Easy Holiday Treats

My sister requested that I post a few more easy holiday treats. Here is one I made for Thanksgiving and will make again for Holiday get-togethers.

I have no idea what this treat is called. I found it on pinterest (again, I know). It is almost like a chocolate turtle candy, but on a pretzel. So you get your salty and your sweet fix in one bite. I love that.

What you will need: Those wonderful little square pretzels (the ones I get are called "butter pretzels"). If you cannot find the little square ones, than regular mini pretzels will work as well. One bag of rolos. A bag of halved pecans.

This is another super easy recipe. I promise you, your friends will love it and will want to make it for their next party.

Preheat oven to 250. Line baking sheet with foil. Place pretzels on foil. Place one rolo on each pretzel. Bake for 5 minutes. No longer. Really. They will be soft but not melted. Take them out of the oven and immediately place a pecan half on top of the rolo. Gently press down so it squishes into the rolo.

Put the pan in the refrigerator for about ten minutes to harden the rolos up again.












I also made these with m&m's instead of pecans. They were really good. And quite colorful and festive.

Like I said, these are super easy to make. Great for a party. One bite of salty & sweet yumminess.

Peppermint Bark Popcorn

I make peppermint bark every year for Christmas. It's easy to make and great to give away as gifts.  Everyone loves peppermint bark!  I found a new recipe for peppermint bark that I will be trying out in a few weeks. In the meantime, I found this great recipe for peppermint bark popcorn. Thank you Pinterest.

You know those yummy popcorns you can get at your local big box store.... they have white chocolate, caramel, zebra (white and dark chocolate)... This is kind of like those. It turns out with a nice smooth candy finish. A bit on the addictive side.

You will need:  popcorn, almond bark, candy canes, peppermint extract. If you cannot find almond bark, I think that white chocolate chips would work just as well.

Pop about 8 cups of popcorn. I made fresh popcorn, but you can use microwave as well. I like to make my own to control the butter and salt. Divide popcorn in half and put in two large bowls.

Crush candy canes. My pack of candy canes had 8 regular size candy canes in it. The most difficult part is getting the wrappers off the candy canes. Seriously, who wraps these things? I finally figured out that if I put the wrapped candy canes on the counter and smacked them with a pan, they would break just enough to come out of the wrapper. Then I put them in the food processer. They came out nice and powdery. It is just as fun to put them in a ziploc bag and smack the dickens out of them with a rolling pin. Kind of therapeutic (in case you get stressed out trying to unwrap them like I did). Mix 3/4 of candy cane into the popcorn (divide between the two bowls).

Melt almond bark according to package. I melted mine in the microwave. Took about 1.5 minutes. Add 1 tsp of peppermint extract. Add the remaining crushed candy canes into the almond bark mix. Mix into the two bowls of popcorn. This is a bit messy :)

Spread evenly onto wax paper and leave to harden. This took about 30 minutes. Enjoy! 

I had a little of the almond bark/candy cane mixture left, and it was too good to waste. So, I grabbed a few pretzels and dipped them. I have to say, these are wonderful as well. Next time I will reserve more of the candy mixture and make more pretzels.

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family did. They are worth the mess to make.



A grown-up use for Halloween candy

So, your little ones trick or treated to their little hearts content. Now you are stuck with a bucket of candy. If you're like me, you have already picked out all of the chocolate candy and hidden them in the pantry; away from your husband and children.


Now all you are left with is a bucket of hard candy (lemon heads, jolly ranchers, little mints) - right? Everyone is. Nobody eats those. They are like the little red headed step-sister to the snickers bar.

Well, I have the perfect use for those little hard candies. I found this recipe on this blog and knew it would be the perfect way to turn those left over hard candies into an edible (okay, drinkable) adult treat.


What you'll need: Hard candy of your choice, vodka. Nothing else. Really.


Candy Flavored Vodka

I put 3 cinnamon Jolly Rancher candies into one jar, and 3 round candy cane candies into the other. Fill 3/4 full with vodka. That's it. After one day, the candy was gone and I was left with a beautiful colored and wonderful flavored vodka. You can use many different types of candy for this.  Think lemon drop vodka, skittles vodka, butterscotch drop vodka. The possbilities are endless.


I plan on making this at Christmas time for gifts. So, if my sister or brothers are reading... SURPRISE!! 


This would also be great for a party. Use small mason jars and make individual servings in different flavors. If you are doing one of those gift exchanges with friends, family, or co-workers, this would be a wonderful gift (beats a talking fish for the wall).

Be creative! Be imaginative! Have fun!