Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas Treats

I have a few things I hope to do with the twins this week before we leave and I also hope to blog about it. So you may get lucky (or not) and hear from us more than once this week!

I wanted to share this delicious and oh so easy recipe I came across via my grandmummy. I made a batch for our partay this past weekend. After tasting the deliciousness of it and the fact that it took less than 30 minutes to make, it’s what I am going to make for Jon to give to his friends at work.


White Chocolate Popcorn
2 bags microwave popcorn (butter kind)
12 – 16 oz. white chocolate chips, melted
3/4 C M & M’s
3/4 C peanuts
1 1/2 C stick pretzels
1 C mini marshmallows (I used about 1 1/2 cups)
6 oz. dark or milk chocolate
Pop popcorn, remove unpopped kernels.  Put popcorn and marshmallows in a big bowl.  In separate bowl, mix together melted white chocolate, M & M’s, peanuts and pretzels until coated with white chocolate.  Pour over popcorn and mix to coat popcorn with white chocolate.  Spread onto two jelly roll pans or cookie sheets. 
Drizzle with melted dark or milk chocolate.  Refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer until chocolate has hardened and popcorn breaks apart in bit pieces.

I know it looks really yellow in this picture and you are probably wondering where the white is but I promise it’s there! *Baker’s note: I didn’t have peanuts so I used more m&m’s but next time I will be sure to have peanuts to put in there. It definitely needed something else that was savory and I probably wont put as many m&m’s. Oh and be careful when melting the white chocolate. It get’s hard fast. If that happens, just throw a dash of oil in it and stir till smooth.
I also made Oreo truffles and they are always a big hit! Only 3 ingredients and super easy but it is a little time consuming. It’s definitely worth it though!
One package of Oreo’s (I used store brand)
One 8 oz package cream cheese (not fat free, mind you)
4 oz white almond bark
Use food processor (or mini chopper but beware using the mini chopper adds a few more minutes to blending the oreo’s since you can’t put the whole package in at one time!) to blend oreo’s until fine. 
Add cream cheese to oreo crumbs and blend until dough like.
Chill mixture for 15 minutes then roll into bite size balls. Chill for 15 minutes.
Melt almond bark in microwave according to package directions. Dip chilled oreo balls in melted chocolate using a fork so the chocolate can drip off. Set covered cookie balls onto wax paper and let set aprox. 30 minutes. If you want to use sprinkles do so before chocolate sets. I usually do 6 at a time, then sprinkle them because the chocolate hardens pretty fast. *Bakers note: This is where your happy helpers can come into play. James and Audrey did the sprinkling for me and it went much faster since I didn’t have to stop dipping every so often to sprinkle!


And I will sign off tonight with a tale of a little boy that is learning the lesson of just why it is better to give than recieve, this Christmas season. Earlier today I was boxing up some of the truffles and popcorn to take to our neighbors and James started freaking out. Seriously. I wont go into all the details because I talked, a lot, about thinking of others instead of ourselves and sharing our joy and the greatest gift of all and why we give gifts at Christmas and I ended with “You know how you feel when someone gives you a present? It makes you happy, doesn’t it? Well, when you give someone a present it makes them feel happy like you do when you get something.” And through his tears and slightly high pitched voice he says “But it’s not gonna make me happy to give something away that I like!!!!!!!!!” Bless his heart. Well, I knew then we had to go immediately and deliver our gifts so that it would be fresh on his mind. We did and he understands a little better now that it is better to give than receive. He enjoyed giving them our little treats and wishing them a Merry Christmas. And he did it all with a big smile on his face! Sweet boy.

2 comments:

susan said...

Laughed (OUT LOUD) reading about James- and then tears (WHY?) Love you all so much, and these recipes are awesome, Mama.

PS. I'm worried about Olivia sitting up there on that counter top.

Amanda said...

she never gets left alone. ever.