I do enjoy making holiday treats, it's fun to pull out recipes that you only use at this time of year. I decided to keep our neighbor and friend gifts simple this year and go with homemade goodies.
Reindeer Corn Bark:
I found the recipe from this blog and after making 5 batches of the stuff, I have it down to a science. I learned the hard way that if you add the holiday oreos (with the red middles) that it colors the bark pink. That is ok I guess, but I like the look of the white bark. I also found that if you use double stuff oreos, the bark is even yummier! My guess is that all that extra "stuff" gets melted into the bark and makes it even sweeter. I love how festive this looks and it also tastes good. Even my hubby likes it and he is usually not real big on candy type sweets.
The reindeer corn is Christmas colored candy corn. We have plenty of this at our local grocery store (in Utah), but my Mom says it is nowhere to be found in New Mexico. Hopefully, you will be able to find some in your area. I also sprinkled holiday sprinkles on top to make it more colorful. Don't add them in the bark while you are mixing thing up though because the colors will smear. Just shake some on top after you spread it all out. Also, save some of the candy corn to sprinkle on top because it looks a lot more colorful that way.
This year I even ventured into fudge making. Not just microwave fudge, but real boil on the stove kind of stuff. A first for me. It actually turned out pretty good. I accidentally picked up the toffee bits Symphony Bars at the grocery store (thought I had plain chocolate until I got home) so I improvised and found this recipe. I added a package of Heath Toffee bits to it as well. Pretty tasty!
While this may not count as "baking" I also made some Chex Mix. Doesn't seem like the holidays to me without some of this stuff.
We have some Chex Mix issues around here though. No one likes nuts in it (except for me) and the kids aren't supposed to eat nuts right now with their braces. So I left the nuts out. This made Hubby very happy. He tries to convince me every year to leave the pretzels out. At that point I usually make the comment "isn't that just buttered cereal and not chex mix?" and he usually responds something like "that's exactly what I want!" LOL! Last year I left the pretzels out, but without them (and minus the nuts) there just wasn't enough saltiness to the whole thing. So I added them and told him to feel free to not eat the pretzels. However, I don't think anyone should rummage through the mix and only pick out what they like (attention Art Girl!). Does anyone else have these kinds of "problems" ;) with making snack mixes? The good news is that no one likes the bagel chips the recipe calls for. Why did they ever add those anyway? The Chex Mix from my youth never had those!
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Ok, time for my favorite part - packaging!
I decided to finish off the gift with some Martha Stewart Dove Chocolates. Very festive looking! And I used these fabulous Martha Stewart candy cane stripe gift boxes. LOVE these!
I love how these boxes came with the tags, ribbon, and even some tissue paper to line the divided boxes with. Made it so easy. I also adore these gift boxes. Of course they are also a Martha item! Can't find the link for the exact boxes I used, but these are very similar.
So pretty!
