What I'm Cooking Wednesday: A Party Appetizer and Cookie

This week I wanted to share a couple of party foods with Christmas and New Years coming up. The first recipe is my favorite appetizer: Buffalo Chicken Dip. If you haven't tried it yet...YOU NEED TO. It's the best.

The second recipe is my favorite Christmas cookie: Russian Tea Cakes. I've been talking about these on the blog for weeks. They're that good! Try them now!

Okay, here's the first recipe:


Buffalo chicken dip is perfect for any party, and so easy to make! Here's the breakdown:

Serves: 20
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes to boil chicken + 5 minutes to heat ingredients = 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast OR 2 (1o ounce) cans chunk chicken
3/4 c hot pepper sauce
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 c Ranch dressing
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. If using real chicken, boil it for 25 minutes, then shred it into very small pieces.
2. Heat chicken (canned or real) and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and Ranch dressing and heat until melted. Stir in the cheddar cheese, and cook until heated through and melted.

And that's it! Serve it with tortilla chips or chicken-flavored crackers. You can adjust the hotness of the dip by adding more or less hot sauce. If it were up to me, I'd add a little bit more, but I know not everyone loves hot things as much as I do. I sure do love my Frank's Red Hot sauce!!

Mmm, look at that chicken coated in hot sauce. I could probably eat it just like that! You'll notice in the recipe that I said you could make it with canned chicken or real. I definitely prefer real, but it's obviously a little easier and quicker if you use canned.

The finished product is unbelievable. Definitely not a good one to make if you're on a diet, because you won't be able to stop eating it!

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Next up:


Now I'm going to be honest and tell you that I never quite got around to finishing these this year (that picture is from last year), but they are just so delicious, I wanted to share the recipe anyway. I use a recipe from allrecipes.com, so HERE is the link. Perfect for Christmas or New Year's Eve parties! Make them. You'll thank me later!

Past Wednesdays:
Christmas Treats

Next Wednesday I'll be sharing one of Luke's very favorite meals, so come back! It's a good one!

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Now I must sign off and go revel in the fact that my Christmas shopping is done, and I just completed all the wrapping, too!!:

Also, tomorrow is my last day of work this year! Ahh, life is good!