Author: Briana Meshkofski

We’ve hit November which means Hot Chocolate season is officially here. All of October I fill myself up with pumpkin spice iced lattes, so by this time of the fall season.. I’m ready for some cozy hot drinks to cuddle up with. By the name of this drink it doesn’t seem like it is the easiest thing in the world to create, but it absolutely without a doubt, is! This hot chocolate would even be great to double or triple the recipe, and have it kept held warm in a crock pot for guests while entertaining for Friendsgiving, or a seasonal soiree with your closest girls! It tastes like autumn..with dessert sweetness and lots of warm spice.. everything you could want in a warm toasty beverage!

Normally, as you guys know I love to do step by step instructions on how I go about creating all my dishes that I have on the blog, but it wouldn’t serve any purpose showing you the things I’m putting into boiling milk ..due to that fact that as soon as the ingredients dropped into the pot, everything would go right to the bottom. Therefore I’m going to create a simple recipe down below ..

• Pour four cups of milk into a soup pot ( one cup of milk per serving)
• After the milk comes to a boil – on medium high heat, use a whisk to whisk in two tablespoons of cocoa powder
• Scoop in one cup of pumpkin puree
• Drop in one cup of milk chocolate chips and one cup of cinnamon chips
• Lastly for sweetness instead of adding sugar.. drizzle in one half cup of caramel syrup!       

Stir the hot chocolate off and on for five minutes, letting it simmer, ensuring that all of the flavors are combined, and that our drink will be hot hot hot! 

Fill your festive cups with the yummy chocolatey goodness!

— SIDENOTE: If you would like to get your party on ( And you are 21 years of age) you could always splash in some chocolate liquor.. that would be super good, and a nice boozy touch! (;

To top this delicious drink off, dollop whipped cream as high as you could pile.. drizzle with caramel, drop some left over chocolate & cinnamon chips onto the pillowy-goodness, sprinkle pumpkin jimmies on top, and finish with a warm scented cinnamon stick!

Everyone knows theres nothing better than a delicious cup of hot chocolate, but this is next level hot chocolate, and it is a MUST TRY!!

I loved this so so much that I decided to make it a series on the blog.. so be prepared for seasonal hot chocolates as the holidays/seasons change!   xoxo

Something I mean to do every October is have an Oktoberfest party with all kinds of German food, and goodies to go along with the theme. Planning a themed party where the food and decor are a match made in heaven is my absolute favorite thing in the world to tackle. It makes me super happy doing something that gets me excited.. letting me have fun while doing what I do best, and I am the best at throwing bashes (; Now, there are many different types of munchies/appetizers that you could put out for an Oktoberfest bash, but the two flavors I wanted to focus on was mustard and cheese! When mentioning mustard and cheese.. my first thoughts were pretzels!  Pretzels are a must have on an Oktoberfest platter .. hard and soft! Some other things that I thought would pair exquisitely on this tray are mini sweet gherkin pickles for a tart, vinegary bite, ring bologna, fresh radishes, and sharp cheddar cheese; that goes incredible with this sweet and tangy vidalia onion relish.

You could see how gorgeous the radishes are this season, and how beautiful the relish looked. In this picture it even almost reminds me of jelly! So so yummy!!

Of course the snacks on this tray are super addictive and totally celebrate Oktoberfest.. but the star of this platter is for sure the creamy dijon cheddar dip. Not only does it pair amazing with the pretzels, but it literally goes with everything scattered around! If you’re having lots of company over I would go ahead and double the recipe! It will go fast – beware ! lol

To start the dip off, you’ll need to drop 8 oz of cream cheese into a glass mixing bowl.

In with the cream cheese, add one cup of mayonnaise.

For the mustardy-ness that I was talking about earlier,  revolving around the flavors of our food will come now!

Just go ahead and add two tablespoons of yellow mustard, and three tablespoons of dijon mustard with our creamy ingredients.

Whisk everything together using a hand mixer! If you prefer using a kitchen aid you’re more than welcome, or if you do not have either, you may use a kitchen whisk. It will mix together either way!

After combining everything.. throw in four dashes of hot sauce, dried parsley, granulated onion, paprika, salt, and pepper to taste.

