We had a garage sale fundraiser on Saturday, so we were busy all day from early morning until late afternoon.  Our friends graciously hosted our sale for us at their house (where there is a lot more traffic than there is here in the country).  That evening, they were also hosting a big dessert party at their house.  We only had a couple of hours in between to clean up and haul all the remnants of the garage sale away.  I wanted to bring a dessert to the party, so I chose this simple dessert.  It was super easy to make, and it was a big hit. It is definitely a cobbler, with a bread-like cake.  The difference is that the spices added give it that holiday flavor.  We served this with vanilla ice cream at the party, and it was delicious.

Holiday Cherry Cobbler
Ingredients:
16-oz. can cherry filling (light or regular)
1 pckg. cake mix for white or yellow layer cake
2 eggs
6 Tbsp. evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Instructions:
1. Spray slow cooker with cooking spray.
2.  Spread pie filling in bottom of cooker.
3.  Cover.  Cook on High 30 minutes.
4.  Meanwhile, in a medium-sized mixing bowl mix together cake mix, egg, evaporated milk, cinnamon, and walnuts.
5.  Spoon over hot pie filling.  Do not stir.
6.  Cover.  Cook on Low 2-3 hours, or until toothpick inserted in cake layer comes out clean.

Last night, we went to a little live nativity that is held just down the street from us every year.  It is really a sweet time, with a hike through the woods on the grounds of a lovely piece of land that has a management training school and a beautiful wedding chapel on the property.  They do a great job of acting and leading people along a “journey” to find the baby Messiah.  Along the way, we encounter an innkeeper, a Centurion, a scribe of King Herod, some Shepherds, and finally, Mary, Joseph and the Baby.  It’s so sweet, and we can literally walk there from our house.  I did make a dinner in the crock pot, but it’s one I’ve shared already.  So, I also made a nice holiday hot drink as an alternative to hot chocolate.  It’s a bit different, and not really sweet, but very soothing.  If you wanted to make this sweeter, I’m sure you could, but I found it very good just the way it is in the recipe.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I doubled it so I would have some left over, which can be reheated or used as a coffee creamer (I tried that this morning, and it was good).

Vanilla Steamer (makes 8 servings)
8 cups milk
1/8 tsp. cinnamon, or 2 3″-long cinnamon sticks
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg

Ideas for garnish to serve:
whipped topping
sprinkling of ground cinnamon
mini marshmallows
candy cane stirrers
white chocolate shavings

Instructions:
1.  Put all ingredients except whipped topping and sprinkling of ground cinnamon in slow cooker.
2.  Cover.  Cook on Low 2-3 hours, taking care to make sure it doesn’t boil.
3.  Garnish individual servings with whipped topping and a sprinkling if you wish.  Other serving options include mini-marshmallows, candy cane stirrers, white chocolate shavings, etc.