Awesome!

Hooray for me! I am blogging 2 days in a row. So here are some awesome recipes. My husband loves polenta and the recipe below sounds so good. How cute are those santa hats. I will try to make these for my husband's family when they come over for Christmas. The white chocolate sounds good but I think I will use buttercream frosting.

Santa Hat Brownie Bites
Adapted from The Crafty Kook

1 box brownie mix
24 small strawberries
2 cups white chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 1 mini-muffin pan
- Prepare brownie mix according to box's instructions and fill cavities 3/4 of the way full (I had some leftover brownie mix that I just baked off as regular brownies because I didn't have enough strawberries)
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean
- Let brownies cool and use this time to hull and clean the strawberries
- Once cool, place strawberries upside down onto brownie bites
- Melt white chocolate in a double boiler and transfer into a piping bag
- Pipe a ring around the base and a small dot on top -- work quickly, the white chocolate can dry fast and clog up your tip!

This awesome recipe is from www.ericasweettooth.com

The polenta recipe is from http://daisyt13.wordpress.com/

For the Polenta
Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt (1 used at least 1 tablespoon)
1 cup polenta
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons lemon thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method:
Bring the water, milk, and salt to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta. Add the goat cheese and lemon thyme. Turn heat to low, and continue whisking for 5 minutes, or until polenta is smooth and creamy. Spread the polenta in a 9×9 baking dish, and set aside to cool. Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into another skillet. Cut the polenta into desired shape, and cook over medium heat until slightly browned and crusty on one side, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook the other sides another two minutes.

For the Topping
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 yellow onion, halved and sliced in 1/4″ slices
3 slices cooked bacon, medium-diced
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
honey, to drizzle

Method:
While the polenta is setting up, add the butter and olive oil to a skillet. Add the sliced onions and a sprinkle of kosher salt, and cook, over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until soft and caramelized, about 20-25 minutes.

Assembly:
To assemble, place polenta cake on a plate, top each cake with caramelized onions, bacon, and crumbled goat cheese, and drizzle with honey.