. It doesn’t cost much more and let’s see…what else is there to do this time of year?? THERE’S SO MUCH TO DO, I don’t have time to make a list.

Therefore…

TIP: Buy the frozen veggies.

Or cut them fresh. I’m fine with whatever you decide.

Mmmm, brown those veggies with sausage.

Add eggs, shredded cheese, and frozen hashbrowns. (Yes, frozen hashbrowns. Do I need to whine about the 38 presents I still need to wrap? I buy shredded cheese and frozen hashbrowns even when it ISN’T Christmas. So, of course I buy them in December for survival.

TIP: Mr. Dell’s frozen hashbrowns contain only one ingredient: potatoes. Amen and thank you.

Put that casserole all together, then cover it and refrigerate it or freeze it until you’re ready to bake it. Oh how wonderful it is. Do you see why it’s called Christmas Casserole? The lovely red and green peppers (that we bought in the freezer aisle to keep our season merry and bright) have made our casserole so pretty!

Christmas Casserole RecipeYum

Christmas Casserole Recipe
 
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Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • 1-pound ground sausage
  • 20-ounce bag frozen pepper and onion blend
  • 12 eggs
  • ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 cups frozen shredded or cubed hashbrowns
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 cups shredded cheese
Instructions
  1. Brown sausage and vegetables together in a skillet until sausage is no longer pink.
  2. Allow mixture to cool while preparing the rest of the casserole.
  3. Crack eggs directly into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
  4. Add cream, hashbrowns, salt, and cheese.
  5. Stir in sausage/veggie mixture and mix well.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven 45 minutes or until the middle of the casserole no longer jiggles and is golden brown.

Did you try the Holiday Spice Muffins and Quick Bread recipe I shared to kick off our brunch? These are perfect with our Christmas Casserole.

Up next in our 2024 Christmas Brunch: Hot Cocoa Punch

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Holiday Spice Muffins and Quick Bread

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It’s our 2024 Christmas Brunch: Holiday Spice Muffins and Quick Bread Recipe!

This recipe couldn’t be any simpler! It’s a basic muffin or quick bread recipe with the perfect blend of holiday spices to make it taste just right at Christmastime.

The secret ingredient?? SHHHHH. I can’t tell you!

Just kidding. You’ll read about it below in a minute and a half anyway. Actually, you’ve read it here before, and I stand by this great option as a way to make our muffins and quick breads taste better. It is, none other than, sour cream.

Yep. A plop of sour cream in our quick breads and muffins takes them up several notches.

The making of the muffinsYum

My work time is so limited now because of the precious houseful of additional kids God has given us. Therefore, it has been a very long time since I created new recipes to share with you. That is why, when I was staging our Holiday Spice Muffins to take a picture to share with you, all the kids gathered around to get in the picture. Why take a boring ol’ photo of muffins when obviously, everyone wants to see a picture of the babies!!

Josie Baby

Next, I managed to take this picture of the bread, but meh. It would have been sweeter with a sweetheart in the frame.

Either way, WELCOME to the very first day of our 2024 Christmas Brunch! The first recipe to be shared is this perfectly sweetened, lovely and moist Holiday Spice Muffin and Quick Bread recipe.

Turn this recipe into 18 muffins or two medium-sized loaves of bread. It’s a lovely side to go with tomorrow’s Christmas Casserole recipe!

Holiday Spice Muffins and Quick Bread

Holiday Spice Muffins and Quick Bread
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole grain flour
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup milk
  • ¾ cup sour cream
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup melted coconut oil
Instructions
  1. In a mixing bowl, stir together all dry ingredients.
  2. Add in milk, sour cream, eggs, and oil and mix well.
  3. Scoop into 18 paper-lined muffin tins or 2 well-buttered loaf pans.
  4. Bake muffins in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or bread in a 350 degree oven for 45-55 minutes.

Coming up tomorrow in our 2024 is the most delicious breakfast casserole that is perfect for Christmas! Best yet, it can be made ahead of time to be baked and enjoyed Christmas morning. Come one, come all!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

You’re Invited! 2024 Christmas Brunch!

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The last time we did this was back in 2014! Ten years later, we’re bringing it back. You’re invited to our (virtual) 2024 Christmas Brunch!

You’re invited to our 2024 Christmas Brunch!

How I wish every one of you could physically come into my home for a delightful time of food and fellowship. We’d hug, cry, laugh – probably all at the same time.

We’d sit around our table and talk about our families, show each other pictures…then probably cry some more. God is good and it’s good to share Him together.

This Heavenly Homemakers Community has been around since 2007. Since its beginnings, at whatever point you joined us here, we’ve all become family. I am so thankful for you.

So let’s have brunch together again, shall we?

Since we can’t all meet in person, this will be the next best thing. Each day, December 16-20, 2024, I’ll share a new Christmas Brunch recipe with you. Then, as we end our celebration, on December 21, I’ll hand out gifts. YES! FOR EVERYONE!

