Winter Bakes

The holiday season is upon us and with it all of the baked goods we make and consume. No wonder my colleagues refer to this time of year as the “12 pounds of Christmas.” But these are wonderful “pounds” and as a former roommate once told me “Christmas calories don’t count.” If you’re like me, then you have been elbow deep in flour and have icing sugar in your hair, and your kitchen smells of the wonderful spices of the season. I’ve been hard at work making my signature macarons in gingerbread, eggnog, and peppermint. While macarons are, admittedly, very difficult to make, I wanted to share a simple recipe that is guaranteed to feed you and two hundred of your friends, plus a super easy redux on a popular coffee house beverage; the peppermint mocha.

Christmas Candy:

This is so easy to make, even though it takes a bit of time to do. You can adjust the size of your candy so that you feed 100 people or serve it up as a bar instead of lumps. Here’s what you need:
2 pounds of chocolate candy coating, like almond bark.
1 bag (about 12 ozs) of white chocolate chips
1 4oz bar of German Bakers Chocolate.
2 pounds of unsalted peanuts
A crockpot
Pam
200 mini paper cupcake holders.

Step 1. Spay the inside of your crockpot
Step 2. With a heavy knife, like a butchers knife, chuck the chocolate candy coating and German Bakers Chocolate in to large chunks.
Step 3. Put all of the chocolate and the peanuts into the crockpot, seal, and set to warm. Let the chocolate melt on warm for 1 hour. No touching or stirring.
Step 4. After an hour, give the chocolate peanut mixture a stir. Continue to do this every 15 to 20 minutes over the next hour to make sure the chocolate is melted and the peanuts evenly mixed in.

Step 5. Line 4 baking sheets with the mini paper cupcake holders. With a small melon baller or cookie dough scoop, fill all 200 hundred of the mini paper cupcake holders.

Note: if you don’t want to do 200 mini cupcake holders, you can line baking sheets with parchment paper and with a larger ice cream scoop leave palm sized dollops out to set. That’s what I did, after I began to get tired of doing 101 little cupcake holders.

Step 6: Once you have used all over your candy mixture, leave them in a cool place to set. This should take about 20-30 minutes.
Step 7: Store in an airtight container.


DIY Peppermint Mocha

You don’t have to go to the coffee house to get one of these popular holiday beverages. You can make and enjoy these Christmas-y drinks from the comfort of your own home and it’s easier than you may think.
Here’s what you’ll need:
A packet of your favorite hot chocolate mix.
Strong hot coffee
¼ tsp peppermint extract
¼ tsp vanilla extract
Whip cream
Crushed candy canes (optional)
Chocolate syrup (optional)

Step 1.Brew a pot of strong coffee of your choice.
Step 2. While coffee is brewing fill your favorite mug ¾ of the way with water, microwave on high for two minutes. Add your favorite hot chocolate mixture and stir until is dissolved.
Step 3. Add hot coffee to the hot chocolate.
Step 4. Add the ¼ tsp peppermint extract and 1/4tsp vanilla extract to the coffee/ hot chocolate mixture. Top with whip cream, chocolate sauce and crushed candy canes.