Christmas Treats - Louisville,KY

I've been watching my local NBS affiliate this week and a segment called "Mr. Food" showed two cookies I'd like to try. One was to use refriedgerated dough to look like reindeer and another was a chocolate cookie rolled in powdered sugar he called "chocolate blossoms". Here's his website:

http://www.mrfood.com/section/this-week#

I personally are partial to Snickerdoodles, too!!

How about peppermint bark? It takes some time, but it's not hard at all.

You line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, melt a package of chocolate (melting chocolate - in your bakery section), stirring so it won't scorch; pour it in the cookie sheet and let it cool. Get peppermint candy, or candy canes in any flavor (look for broken ones at a discount); unwrap them and pound them to smithereens. Then melt white melting chocolate and pour it on the darker layer. Sprinkle the candy, including the little teeny dust-like crumbs, all over the light layer while it's still hot, and let it cool completely. Break it into pieces, and store it in an airtight tin.

This is good; I give bags of it to all the people who "serve" us - the postal carrier, the milkman, the UPS people, the trash collectors. They like it, and I've had the most compliments when I've used the fruit-flavored candy canes.

you could take ritz crackers and make peanut nutter crackers . then you dip them in chocolate . put them on wax paper . when dry drizzel with white chocolate. soooooo good. i have been making these for about 30 years and the kids all love them. you can also switch up the chocolate. good luck, R.

We make this one around the holidays and it is wonderful. We call it corn pops.

2 bag of corn pops (not the cereal but the kind found on the chip isle. made by barrel o fun)
2 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lb butter
1/4 cup Karo syrup (clear)
Pour corn pops in a large bowl. Get a large cookie sheet ready.
Cook sugar, water, butter on high stirring constantly until brown and is starts to smoke. Watch it carefully not to burn it. Pour over corn pops and stir. Pour onto cookies sheet to cool.

These are so good. Enjoy. Sometimes we will make this and put into sulifane gift bags and give as gifts.

If you don't mind taking a little bit of time, you can make brownie pops. There are two different ways to do it, but the idea is the same with each.

For the first version, you bake a 9X13 pan of brownies. When they have cooled enough to handle, use a cookie dough scoop to make balls of brownie (you'll have to roll them in your hands to get them to stay together). You then stick a peppermint stick (not a candy cane) into the ball for the stick, and dip the brownie into chocolate or white chocolate (the kind you use for candy making). Place them on wax paper and decorate as desired with crushed peppermint, sprinkles, etc.

The second version is similar. You will mix the brownies as the directions say. Then you fill mini muffin cups with batter and bake for 12-15 minutes. Let it cool completely. Insert a lollipop stick into the flat side of the brownie, being careful not to poke through the top. You can then dip it in the milk or white chocolate coating and decorate them as desired.

They are very tasty and always look cute. Hope this helps.

Buckeyes are great -you can google the recipe. They're very easy too -peanut butter and chocolate balls.

We also love the EASIEST candy on earth -simply microwave 2 parts chocolate chips (we use semi-sweet) to 1 part butterscotch morsels. Be careful to stir frequently and not scorch. When melted, stir in pecan pieces and drop on wax paper until hardened. It's also yummy to add Chinese noodles.

Again -google this recipe -Magic Cookie Bars are a HUGE hit, and I usually make at least 2 batches.

Probably the oldest family hit from my childhood are M&M cookies. We make them now with the holiday M&Ms, and if you wanted to get creative, you could use some of the interesting new flavors they have out now. I love them and my kids love them, but my Dad, who is 73, requests them more than anyone!

Ever since I saw a recipe for Chocolate Pretzel Rings in a Taste of Home magazine (about 12 years ago), I have made them every Christmas. My kids always help make them and they are so addicting to eat. I usually get a large bag of M&M's and Hershey kisses from Sam's Club plus 3 or 4 bags of pretzels and make a ton of them.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chocolate-Pretzel-Rings

Sometimes the round pretzels are hard to find but I can usually find them at Walmart.

An alternate to these would be using the waffle pretzels topped with a rolo and a pecan half. I've never made them because my kids don't like nuts but I have heard they are yummy.