This is a picture of gifts our kids handed out at church a few years ago.
Your gift will be digital and you’ll have it in your hands right away. You’ll love it!

Everyone is invited.

Everyone is welcome. Show up and we’ll just keep adding more chairs to our table.

Grab this invitation and post it all over your social media so that all your friends can join us too.

Want a sneak peek at the upcoming 2024 Christmas Brunch Menu? These are some of the recipes we’ll enjoy together:

  • Christmas Casserole
  • Holiday Spice Muffins and Quick Bread
  • Santa’s Big Batch Drop Cookies
  • Dark Chocolate Espresso Pie
  • Hot Cocoa Punch

RSVP here to let me know you’ll enjoy this fun with us.

Or just show up! Our virtual Christmas Brunch begins December 16. I’m setting the table now…

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How to Make Christmas Cookies with Little Kids

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If you want to make Christmas cookies with little kids without losing your mind, here are some tips!

Let’s see now. Do I have much experience with making cookies with little kids? Bah! Just a little bit. ;) I wish I had more cookie-making pictures from our first round of kids, but here are a few that I found:

Multiply those pictures times a few dozen-hundred and now let’s head into the 2020’s in which there are seven new little kids two enjoy cookie-making experiences with. I now take all that I learned whilst making Christmas cookies with Round 1 of kids and enjoy keeping things simpler with Round 2 of kids.

As if making Christmas cookies with kids can every really be called “simple.” But at least we can make it less hard if we practice some of these hacks…

How to Make Christmas Cookies with Little Kids

Tip #1: Break up the cookie-making tasks into two or even three separate days. As in:

  1. Mix up the cookie dough one day, refrigerate. Done.
  2. Roll out, cut out, and bake cookies a different day. Freeze cookies to frost a different day. Phew.
  3. Frost and decorate cookies. Treat!

All three of these tasks make a nice mess, and take some effort and time. So I’ve found that if I divide each part of the cookie-making process into different days I’m not as exhausted, frustrated, and overwhelmed by bowls, pans, cookie cutters, frosting, sprinkles, flour, flour, flour (you KNOW what I’m talking about).

Tip #2: Wash your kids’ hands before you get started, then pretend you don’t see them licking the flour off their hands, touching each other with cookie cutters, and wiping their frosting on their pants.

Listen, I’ve decided that all the slobber and germs that go onto the cookies bake away in the oven. This is a scientific…fact that my mom-brain decided was true and I stand by my findings. It’s way too difficult to keep a 3-year-old’s hand out of her mouth during the cookie-making process. And if you’re like me and baking cookies with kids ages 9, 8, 5, 3, 3, and 2 all bets are off.

Keep reminding them to keep their hands clean, but otherwise don’t worry about them doing what they ultimately can’t help. Keep telling yourself, “this will bake off in the oven, this will bake off in the oven…” Smile at your kids, shake the flour off your hands, and move on.

Tip #3: Use only one cookie cutter at a time.

That is to say, when we roll out and cut out cookies, I don’t let my kids have a free-for-all. I control the cookie cutter, helping each child take a turn cutting out a cookie, then I hand it to the next kid for a turn. Everyone gets a turn with the star, everyone gets a turn with the tree, and on we go.

Often, I use the hand-over-hand method to help them cut their cookie so that it goes all the way through the dough and so that they don’t cut their cookie right in the middle of the dough.

Tip #4: After the kids get tired of cutting out cookies, I give them a little bit of dough to roll on their own, cut, smash, lick, drop on the floor…

THIS does not go into the oven, but instead into the trash. I have my limits. But it does keep them busy while I finish rolling and cutting cookies to finish off the job and clean up.

Tip #5 Avoid cookie cutters with appendages.

It can be devastating for kids and frustrating for parents when Santa arms and reindeer legs break off over and over. I’ve learned through the years to never use cookie cutters that have long, skinny parts.

Even the snowmen you see in this photo were a bit challenging. So we didn’t make very many and instead made lots of trees and stars!

Our kids LOVE making Christmas cookies so all of the effort is worth it so that we give them great memories. Try these tips and see if they help you enjoy the process too.

Have any other great tips?

P.S. My hands-down favorite recipe for Christmas Cookies: Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies

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Favorite Christmas Food at Costco and Sam’s

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Do you have favorite must-have Christmas food at Costco and Sam’s? Do you have a hard time not buying EVERYTHING like I do? How about stocking up on baking ingredients? Yes to all of the above?

They get me every year – walking through Costco and Sam’s at Christmas time. Everything looks wonderful, fun, and festive! I have to hold back so that I don’t spend too much on food, much less gifts. Well done, Costco and Sam’s marketing people. Well done.

Here’s what came up when I searched online for Costco and Sam’s Christmas images. SEE? This is what we find when we walk in. It all looks so good!! (Yes, I do love all things Christmas.)

