Christmas candy recipes — Cooking During Stolen Moments

December 21, 2010 By Kate 1 Comment

With all the cookie baking that goes on around here during the holidays, it’s sometimes easy to get burnt out on sweets. Although I think we could all happily eat through our weight in cookies, it’s always a good idea to mix things up a bit – not too much, mind you, but just a little. For me, that means tossing in some salty with our plethora of sweets.

My usual go-to for a touch of salty is chocolate covered pretzels and white chocolate covered Ritz crackers. Oh, and these Chocolate & Peanut Squares with Sea Salt. They are a great combination of salty and sweet and their texture is both crunchy and smooth. It really doesn’t get much better than that.

Chocolate Peanut Squares with Sea Salt

2 1/2 c. salted peanuts
3 T. butter
1 c. peanut butter chips
1 c. chocolate chips
1 14 oz. can sweetened, condensed milk
2 c. mini marshmallows
2 t. coarsely ground sea salt

1. Spread 2 cups peanuts onto an 11 x 7 cookie sheet or a 13 x 9 baking dish. Reserve the remaining 1/2 cup peanuts.

2. Combine the butter, peanut butter chips and chocolate chips in a medium saucepan. Melt over low heat, stirring frequently. Stir in the sweetened, condensed milk and the mini marshmallows until completely melted and smooth.

3. Pour the chocolate mixture evenly over the peanuts. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of peanuts on top. Chill the peanut squares in a refrigerator until firm. Sprinkle the sea salt on top.

4. Cut into small squares end enjoy!

If you’re not a fan of overly salty sweets, or if you don’t have any coarse sea salt on hand, you can omit the sea salt if you want. However, I think it really adds something special and ties the flavors together nicely!

Almond Candy Snowmen

December 16, 2009 By Kate 2 Comments

Over the past few years, I’ve really focused on expanding my Christmas baking to include some candy making. The whole process of making homemade candies has always intrigued me, but I avoided it because I didn’t want to have to buy expensive ingredients or equipment.

Then one day, I stumbled across a recipe for a homemade candy that didn’t involve either of those things. So I began keeping my out for more recipes like that and I now have a fairly sizable collection of homemade candy recipes that can be made with our regular staples.

I really like this recipe because it’s so easy and versatile. The basic dough can be turned any color and it is so pliable it can be shaped into almost anything. It really dresses up a platter of Christmas cookies.

I personally find the candy almost a little too sweet, but the kids really enjoy it. So I tend to use it as more of a decorative element, but if you have a really strong sweet tooth, you might disagree.

Almond Candy Snowmen

6 oz. cream cheese
1 t. almond extract
1 lb. powdered sugar
Granulated sugar

1. Beat cream cheese and almond extract until smooth. Add powdered sugar in small batches, scraping the bowl often, until the dough is firm and not sticky. (Note – if you want to color dough, add the coloring at some point with the powdered sugar.)

2. Roll small pieces of dough in granulated sugar and form into desired shapes, press into candy molds or flatten with the tines of a fork to create discs.