You walk down the street and come across a quaint little shop that is lit up with white lights. The snowflakes glow as they fall onto the sparkling white ground. As you walk to the door you can smell sweet treats inside. Just above the door there is a wooden sign that says "Christmas Cafe". You open the door and are surprised to see a huge room scattered with beautifully carved wooden tables, lit by white Christmas lights and the glow of a warm fire. The windows and the mantel of the fireplace are lined with garland and lights. You can here Christmas music playing Softly . As you scan the room you see that there is a bar to your left that looks into a massive kitchen. The smell of amazing treats tickle your nose as you take a deep breath. Suddenly you hear a soft voice coming from your feet " Why hello there! you look hungry.", you look down to see a small puffadore.

"Oh my where are my manners! My name is Pepper, and welcome to the Christmas Cafe! Here come have a seat at the bar and I will explain more and we can get cooking!". You make your way to the bar and Pepper Pulls out an old book that was twice her size and drags it onto the counter. She dusts off the cover and writing starts to sparkle on to the once blank cover. When she is done you read the cover that now sparkles with red writing, "Seasonal Secrets". Tis the season for tasty treats!" Pepper says and the cover opens to the first page.

Seasonal Secrets

December 1^st

Melted Snowman Sugar Cookies!


Ingredents:[/img]
* (1) Egg
* (1) Cup Country Crock(butter)
* (1) Cup Sugar
* (2) Tsp. Vanilla Extract
* (2 2/3) Cup Flour
* (1 1/2) Tsp. Baking Powder
* (1/2) Tsp. Salt
* (1) Peanut Butter Cups
* (1) Orange Sprinkles
* (1) White Cookie Icing
* (1) Brown Icing (you wont need much so he smallest container will work)

Cooking the cookies!
Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Beat Country Crock Spread with sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla scraping sides occasionally, until blended. Beat in flour, baking powder and salt just until blended. (Do not overbeat).
Using lightly floured hands shape dough by 2 tablespoonfuls into balls. Arrange 3-inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Gently press balls into 2-1/2-inch circles. Pinch bottom to form point of "heart". Gently indent dough in center on top to shape into "heart".
Bake 12 to 14 minutes until edges are lightly golden. Cool 2 minutes on wire rack; remove from sheets and cool completely.

Decorating:

With the white icing trace a squiggly circle onto the cookie to create his body. If you want to do scarfs with food colloring trace the outline somewhere in or on your circle(I put a template of mine below). If you have thick icing it may help the heat it up a little for this next part. Be careful not to melt it to much, you just want it soft about the consistency of pancake batter. Okay now that your icing is all warm and melted fill in the squiggly circle with your icing. Be sure to not over fill it just zigzag across it first you can always add more but you cant take away ;). Then spread your icing around with a toothpick or fork or what ever something small. IF you are really OCD like me the toothpick takes a little longer but it works the best. Add icing if needed until you have a cute little melted puddle of snow!

Next is the hat or scarf ( I have not tried the scarf so its not in the ingredients, but I have an idea) for the hat you will need bite size and regular peanut butter cups. Take a regular and a bite sized cup and cut them both in half. Next cut the bottom off of the regular sized cup to make the brim of the hat. Now place them on the icing, a little closer to the top, depending on where you want his head to go. I find it easier to place them both at the same time its a little less messy. For the scarf you will need either red food coloring or red fruit roll-ups, or something thin or that you can press easily (unfortunately airheads do not press well). For the food coloring take a little of your white icing and mix it with the red coloring until you get the desired color. next fill in the outline you made earlier smoothing it out like you did for the circle. (a toothpick would work best here) for the fruit roll-ups just cut out your design and place it where you want it.

Give the first layer of icing some time to dry. Next we will do the face. we will do this just like the first circle just line it up with the hat and make it a semi-circle. after you fill in the circle use a orange sprinkle for his little carrot nose! and use the black icing to make dots for his eyes ( I guess you could add buttons with the brown icing too)

Ta da!
Cost per recipe*: $2.70 (without decorations)
The price of decoration ingredients vary the most expensive thing is probably the icing
Here is a link to Ro's Video she shows two other recipes too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyDbKj_l1X8

December 2^nd

Chocolate cherry Mice! (kids cant get enough of them)

Ingredients
12 maraschino cherries with stems (about 1 jar) (any cherries will work I believe)
4 ounces favorite chocolate (semisweet, bittersweet or milk), chopped
1 tablespoon coconut oil (and its good for your hair!)
1 dozen chocolate kisses (white or milk, or whatever they are all adorable), unwrapped
24 pieces sliced almonds
Pearl candy sprinkle thingies (at least 24)

Directions
Clean the cherries (ain't nobody got time for germs it's Christmas). dry the cherries on a papertowl, pat dry gently if necessary. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and let the fun began!
Melt together the chopped chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl set over a pan of slightly simmering water, or if you have one of those fancy chocolate melt thingies that works. Stir until uniform and completely melted. Remove the bowl from the heat(we don't want it to burn while we dip the mice).

Holding a cherry by the stem, dip it in the melted chocolate, rolling to coat completely. Allow excess chocolate to drain off before placing the cherry on its side on the baking sheet (the stem should stick out from the side rather than the top to make his cute little tail). Repeat with the remaining cherries and chocolate.Now that we have our army of chocolate mice place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow them to set.

If the remaining chocolate mixture in the bowl has hardened, reheat over simmering water until melted again. Remove the mouse army from the refrigerator. Dip the flat end of a chocolate kiss into the melted chocolate, allowing excess to drain off, and then place onto the end opposite the stem end of a cherry. While holding the kiss in place, add 2 almond slices between the cherry and kiss to make their ears. Use a toothpick to add 2 small dots of melted chocolate to the front of the kiss, to glue on the pearl candy sprinkle thingies for his eyes. Repeat until all the mice have eyes.

Place the baking sheet back in the refrigerator to set up for at least 15 minutes.

And your Christmas Mice Army is complete!
Not as explanatory as Ro's video but its to too bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q-dvsU4Vk8

Fire Side Cutie Pies

By the fireplace there sits a large basket trimmed with red ribbon with eggs inside. Hatch-lings play and nap around the fireplace. " You can nurture them if you wish" says a voice from behind you. As you turn around you are suprised to see a lovely lighera.

"I'm Dancer and I watch over the little ones while they play, they love attention, and they seem to like you too" she smiles ad then curls up beside the basket watching the hatch-lings play.

reserve

reserve

reserve

Its December 2^nd and i have added a recipe that's super easy! Also I added an activity and will have another one set tomorrow!

i love the ryos, they are soooo gorgeous!! <3

Edit: Actually all of them are

Haha I thought so too, but they are not mine I figured it would be a nice little gift to put others pets up to get nurtured.

oh that is nice!!