Christmas wreath cookies

½ cup unsalted butter
10 ounces miniature marshmallows
1 tsp. green food coloring 
6 cups cornflakes or flake cereal of some kind
Crisco (for hands)
Cinnamon candies (for garnish)

Pour 6 cups of Cornflakes into a large bowl and set aside.

Melt a stick of butter in a saucepan, on low heat. When completely melted, add a bag of mini marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are completely melted.
Add a teaspoon of green food coloring. Stir until the mixture is completely green

Pour the green mixture on the cornflakes. Mix until the cornflakes are completely coated and green.

Put Crisco on your fingers.
Place a small handful of the cornflake mixture on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and form a wreath by making a hole in the center.
Place three cinnamon drops near each other on the wreath.
Repeat with the remaining cornflakes mixture. (Every once in awhile, put more Crisco on your fingers)
Let the wreaths rest on the baking sheet until they are set about 1 hour.

Jam Thumbprints

1 cup unsalted butter softened.

1/4 c. brown sugar packed.

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. jam

powdered sugar for dusting

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Place the softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in the large. Beat with a hand held or standing mixer until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.Add the egg and vanilla extract, then beat for a couple of minutes until combined.Add the in the dry ingredients. Beat until well blended.Place the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and form it into a disk. Cover the dough completely with the plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to 3 days.Remove the shortbread cookie dough from the refrigerator about 10 minutes before you plan to use it.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls. Place the balls of dough 3 inches apart on 2 sheets pan lined with silicon baking mats or parchment paper. Use your thumb to make an indentation in the middle of each cookie. Make sure not to crack the cookie dough when you are making your thumbprint. Fill each cookie with 1/2 teaspoon of jam. Place the baking trays of cookies in the freezer. Chill for 10-15 minutes or until cookies are firm. Pull out of the freezer and bake for 10-11 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack and cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar

Ambrosia Salad

 2 - 30 oz. cans of fruit, such as mandarin oranges and peach chunks
2 bananas, sliced
2 cups. mini marshmallows
1 c. coconut
16 oz. whipped cream
1 1/2 c. cooked drained rice
3 apples, cored and sliced

Mix all ingredients and keep refrigerated.

Coconut Jam Thumbprints

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup butter, cold and cut
• 1/2 tsp coconut extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups plus 2 Tbls flour
• 1/2 cup raspberry or other proffered Jam

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 3 tsp water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour and salt, set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend together butter and sugar until combined (it will take a minute or two since the butter is cold. If you don't have a paddle attachment that constantly scrapes bowl, then occasionally stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl). Mix in coconut extract then add in flour blend until mixture comes together (it will take a bit of mixing since the butter is cold, so be patient, it will seem really dry at first).
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, about 1 Tbsp each, and place 1 inch apart on silpat lined baking sheets. Make a small indentation with thumb or forefinger in each cookie add 1/2 tsp jam. Chill in refrigerator 20 minutes (or freezer for 10 minutes). Bake in preheated oven 14 - 18 minutes.
4. Cool several minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Drizzle cookies with glaze when cool. Store cookies in an airtight container.
5. For the glaze:
6. Whisk all glaze ingredients together in a small mixing bowl, spoon mixture into a sandwich size resealable bag, cut a small tip from one corner and drizzle over cookies.

Gingerbread cookies

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1. • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
2. • 1 teaspoon baking soda
3. • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4. • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
5. • 1/4 teaspoon salt
6. • 3/4 cup butter, softened
7. • 1 cup white sugar
8. • 1 egg
9. • 1 tablespoon water
10. • 1/4 cup molasses
11. • 4 tablespoons white sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Mix together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses.
4. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture.
5. Shape the dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 4 tablespoons of sugar.
6. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. You don't need to flatten them.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven.
8. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Makes approximately 30 cookies. Store in an airtight container.

Gingerbread cake

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Greased and flour (important!) one 9 inch square pan. 
2. Cream together the sugar and butter. Add egg, and beat well. Mix in the molasses. 
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and clove. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; add the hot water, and mix well. 
4. Pour batter into pan and bake for one hour, more or less. Start checking with a toothpick in the centre around 50 minutes. The top tends to darken quickly, so I always put a piece of foil tented over the top during baking. Allow to cool in pan and serve with whipped cream.

