Christmas Baking

This recipe is from a website Bekah has listed on her blog.

http://eighteen25.blogspot.com

Pretzel Hugs

bag of mini pretzels

candy cane Hershey kisses

red and green m + m's

preheat oven to 200 degrees

place a layer of pretzels on a wax paper (or parchment paper) covered cookie sheet

top each one with a kiss

bake for about four minutes until the kisses are really soft

immediately place two m + m's on each one

place in freezer to set

I couldn't find the Candy Cane Kisses anywhere! We tried about 5 stores. So I found another candy called Palmer peppermint bells. They were a little tall, so I cut the tops off so they would melt a little better.

Another variation we did was to cut up some Peter's Caramel and put a piece (about 1/8" - 1/4" thick) on each pretzel and melt it for a couple of minutes. Then when that hardened, put a dark chocolate Hershey's kiss on each one and put it back in the oven for the 4 minutes. I think that the regular milk chocolate kisses would be great too. This was a much easier way to get the flavor of those carmel/chocolate dipped pretzel sticks.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA CRANBERRY DREAMS

Megan and Jay brought us a bag of fresh chopped macadamia nuts from Hawaii. So Megan found this recipe to use on baking day. These stay nice and moist. We made the chocolate variation and drizzled white chocolate over the top. Make 36 cookies.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup vanilla baking chips
• 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1. In a medium bowl set aside flour, baking soda and salt.
2. Cream together white sugar, light brown sugar and butter (do not use shortening). Add slightly beaten eggs and vanilla.
3. Add flour mixture until just mixed. Stir in vanilla chips, macadamia nuts and dried cranberries.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place on ungreased cookie sheet by small scoop or rounded teaspoon. Bake for 10 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven and let cool. Cookies will sink slightly.
5. Variations: To make chocolate cookies - omit 1/2 cup flour and replace with 1/2 cup cocoa. To make refrigerator cookies - Roll dough into 2 rolls, wrap with plastic wrap and chill or freeze. (If you freeze the dough - thaw for at least 1/2 hr). Slice 1 inch slices - cut into 4 and place on baking sheet point up. For fancier cookies: Drizzle melted white chocolate on chocolate cookies and melted dark chocolate on the white cookie. Enjoy

CANADIAN NANAIMO BARS

This is in a recipe book I have called "101 Gourmet Cookies" by Wendy Paul. Jay was looking through this book and chose this recipe to make for baking day. The hard to find ingredient is Bird's custard powder. I was able to find it at Macey's here in Provo. These are extremely rich, so cut them into small pieces!

Crust:

2 Tbs. cocoa

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup almonds, chopped

Melt cocoa, butter, and sugar. Whisk in egg. Continue to stir until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and almonds. Pat down evenly in the bottom of a 9X13 greased baking dish. Place in freezer to set and harden while making the middle.

Middle:

1 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup Bird's custard powder

3 cups powdered sugar

Cream together butter and heavy cream. Add custard powder and sugar and blend until smooth and creamy. Spread over hardened crust. Return to freezer to set.

Topping:

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

4 Tbs. butter

Melt and mix together chocolate and butter. Cool slightly. Pour and spread gently over custard filling. Allow bars to harden completely before cutting.