My good judgement does kick in and while I do put several fun treats and gifts into my cart, I don’t buy the entire store. #selfcontrol

But here’s what I tend to buy that is both practical and fun for hospitality during the holidays…

Favorite Christmas Food at Costco and Sam’s

Hawaiian Rolls

These are great for Sliders on a finger-food night or as a side dish if we’re having Ham. These are super sweet and tasty, perfect for a Christmas treat/snack/lunch/side. What? They’re just rolls, you say? Nope, not at Christmas time. They are magic rolls during the holidays.

Cheeses and Crackers

I’m not sure why I don’t put together fun cheese and cracker trays on random Thursdays in February. These seem to be saved for special occasions like Game Nights around holiday time. Either way, Costco and Sam’s both have nice options for cheese varieties and fancy crackers.

White Queso

Ok fine. I buy this all year long. But it does taste better around Christmas and it works great to keep warm in one of my Mini Crock Pots. We love this when we set up a Nacho Bar!

Fresh Fruit

I obviously buy this all year long too. But a fresh fruit platter at Christmas time? Well, it tastes extra sweet and looks extra pretty. Is it possible that the Costco and Sam’s marketing people have me all excited about everything when I’m there in December so even the grapes look irresistible?? Absolutely. (Even though I just bought the exact same variety of grapes two weeks ago when the Christmas music wasn’t playing and I felt no extra excitement beyond, “well here’s a good snack for Wednesday.”)

Croissants

Yep, these are a must-have with Chicken Salad on say, December 23?? On a Santa tray. With a side of those marvelous grapes mentioned above and ooooh, BABY CARROTS!!! (Again, buy fresh produce whilst Christmas music is playing in the background and suddenly everything is an exciting Christmas-food purchase. Baby carrots in March will just be baby carrots. In December they are FABULOUS WITH SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL DIP!!!)

Is this just me?

Fun Drinks

For real though – hot chocolate, tea, and coffee in green and red packaging with gold trim and glittery snowflakes? I need them all because my family and guests will LOVE their drink while we sit and visit, open gifts, and play games. We have all those fun Christmas mugs, do we not? We must provide drinks to fill them. And not just any drinks. The exact same drink that will later be found in a normal-looking package but is now only available for a limited time in a super fun festive package. I give in to this (and also they are usually “on sale” so this is a plus).

How about baking ingredients?

100% yes. I stock up on everything during this time because some of these items (like organic canned pumpkin) is not available year round. And the prices truly are wonderful this time of year.

Granted, shopping at Christmas time and seeing all of the ingredients deceive me into thinking that I will for sure have time and make time to make allllllll of our favorite Christmas goodies. Obviously we will bake for our neighbors, our church staff, our kids’ teachers, and everyone else within a twenty-mile radius. Obviously.

I may or may not be able to follow through with these grand plans, but I never regret stocking up on baking ingredients during the holidays. They are discounted and they will be used eventually. So these always go into my cart:

  • Canned pumpkin
  • Cream cheese
  • Butter
  • Chocolate Chips
  • Unsweetened Cocoa
  • Flour
  • Sugar
  • Cinnamon

I might also give in to special-shaped pretzels, Chex cereal, chocolate stars, nuts, and other fun items placed on end-caps and featured as limited time selections. If the price is right and I know how to use it…

Tell me what happens to you when you walk into Costco or Sam’s at Christmas time? Do they get you too? Does the festive feel of the store make you feel like all the normal things (ORANGES!!! SOCKS!! HEXIGON CRACKERS!!! are suddenly the most amazing Christmas items that you must have??

Or is it just me?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Family Christmas Drink Recipes

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Needs some Christmas drink recipes your family can enjoy? Here are our favorites!

I could sip on hot drinks all day long. I start my day with coffee, make herbal tea mid-morning, have coffee again in the afternoon, then more tea in the evening… (and yes, I drink water all day too). ;)

There’s just something so cozy and comforting about hot drinks. When I ever have a chance to sit and visit with someone, sipping on a hot drink makes it 100% better – I’m not sure why? Am I the only one?

At Christmastime, these drinks taste even better. I give credit to the beauty of the Christmas lights I’m looking at while sipping drinks. :)

Here are our favorite Family Christmas Drink Recipes

  1. The Best Hot Cocoa
  2. Chocolate Mint Soother
  3. Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink
  4. Warm Vanilla Soother
  5. Warm Chocolate Soother
  6. Hot Vanilla Milk
  7. White Hot Chocolate
  8. Crockpot Cranberry Apple Cider
  9. Homemade Healthier Eggnog
  10. Christmas Juice Punch

More ideas!

  • Make this Peppermint Whipped Cream for your coffee or hot cocoa.
  • Pick up some special tea varieties at Trader Joe’s or another favorite store. Enjoy these while you visit with family or friends.
  • Sip your favorite drinks in holiday mugs. They taste better this way. ;)
  • Put this Healthier Hot Chocolate Mix together to make Hot Chocolate quickly.
  • Make any of the above “Soother” recipes to drink at breakfast-time. They fill your children and warm them up before starting a school day.

 

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