These centerpieces will dazzle everyone at your table and the kids will be so proud they helped! They are an easy tradition they’ll remember for years to come.
Christmas Wreath Fruit Pizza
Ingredients:
1 tube of sugar cookie dough (or mix made by directions on box).
cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. milk
1 8-oz pkg. Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
Strawberries, halved
Blueberries
Raspberries
Blackberries (or fruit of your choice)
Mint sprigs for garnish
1 tsp. Lemon or lime juice
Directions:
1. Grease pizza pan and the sides of a small Pyrex bowl and preheat oven according to cookie dough package instructions.
- Spread cookie mixture evenly in a ring on pizza pan and bake the time listed in the instructions. (If using mix, make according to package instructions.)
- In a mixing bowl, mix the softened cream cheese, sugar, milk and lime or lemon juice with a hand mixer.
- Once cookie crust has cooled completely, spread cream cheese mixture on top of crust.
- Arrange fruit in rows atop the cream cheese mixture. Add mint sprigs for garnish and place in the center of the dessert table!
Mini Cheeseball Pops
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. salted butter, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
tsp. Worcestershire sauce
tsp. hot sauce
eshly ground black pepper
¼ cup cheddar cheese, freshly shredded
Toppings:
cup dried cranberries
cup nuts, crushed (almonds, pecans or walnuts)
cup green onion, finely chopped
12-15 pretzel sticks
Instructions:
- In a medium bowl, add the butter, cream cheese, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and pepper. Beat with a hand mixer until combined and smooth. Stir in cheddar cheese.
- Use a spoon to divide mixture into 12-15 tablespoon-size portions. Dip your clean hands in a little water and smooth each portion into a small ball. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
- Before serving, roll the balls into cranberries, nuts or green onions and place a pretzel stick in each. Serve immediately.
Gumdrop Tree Craft
Ingredients & Materials:
Styrofoam cone
Mini-gumdrops (multi-color or just red and green)
Toothpicks, broken into thirds
Directions:
Break toothpicks into thirds and stick halfway into a mini gumdrop. Place the remaining half of the toothpick into the Styrofoam. Repeat until cone is full. An option is to use only red and green mini-gumdrops and place them in rows (a row of red, a row of green).
Consider placing the craft into a planter, onto a plate, or making a few with cones of different sizes and placing them onto a tray as a centerpiece. These are edible for a few days before they harden, but remember they are a choking hazard for small children! If you’d like to keep it around for a season or longer, spray with polyurethane, and we suggest keeping a bowl of fresh edible ones nearby, so no one is tempted to try the gumdrop tree!
