The holiday season always comes in like such a whirlwind. One moment you are worried about where you’ll be going for Thanksgiving, and the next moment December is here, and it’s time to enjoy getting together and celebrating the season.

We always put up our Christmas tree the morning of Black Friday instead of shopping – it’s one of my favorite traditions!

This year I’m focusing on celebrating some of my most important blessings – as I put it in a recent holiday invitation, togetherness, community, friendship and great food!

It was a pleasure to gather recently with some of my favorite blogger friends to do this as well – we all met up for a delightful holiday-themed potluck and created dishes using products from Bob’s Red Mill and Tillamook.

It’s such a delight to have such great quality ingredients from Oregon to work with – there’s nothing like sharing food with your friends and knowing that you put your absolute best into it – including the things that went into the food itself.

To celebrate the season, I created two brunchy cocktails. First, I used cake mix in a fun way – as the rim on a drink! It just happened to look perfectly like snow. And secondly, I thought a warm drink would be in order, so I created an affogato using Bob’s Red Mill carob powder – and with a little Sweet Cream Gelato stirred in.

Check out what my fellow bloggers brought to the potluck – Alison Wu’s Chia Seed Cranberry Parfaits , Holly and Natalie of The Modern Proper’s Sweet Cardamom Almond Rolls, Carly Diaz’s Yogurt Oat Cakes with Cranberry-Blueberry Compote, Christiann Koepke’s Spinach, Tomato & White Cheddar Quiche featuring a Hazelnut Crust,  and Caramelized Onion, Chanterelle, Goat Cheese Quiche with Buckwheat Crust, and Mary of The Kitchen Paper’s Garlicky Kale Salad with Delicata, Couscous, Cranberry and Pepitas.

Orange Spice Cake Mimosa

2 oz. orange juice (fresh squeezed, if possible!)
1 oz. bourbon
1 oz. demerara simple syrup
5 dashes cardamom bitters (recommended: The Bitter Housewife)
Bob’s Red Mill Vanilla Cake Mix, for the rim
Orange zest for garnish

For the demerara syrup:

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Demerara Sugar
1 cup water

Add both the sugar and water to a small saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Stir until sugar has totally dissovled. Turn off the heat and cool completely before making drinks.

Dip the rim of a coupe glass in orange juice (a saucer works well for this), then into a saucer of cake mix to create a snowy rim.

In a shaker full of ice, add all ingredients and shake for about ten seconds. Double strain into your glass, being careful to avoid the rim. Garnish with an orange zest.

Carob Affogato

1 oz. carob syrup
1 oz. aged rum
About 8 oz. hot coffee
1 scoop Tillamook Sweet Cream Gelato

For the carob syrup:

1 cup water
1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill carob powder

In a small saucepan, whisk together the carob powder and 1/4 cup of the water, making sure to get all the lumps out. Whisk in the remaining water.

Bring to a bare simmer, and simmer for five minutes. Allow to cool.

To make the drink: Add carob syrup and rum to a coffee cup, then pour hot coffee over them and stir gently to mix. Top with a scoop of gelato and a drizzle of more carob syrup. I recommend that you stir the drink together to really enjoy the way the flavors blend.  This post is brought to you in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill.