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Merry Christmas Reader!

I know you are just as busy as I am this week, but I wanted to take a second to help with your Christmas planning, just in case you waited til the last minute to gather up some recipes.

Here are my favorites for Christmas dinner:

• ​Chocolate cherry cheesecake - This gets rave reviews every time I make it, and it's my favorite cheesecake ever. Layers of rich, creamy almond-flavored cheesecake and sweet cherry pie filling, topped with thick chocolate ganache. This needs to cool overnight, so don't leave it til Christmas morning.
• ​Chocolate peppermint cheesecake - This is like a York peppermint patty in cheesecake form. There are mint chocolate chips throughout the cheesecake filling, and then of course a layer of chocolate ganache. It's scrumptious. Also needs to cool overnight, so needs to be prepared a day ahead.
• ​Make ahead French toast casserole - This is my mom's famous recipe. It's stuffed with a cream cheese filling, and you make it the night before, let it soak in the fridge, and pop it in the oven on Christmas morning. It's a family tradition for us.
• ​Southern sweet tea - This is the very best old fashioned recipe!
• ​Candied sweet potatoes - The syrup on these potatoes includes orange juice which sends it out of this world!
• ​Crockpot sweet potato casserole - This is a healthier sweet potato side dish that cooks all day in the slow cooker.
• ​The easiest cherry pie ever made - You will die when you see how stupid easy this pie is. It's hardly even a recipe, but every year, so many people email me and thank me for posting it. 🤷‍♀️
• ​Crockpot mashed potatoes - These are the best mashed potatoes ever made because they have sour cream and cream cheese mixed in. Heaven.

I've got tons more holiday recipes on the site for things like green bean casserole, Grinch cupcakes, homemade eggnog, and pecan pie as well as how to spatchcock your turkey so that it roasts in a fraction of the time and comes out the juiciest bird you've ever eaten. Click here for the entire list of all recipes for all the year's holidays.

Good luck! Hit reply and let me know how you like my recipes!