I love the Ritz crackers with the peanut butter and dipped in chocolate. My mom started making them about 30 years ago too and they are so yummy. If you like the Girl Scout peanut butter patty cookies (also known as Tagalongs), you will like these.

And being from the Buckeye State, I absolutely love Buckeyes too.

Another idea is cake balls (you can easily find recipes when you do an internet search). They are a big hit on another MB that I read. I made them once. My kids loved them but I thought they were too sweet.

I make rice krispy treats with flavoring in them.
I add in vanilla and orange extract for a "dream sicle" flavor
I add in maple and vanilla extracts for a really unique yummy flavor , can't really describe it lol.
i don't do just do the squares I butter my hands up and make them into balls and roll some of them in sprinkles.

Reindeer brownies: Cut brownies into triangels and put mini pretzels on two of the corners at antlers and then a red hot on the other corner at the reindeer nose. Put either mini choc chips or mini m & ms as the eyes with a dab of icing to make them stick. Use choc icing so you can't see it. Very cute! Google Reindeer Brownies and go to Becca Cooks for the exact directions.

Not Christmas related but really easy and good are to take the same pretzels and put a Rolo on each one and bake for about 3 mins. Put a pretzel on top to make it a sandwich and it is AMAZING! Sweet and salty, always a hit!

I have a recipe for peanut butter cup cookies that everyone loves. I never have any leftovers.
Take peanut butter cookie dough (homemade or store bought) and put one scoopful in each section of a mini muffin tin. Bake them at 375 for 11 minutes. Meanwhile remove the wrappers off of 24 mini peanut butter cups. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven push one peanut butter cup into each cookie, then top with M&M's. Let them cool in the pan for an hour or two before trying to remove them. You end up with a little cookie bowl full of chocolate candy. It helps if you refrigerate the peanut butter cups so that they are cold when you unwrap them. They are easier to get out of the wrapper and will not melt until they get in the hot cookie. I also use a non stick muffin tin sprayed with butter flavored Pam. I suppose I could use muffin papers, but I have never tried it.
These are easy and cheap to make, plus the kids can help. This is a good time to buy the peanut butter cups because all the Halloween candy is discounted.

take a chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, bake in mini cupcake pans. Once they are not super hot, but still warm, poke a finger size hole in the center. When they cool, fill with frosting, (use a decorator tip) then put sprinkles on top. Super easy, yummy and cute. I did them for the 4th and everyone loved them.

try Mexican Wedding Cookies. You can put colored sugar in with the powdered sugar to use when you take them out of the oven and then roll them in powdered sugar. That way you can have red and green cookies.
They are delicious and easy to make.

My two favorites are seven layer cookies and sandwich cookies.
I make my sandwich cookies several different ways but the easiest is to take sugar cookie or shortbread cookie dough, roll it out and cut with holiday cookie cutters (I usually use Christmas tree and star shaped cookie cutters) and bake according to the recipe. When the cookies are cool, spread raspberry or apricot jam on one cookie and top with another cookie. Then melt bakers chocolate, add a teaspoon of shortening to prevent cracking and dip one end of each sandwich into the chocolate. Let the chocolate dipped cookies cool on waxed paper (you can sprinkle festive colored sprinkles on the chocolate before it cools). These can be made ahead of time since they taste best a few days after they were made. I have also frozen them since I fill my children's stocking with assorted cookies, it's easier to make some ahead of time.

The seven layer cookies are really simple. Line a 13x9" pan with Reynolds release foil. While the oven preheats to 350 degrees, melt a stick of butter in the lined pan in the oven. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs on top. Sprinkle one bag of chocolate chips, 1/2 bag of Heath toffee bits, 1 cup of chopped nuts and 1 cup of shredded coconut in layers over the graham cracker crumbs. Pour one small can of Eagle sweetened condensed milk evenly on top and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes then cut into bars. I don't like coconut so I omit the coconut. You can substitute peanut butter chips for the toffee. Clean up is a breeze because there are no mixing bowls to wash and since I don't even measure the ingredients any more (I just guess and it still turns out fine) there is no measuring cup to wash either.

It looks like you already have some great responses to your questions. Happy holidays (a bit early , I know)