My girls had a half day of school yesterday to start out their winter break.  As soon as they got off the bus we started our mission – bake cookies and make as much candy as we could until we were sick of it! First up –

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Each year we pick names amongst ourselves and we have to make that person a handmade gift.  I picked Jared this year – whew!  He’s super easy to make for.  He LOVES homemade cookies and I rarely make them (because if I make them I tend to have to eat them) so it’s a true treat for him.  We started our baking by making a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.  I use the recipe from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook.  This is the same cookbook my mom had as I grew up and the same recipe she uses when she makes cookies – it really is always a winner. It actually is even a winner if you forget to add the vanilla and then once you realize you forgot to the vanilla so you mix it in after the fact – still tastes good.

Rolo Turtles

While I was working on the chocolate chip cookies Cedi started in on the Rolo Turtles.  Seriously – this is the easiest thing we made and they are absolutely delicious!  A pinterest win for sure!  All you need is pretzels (the square ones are recommended but a bit tricky to find), pecans, and rolo’s.  Now – you’ll be tempted to buy the rolo’s in the bulk package but remember the rolo’s in the rolls by the register are already unwrapped so it saves you a bit of time.  I found that it took just under 10 rolls of rolos to cover a baking tray full of square pretzels.

Christmas Crack

Cedi finished the Rolo Turtles before I was done with the chocolate chip cookies (remember – double batch with a few issues) so she started in on the Christmas Crack.  This is a recipe I found on pinterest that we thought we’d give a try.   This was a pinterest success!  Cedi pretty much made it all herself … I just helped with the process for taking the hot things in and out of the oven.  And it is just as delicious as everyone says … in fact, my mouth is watering right now as I type this. Next up – Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies Cedi was using the IPad to make the Christmas Crack and I was too lazy to open my computer so I found a recipe in a cookbook I had for these cookies.  I started filling the bowls I had with the ingredients the recipe said.  As I was putting all the ingredients I realized this particular recipe did not have peanut butter in it – huh?  That was not what I was planning on making.  So – I opened my computer and looked up the actual recipe.  Thee ingredient list looked pretty similar so I decided to wing it a bit and just add the peanut butter from one recipe into the other.  A whole new cookie was created and the family (and relatives) all enjoyed it. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/3 c. cocoa
2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg chocolate stars  Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla.  Add eggs and milk, beat well.  Mix in the rest of the dry ingredients.  Stir in chocolate chips. Roll into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350-degrees for 10 to 11 min.  Cool for 1 minute, remove from cookie sheet, press a chocolate star into the center of each cookie. Green Wreath Cookies My mom always made these when I was a kid.  If you look on pinterest they’re all shaped into these beautiful wreaths.  Well – I did not take the time to do that. I heated up the butter, marshmallows, and green food coloring and then added the rest of the ingredients.  Pip took the reins from their – stirring the mixture and then plopping it onto wax paper.  Once the mixture was plopped, she sprinkled red hots onto them .. some had 5 red hots, some had none … she wanted to please all.

Ting-a-Ling Cookies

This is another recipe my mom always made at Christmas.  It’s another no bake recipe that went together quickly.  I did all the melting (to ensure they weren’t burnt … nothing worse than burnt chocolate).  Then I handed the bowl to Capri to mix the ingredients and plop the balls of mixture onto wax paper to dry.  I just love this crunchy, sweet treat!

Fudge

The final thing we made on Friday was fudge.  I never took a photo of it but it turned out really well. The trick to good fudge is to simply buy the container of marshmallow fluff and follow the recipe.  If you do what the recipe says its a no fail way to make a delicious, melt in your mouth treat. The good thing about making all this candy is that we were able to make fun plates of cookies and candy to bring to christmas parties.  The not so good thing is that I still have a bunch left and can’t seem to bring myself to stop eating it …. hmmm ….