For me the most important part of the holiday season is getting together with family & friends, to catch up on our busy lives and show them how much we care. We do this through kitchen parties, sit down dinners, drop ins, hot chocolate and movies, cookie exchanges and so many more events, that always seem to be centred around food! Food brings people together and it’s always fun to come up with some new ideas for party foods and gifts.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a holiday party hosted by President’s Choice. It felt like the first get together of the season with so many blogging friends in attendance! Their theme this year was #TwistsonTradition and they had some great suggestions for how to change up your holiday food and decorating style.
Chef Kathy Jollimore and her staff whipped up an incredible appetizer display, dinner, and multiple desserts from the #PCInsidersCollection of holiday treats and ingredients. The room was decorated beautifully and we got to meet some of the local suppliers that President’s Choice has been working with for up to 30 years! It’s incredible to see how a big brand is making a difference in our community.
One of my favourite appetizers, that you could serve with any meal, was the candied smoked salmon on the Seacuterie board.
For supper we had turkey with two stuffings, greens with the new PC® Memories of Eggs Benedict Hollandaise Sauce which was amazing and the really interesting Za’atar Crusted Cauliflower Steaks with Mint, Yogurt and Garlic Oil. Check out MMM is for Mommy’s post for the recipes!
And who could resist all of these amazing desserts!
Hot Chocolate Sweet Tray
Tonight I used some of the mouth watering new #PCInsidersCollection sweets to create a hot chocolate & sweet tray you could serve your guests for desert or after a fun day outdoors!
I used the PC® The Decadent® Chocolate Ganache Pots to make the hot chocolate fast in the microwave. It was rich and delicious. I added PC® Maple & Bacon Popcorn, PC® Italian Chocolate Truffle Trio, PC® Hot Cocoa & Marshmallow Fudge and PC® Organics Mint European Dark Chocolate. I used the decorating tips I learned at our dinner to use my wrapping paper as a quick and festive table cover along with a festive table runner and a decorative tray from President’s Choice as a focal piece of metallic, which is very popular this holiday season.
One of our treats at the dinner was Mint Chocolate Chunk Shortbread cookies made with the mint chocolate bar chopped up. They were absolutely delicious! Here’s the recipe for you to try at home, but don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the page to RSVP for our President’s Choice Twitter Party on November 30th!
Mint Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies
Serves: 24
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Chill time: 1 hour
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
Per serving: 140 calories, fat 9 g, sodium 40 mg, carbohydrate 15 g, fibre 1 g, protein 1 g
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup (250 g) PC® Organics Unsalted Fresh Churned Butter, softened
- 3/4 cup (175 mL) icing sugar
- 1 tsp (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
- 1-½ cups (375 mL) PC® Organics Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- ½ cup (125 mL) cornstarch
- ½ tsp (2 mL) kosher salt
- 1 bar (100 g) PC® Organics Mint European Dark Chocolate, finely chopped
- ¼ cup (50 mL) granulated sugar
DIRECTIONS
- Place butter, icing sugar and vanilla in stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or bowl with electric mixer). Beat on medium-high speed 2 to 3 minutes or until creamy and light in colour. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt; add half to butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Add remaining flour mixture; beat just until combined. Beat in chocolate.
- Divide dough in half; place each half on a piece of plastic wrap; using plastic wrap, roll each into a tight log about 6 inches long. Chill 1 hour or until firm.
- Preheat oven to 325˚F (160˚C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove one log from refrigerator; unwrap and cut crosswise with sharp knife into 12, 1/2–inch thick slices. (If dough crumbles from chocolate pieces, just press back into an even shape.) Dip each slice into granulated sugar to coat all over; place on one prepared baking sheet.
- Bake in centre of oven 15 to 18 minutes or until light golden at edges and baked through. Cool on sheets on rack.
- Repeat with remaining dough. Discard any remaining granulated sugar.
#PCInsidersCollection Twitter Party RSVP
I hope you will join me on November 30th as the East Coast Moms host our second President’s Choice Twitter Party. We’ll be sharing more of our favourite products, recipes and fun holiday decorating ideas plus we’ll be giving away $1,000 in prizes of President’s Choice gift cards!
Leave a Reply