Cranberry Orange Macadamia Bars

My husband loves the seasonal Cranberry Bliss Bars from Starbucks, so I thought I would try to make something similar for him at home.  Most of the recipes I looked at used dried cranberries and orange extract, neither of which I love in my baked goods, so I baked a batch using fresh cranberries and the zest of a couple of clementine mandarins.  I also have a thing for nuts in my baked goods, so I had to throw in some macadamia nuts too!

Carousel Dessert Table

Carousel Dessert Table from My Life, My Loves

Cupcake Fondue

Talk about a fun idea for a birthday party! (or a Valentine's Party because we don't have any birthdays coming up.)  Cupcake fondue:

You can get the recipe over at Pint Size Social for the fondue frosting, but ganache would work really well too.  Or heck, have both!  with the hundreds of toping choices you could have endless cupcake possibilities.

And of course you need those cute pink polka dot cups too!


via Cupcake Takes the Cake

Hot Chocolate Bar

Cottage Elements has a hot chocolate stand instead of a bar in her house:

pretty fun:

Even if you aren't going to keep it out all of the time, it is fun for when you have guest over:

image from The Bride and Groom

You can have traditional cocoa toppings like marshmallows and peppermint candies, and some not so traditional ones like candied ginger, caramel squares, and orange rinds.  Even flavored syrups, cinnamon sticks, candy bars or chocolate chips.

Red and White Christmas Dessert Table

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and I am SO EXCITED!

Celebrations at Home has started featuring beautiful Christmas Dessert tables and I love this one from The White Library:

And this Christmas candy table it beautiful too:

I can't wait to see all of the fun ideas that are going to show up for Christmas parties!!

Tissue Paper Flower Headboard

I found this tissue paper headboard idea from Baby Night Night Boutique on One Pretty Thing:

This probably wouldn't last long in my house, but I think this is the PERFECT backdrop for a party dessert table.  Red and green for a Christmas party anyone?

If you don't know how to make these cute tissue paper pom poms, I posted about them HERE.  They are so easy and fun to make.  You can even layer the colors.  I made candy corn pom poms for the tables at our Fall Festival, unfortunately I didn't take a single picture that night to show you how cute they were.

Banana Split Bites

These cute little treats are from Baker's Royale:

They are banana split bites that would be pretty cute on just about any dessert table at any party.  They are even easily dressed up for Halloween.  Did you know you can buy orange maraschino cherries?  One of my favorite restaurants in AZ uses all sorts of colorful cherries.  They are actually different flavors.

But even without the orange cherries you could use some black and orange non perils that are super easy to find in the stores this time of year and it would be perfect.

You can see how to make these treats HERE and if you love the mini bite sized treat idea, Frost Me is featuring a bunch of them on her blog HERE.

PS - If you are wondering why these are called banana split bites when there isn't any ice cream, you need to go check them out, because there is ice cream tucked inside each one!

Pumpkin Trifle

The City Cradle has some great images of pumpkin treats on her blog from Katie Grace Designs:

I love the idea of making little pumpkin pies, especially these that look like more crust than filling!  I am all about the pie crust and whipped cream:

And these mason jars have pumpkin trifle inside:

She didn't have a recipe for it on her blog, but this recipe from Paula Deen looks like it would work:

Paula Deen's Spiced Pumpkin Mousse Trifle

What you need:

2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix
1 (5.1-ounce) box cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional

What you do:

Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely.
Prepare the pudding and set aside to cool.
Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding.
Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.

So I would take the recipe, use real whipped cream instead of whipped topping because I refuse to eat whipped topping, and layer it in glass jars!  So cute!

Train Party Sweet Station

I saw this at Kara's Party Ideas:

It is from a party by Sweets Indeed:

And I fell in love with the boxes of treats.  They are gorgeous on their own, but even more fun when you realize that they are box cars on a train:

You can check out the rest of this amazing Train Station HERE.

Sundae Bar Made Easy

Instead of setting up an elaborate sundae bar outside for a party (where the ice cream will probably melt before people decide which toppings they want to load on top of their dessert) you can use this idea from Country Living and add the toppings to the cone before the party:

Just dip the cones in melted white or milk chocolate and roll in toppings.  Marshmallows, coconut flakes, chopped nuts, crushed cookies,  candy chips, or sprinkles and let the guests scoop up their ice cream of choice.