6 minute caramels

would be great for making caramel apples

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light Karo syrup

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in heavy sauce pan.

2. Cook 6 minutes oven medium heat, stirring every two minutes.

3. Stir and pour into lightly greased dish.

4. Let cool.

5. Cut, wrap in wax paper & store in an air tight container

Julies Christmas Brittle

15 grahm cracker
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
12 ounces chocolate chips
optional : chopped nuts or peppermint sticks

melt butter in microwave. Stir in sugar. Microwave for three more minutes stirring halfway through. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, spray. Line cookie sheet with graham crackers. Poor butter on top of graham crackers. Cook at 350° for 10 minutes, after 10 minutes remove from oven. Spread out chocolate chips and cook for one minute more.  Spread chocolate with knife and sprinkle with either nuts or candy canes. Freeze for 15 to 20 minutes and then break apart and enjoy your Christmas Brittle.

Peppermint Patties

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1-2 tsp peppermint extract*
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups dark dipping chocolate**
• chocolate jimmies, if desired

1. Combine butter, corn syrup, extract and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes, until ingredients are well combined and are holding together.
2. Remove dough from bowl and break off about 2 teaspoon-sized sections. Roll into a ball and gently flatten with your hands. Put patties down on a pan lined with wax or parchment paper. Once all patties are made, place pan in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
3. Melt chocolate in microwave for 1 minute 20 seconds. Let sit for an additional minute in the microwave. Remove and gently stir. Remove peppermint patties from freezer. Use a fork or a handy Winton Dipping tool like I did to dip each patty in the chocolate, flip to coat the other side, then tap to remove any excess. Transfer chocolate coated patties to wax paper to cool. Top with chocolate jimmies if you’d like.
4. Store in an airtight container, refrigerate if preferred but it’s not necessary. Yields 40 mints.

Salted Pretzel Toffee

3 Cups salted mini pretzels, chopped
1 C. salted butter
1 C. white sugar
2 Tbls. water
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. pecans or walnuts, chopped

Line a 15*10 inch pan with parchment paper.  line the bottom of the pan with pretzels in an even layer.  Cook the butter, sugar, water and salt over medium heat until the temperature reaches 305*, this takes about 10 minutes. stirring frequently.  Stir in the vanilla, and pour the mixture over the pretzels.  spreading evenly and quickly as it hardens quick.  Immediately layer chocolate chips on top.  and let sit for a few minutes.  When melty, spread evenly over toffee.   Top with nuts or sprinkles.  Cool completely, I place it in the fridge for about a half hour.  using a sharp knife cut into chunks.

Christmas Popcorn

2 packages popcorn, popped
3 Cups Rice Krispies
2 Cups honey roasted peanuts
24 oz.  vanilla almond bark
4 Tbls. peanut butter

Pop two packs of popcorn and put into a Turkey Roaster Size pan. Add rice Krispeis and peanuts. In a Microwave, mel  Almond Bark ( 30 second increments til melted) remove and add 3 tablespoons peanut butter. pour over popcorn and stir to cover the mixture. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and Layout popcorn to dry. Store in sealed container for freshness.

Sugar Cookies II (Our favorite)

COOKIES
1 1/2 C. Butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt


ICING
1 C. confectioners sugar
2 tsp. milk
2 tsp. light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. almond extract, 1 tsp. vanilla, or 1/4 tsp. peppermint, orange or lemon extract
(blend all ingredients and than add food colorings. You might need to add 1-2 more tsp. of milk to get desired consistency. This icing dries hard and stays shiny and colors stay brilliant)

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and chill for 1-24 hours.

Preheat oven to 400* Roll out dough on sugared or floured counter til 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Cut into shapes with cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6-8 minutes. Cool completely and than frost with icing.

THIS IS THE RECIPE WE USE FOR OUR CHRISTMAS COOKIES, YUM!

Peanut Butter Balls

2 -2 1/2 lbs. powdered sugar
2 sticks soft margarine
1 can eagle condensed milk
1 1/2 -2 c. peanut butter
2 packages chocolate chips
shaved parafin wax

Mix using hands or Bosch. Roll into 1 inch balls, chill at least 1 hour. Melt chocolate and small amount of parafin wax over double boiler. Dip balls into chocolate using toothpicks. Place on wax paper to cool. Keep refrigerated after being made.