Holiday Recipes...

So, a couple of posts ago, my friend Tracie asked me to share recipes for some of the goodies I made last year for the holidays. Well, I finally had some time to share...soooo, here goes! And ENJOY! :)

Simply Special Chocolate Bark (different varieties)

Take 1 pkg (9 ounces) of your favorite brand of milk chocolate chips and mix and match your recipe from these options:

Candy Cane Bark - If you can find them, use 1/4 cup of Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips; if not, then use crushed peppermint candies. If you don't like the crunch of the peppermint candies, you can always add a few drops of peppermint extract to the chocolate as well.

S'more Bark - 1/2 cup Jet-Puffed Miniature Marshmallows and 2 Honey Maid Honey Grahams, coursely crushed (about 1/2 cup)

Oreo Bark - 7 Oreo Sandwich Cookies, coursely chopped (about 1 cup)

Then follow these 3 simple steps:

1) MICROWAVE chocolate chips in a medium microwaveable bowl on HIGH for 2 minutes or until ALMOST melted, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

2) SPREAD half of the chocolate onto wax paper-covered baking sheet. Add TOPPINGS. Drizzle evenly with remaining chocolate.

3) REFRIGERATE 1 1/2 hours or until firm. Break into pieces. Store in tightly covered container in the refrigerator.

Glazed Peanut Butter Cups

I love an easy, but fun baking recipe to do with Emalynn. So, this is one of our favorites...she LOVES to press the peanut butter cups into the cookie dough...

Ingredients:

1 roll refrigerated Peanut Butter cookie dough
1 bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped
1 bag of squeezable chocolate icing

Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place in muffin cups. Press 1 peanut butter cup into each ball. Bake until dough is set and golden brown around edges of candy. Cool about 5 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Drizzle chocolate icing over cooled cookies.

Merry Berry Christmas Wreath Cookies

This is a fun recipe for your little one to help decorate once the cookies have been baked and cooled...

1 roll refrigerated Sugar Cookie dough
1 container christmas frosting with holiday candy (if not, then 1 container vanilla and add 4-5 drops of green food color)
2 tubes red decorating gel

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove half of cookie dough from wrapper; refrigerate remaining dough until needed. Cut dough into 12 slices, 1/4 inch thick. On floured work surface, roll each into 6-inch long rope. Once ungreased cookie sheet, form into wreath shapes 2 inches apart; pinch ends of each wreath together.

Bake 9 - 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining half of cookie dough.

If you were able to find the premade christmas frosting, then frost tops of cookies. If not, then in a medium bowl, mix frosting and food color until well blended. With decorating gel, form bow at top of each wreath. Sprinkle with candy decors. Once the frosting has set, place cookies in a FLAT CONTAINER; cover tightly. Cookies can be frozen, if desired.


Okay, so those are a couple of treats Emalynn and I had so much fun making last year. Some other fun and easy ideas are Snickerdoodles (use pre-cut sugar cookies and dip into a mixture of cinnammon and sugar) and Brownies from the box (bake in 8 x 8 square pan, cool and slice into fun triangle wedges, spread with chocolate icing).

Yummmmmmmyyy!! :)