Lastly, for richness and cheesiness.. pile in three cups of shredded Colby jack cheese.

Grease a small, deep casserole oven dish.

Spoon the dip into the greased dish, and top with paprika.

• Bake at 350 degrees for a half an hour. 

I mean come on, how glorious and cheesy does that look!!! Grab a pretzel on the sneak while it’s hot and take a taste! You won’t regret it, and no-one will know because we are transferring it into a serving bowl.

Mid platter making – to kind of show you guys how to plan out where you will put your bowls and where you’ll place your actual pieces of food.

Since the previous picture only got a shot of the relish.. look at those pickles!! How CUTE are they?! lol

You can choose any hard pretzels you would like, but honey wheat is what I decided on. I truly felt that the sweetness would pair amazingly with the dijon dip!

Your guests will love everything about this platter. It’s gorgeous and it definitely has everything you could want to snack on for an Oktoberfest bash. My family thought that the pretzels not only went super well with the dip, but even the relish. Everything complimented each other to a T. This is a must try, and should be on everyones October bucket list. It’s fun, exciting, and thrilling to try out something out of everyones, everyday comfort party food.

This is essential.. and I probably don’t even have to mention it, because you guys are already getting your bottle openers ready, but BEER is a need while indulging in these snacks! It is an October MUST HAVE for Oktoberfest festivities.

Get your Oktoberfest on before it’s over and we’re onto Thanksgiving! 

Oh gosh diamonds.. where did the year go? 

                                                          xoxo 

This is for sure dessert snacking at it’s finest! YES, you heard me correctly.. “dessert snacking” is a thing, and if you’ve never experienced it, you must! It’s kind of like when you sit in front of the big screen, and dip bread cubs into a delicious, cold, creamy dip of some sort. In the case, you’re snacking sweet, so the same is super super fitting!! You can munch on this at a party you’re planning on hosting, or at midnight with your honey, and a spiked coffee in hand.

When you imagine the ultimate entertaining/party food this is exactly what should come to your mind. This dip is next level, inventive, colorful, and FUN!

It is everything that you love and want in a cannoli, but even more amazing because of the mini candy treasures folded inside, but it is HALF the work!  In this crazy world we all live in, with crazy lives, who doesn’t love something thats going to be a hit, as well as  knowing that it will take a fraction of prep work in the kitchen? That’s everything that everybody wants, especially when preparing for a huge bash!

In a bowl, drop in one package of 8 oz. cream cheese.

Sprinkle in one cup of powdered sugar.

Scoop in two cups of whole milk, ricotta cheese. Don’t skimp and buy low fat ladies! We’re not going to count calories with this luxurious, cheesy mixture!

Lastly, add one teaspoon of vanilla extract. 

The delightful mixture! Unmixed, of course.

With a hand mixer, beat everything together to create a gorgeous thick and fluffy mixture. To the eye, it will almost resemble a nice silky pie filling!

All mixed together! This delectable, white glorious site will just need to be finished with our crunchy candy!

I chopped up pretzel filled chocolate coated candies, mini chocolate bars, and wafer chocolate coated candy bars

I cut them into small chunks, kind of mimicking the size of chocolate chunks that you would use for chocolate chunk cookies.

These are some what difficult to chop up with even the sharpest knife because of the pretzel ball inside of the candy coated chocolate, so you might want to use to back of the knife to smash them into small pieces before cutting.

Scrape the candy into the bowl using the side of your knife.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the candy into the dip to combine everything, making sure each piece of candy is scattered throughout.

I garnished our cannoli dip with some more pretty color coated chocolate candies to make it look cutesy and to give fun vibes!

I also placed in two cannoli chips to add a little extra somethin’, somethin’, and so someone can get right to digging in because you know everyone is going to dive right into this!

Even if you’re not too much into cannolis, this dip is a must try!

Look how crispy, crunchy, and sugary these little triangles are. OH MY!

These mini chips also have powdered sugar baked into them, so it makes them even more addicting!

Next time on the blog, I’ll be back with another snack attack, but this time, savory and very fall fabulous! Have fun sweet snacking, Diamonds xo