Turn your table into a winter wonderland

Rockwall, TX (November 25, 2023) – It’s the most wonderful time of the year! For last year’s annual Christmas party, I transformed my dining room into a winter wonderland. Red and green get all the glory during the holidays but people forget how gorgeous winter white can be! Twinkling lights added a bit of sparkle to the snowy scene. We warmed up with my signature gumbo from The Rose Table Cookbook, my famous cranberry brie bites, and chocolate peppermint pie. My festive (and easy!) cranberry lemon punch really popped against the white and silver table!

See all of my dinner parties on The Rose Table’s Facebook page or YouTube channel and get all of my holiday recipes on Christmas section of therosetable.com. Happy holidays!

Cranberry Lemon Punch
3 cups cranberry juice
3 cups lemonade
Optional: 1 cup vodka, champagne, or gin
Serving suggestion: lemon slices, fresh cranberries, mint sprigs

Combine ingredients in a pitcher. Garnish with lemon slices, fresh cranberry, and mint sprigs.

Chocolate Peppermint Pie
For the cookie crust:

24 Oreos

1/4 cup butter, melted

For the filling:

1/3 cup cornstarch
2 Tbsp Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 and 1/2 cups milk
1 cup granulated sugar
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp unsalted cold butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 tsp peppermint extract

For the topping:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 candy canes, crushed

First, make the crust. Pulverize Oreo cookies in a food processor until fine. Stream in melted butter and pulverize until the consistency of wet sand. Spoon crust into a greased 9″ pie plate, working crumbs all the way up the sides of the pie plate. Pop in the freezer while you make the filling. (It should freeze for at least 30 minutes.)
Whisk together cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt in a small bowl. Stream in heavy cream and whisk until well combined. Set aside.
In a sauce pan, combine milk, sugar, and chopped chocolate. Cook over medium heat until chocolate is melted and the ingredients are well combined.
Take one cup of the chocolate-milk mixture and pour it into the cocoa-cream mixture, whisking as you pour. Once combined, pour this mixture back into the sauce pan and stir it all together.
Return saucepan to heat and cook over medium heat for a few more minutes, until the mixture thickens considerably and thickly coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and whisk in cold butter and peppermint extract.
Pour pie filling into prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pie. Refrigerate for six hours or overnight to set.
To make the whipped cream, beat heavy whipping cream with a metal whisk in a metal bowl until thickened. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. Pipe whipped cream on top of pipe and top with crushed candy canes.

By Blue Ribbon News special contributor Katie-Rose Watson, who often covers Rockwall on therosetable.com, from the Farmers Market to Founder’s Day Festival. The Rose Table has over 200,000 fans on Facebook (fb.com/therosetable), millions of video views, and can be found on TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube @therosetable. The Rose Table’s Fairytale Collection is now available on shoptherosetable.com.