Gavin spent last weekend with us; I went and got him Friday night and then we took him back home Sunday night. Saturday morning we were up making candy for Christmas. Well I was making it and I had him trapped in his chair - he was having breakfast and snackies and being the good little boy that he is. Breakfast was a banana and probably some peaches. He LOVES those Dole diced peaches in a cup. And then snackies were those Welches fruit snacks. They are fruit flavored gummies. His eyes get so big (as if they aren't already big enough) and he gets a huge smile on his face when I pull them out of the box and asks him if he wants some. He truly makes my heart melt.
I didn't take pictures of my whole candy making process although I kind of wish I would have. On this particular morning I made peppermint crunch candy, brownie bites with M&M's, and dipped pretzel rods with M&M's. I also made some ham wrapped pinwheels for our church dinner the next day.
The peppermint crunch candy is white discs melted in a double boiler and then the red and green crushed peppermint are mixed it. I then spread it on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet and put in the refrigerator to harden. Once it's hardened I break it apart into small pieces and enjoy the yummy goodness. When I first started working at the bank, it's probably been about 14 years ago, a lady made this and gave me a small bag of it. It was SO yummy! I got the recipe from her and I believe I have made it every year since at Christmas. It's been my Christmas speciality.
The brownie bites were just brownies made in the little muffin tin from Pampered Chef with red and green M&M's. These didn't turn out like I thought they would, but they were still yummy! I couldn't find my Baker's Joy spray to use in the muffin pan so I just used some buttered Pam spray instead. I couldn't hardly get the brownie bites out and that's when I remembered that I really needed the Baker's Joy. Baker's Joy is an oil spray with flour in it and it works GREAT with that muffin tin. The muffins will just slide out when you use it. Needless to say, it's on my next grocery list! Also, in the first batch of brownie bites, I put the M&M's on top of the bites before I baked them and they sunk down into the brownie. So once I took them out of the oven, I placed more M&M's on top and let them cool that way. That's how they were supposed to be. So whoever ate from the first batch got some extra special goodness inside each bite! LOL!!
I also made dipped pretzel rods with pretzel rods, white almond bark, and red and green M&M's. Yummy! I had to make a few for Shawn with Reese's Pieces on them though. I can honestly say that I only ate one dipped pretzel rod this year. I had to stay away from them otherwise I would of eaten the whole container of them! To make them, I just melted white almond bark in the microwave and spooned the melted almond bark over about 3/4 of the pretzel - just enough to cover the pretzel but still have a handle to hold. Then I shook off the excess almond bark and laid it on wax paper. I then topped each rod with red and green M&M's (or Reese's pieces for Shawn). I've made these before for other holiday's and used the holiday M&M's that correspond with that holiday. I'm such a festive homemaker. LOL!!
Well here are the only two pictures I took of the candy making process on this particular morning. Pretty spectacular huh? LOL!
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