Baking Day!

I love to bake! It's just fun and the rewards are almost always worth the effort. This year I decided to make some chocolate covered pretzels for the neighbors. We also decided we had so much fun at our Rice Krispies treat Halloween party we'd make Santa some of those this year. I figured we could use some of the pretzels and make reindeer treats.

Why yes, that is a new apron. A little Christmas gift to myself from Flirty Aprons. Before we could begin Mike had to rig me up a double boiler. I'm told steaming the chocolate from underneath rather than heating it directly prevents burning. I can attest to improper chocolate heating being trouble. Once in college I burned a batch chocolate and partially melted the microwavable mug/bowl I was using. This is what he came up with:

Resourcefulness for the win, eh? The recipe, as you can imagine, is very simple. You need wax paper, shortening, chocolate chips and pretzels. Most of the effort involved is stirring the chocolate (and washing the pan later). We used wooden skewers to stir so we could toss them when we were done. This one was fun for the kids because I let them do most of the dipping. They may not all have turned out pretty but they were very tasty!

I was afraid they'd need to be refrigerated. I don't know about you, but I did not have two cookie sheets worth of space in the fridge. It turned out that 25min on the cool counter top was good enough. Phew! I wanted to pack them up in something the neighbors wouldn't feel obligated to return so I used Lllyods beef and Country Crock side dish counters. I know Martha Stewart would be horrified, but I gussied them up.

A little decorative ribbon, humorous Christmas card and cinnamon stick/vanilla bean go a long way towards prettiness. I think the neighbors were pleasantly surprised. Once those were delivered it was time to make Santa's treats. I used the original recipe.

I made the treats during nap time. It's as easy as it gets: melt butter, add and melt marshmallows, add cereal. The problem is that melted butter plus melted marshmallows equal hot lava that sticks to you. That's way I did that part alone. After it was mixed together I pressed into my fancy muffin tin.

Now I have learned through trial and error (mostly the latter) that kids eat more decoration than they apply to any baked good, ever. So, while decorating cookies after school sounds like an awesome plan, I assure you waiting until after dinner is better. When the kiddos were bathed and pajama-ed we set to work.

I was so proud I posted a picture to the Rice Krispies page on Facebook and they replied:

Kellogg's Rice Krispies: Those are simply adorable, Katie! We are sure they'll help Santa make it through his busy night

Go Team!

Isaac made elves and snowmen as well as reindeer. I find it's best to just let the kids go where their imaginations take them. Liberal use of candy corn in December, why not? A Christmas alien? By all means. Hoestly we're lucky not to have had 6 Christmas squid. I think the results speak for themselves. Everybody picked one to eat tonight, but we're saving the best two or three for Santa (of course).