Holiday Treats!

   Hi Everyone! I hope you are having a great December day! We are having a "heat wave" here, ha. It's sunny and a windy, 30 degrees out! That being said I plan on staying inside but in the office near the window to take in a bit of the sun since we rarely see it!
   I have been working on getting my scrapbooks up to date. It is my way or keeping the clutter in my life down. Pictures are on my computer, a external hard drive, and the only the ones I really love and couldn't do without featuring go in my scrapbooks to show off. I am going on 10 years with my husband this month! Yes, I am too young to be married that long but we started to be an exclusive couple after many months of friendship and dates before it. So, 3 scrapbooks of 10 years is good, right?!? :) I am a huge believer in organization and minimalism, makes life better to walk into a house clean and clutter free, in my opinion.
  Anyways, enough of me rambling today I wanted to show you all some great holiday ideas for treats. I may find myself in the kitchen later baking some of these up! In the first few years of marriage my husband and I couldn't do a big celebration of the holidays because combining the finances really took a toil on us. So, we would do little things together like baking to enjoy each other and I am thankful still today that we did because many of my favorite memories are those times. Back then it was so we could gift the goodies to our friends near us as we are givers and would have hated not being able to gift them something for the season. We still do it, now just as our little tradition and the baked gifts are just little side gifts to our friends for fun!

The Melted Snowman (or in this case, Snowwoman) 

This cookie is SUPER easy. Make a batch of sugar cookies and add frosting and a marshmallow. I heat up my frosting a bit so it creates the melted effect on the cookie when it spreads out. For the detailing, I bought the cookie maker tubes of frosting since I don't have my own pastry piper. 

 Reindeer Cookies

The Recipe (a recipe for peanut butter cookies, any variation would do!)

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 egg

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate-covered mini pretzels

Mini brown M&Ms

Regular-sized red M&Ms

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Combine brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add egg; beat until just blended.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended
4. Form dough into 1-inch balls. To make reindeer-shaped cookies, pinch the bottom of the ball slightly to form a point, then gently flatten with your hand. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until set or just beginning to brown. 
5. Remove from oven and immediately (and gently) press two mini pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer's antlers. Press two mini brown M&Ms in for the eyes and one red M&M for the nose (or any other color... some of mine ended up with green noses. They might be South Pole reindeer.).
6. Allow to cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack or paper towel to cool completely.                      Makes about 40 reindeer cookies.

Gingerbread Puzzle

The recipe:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

                                                                3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup unsulfured molasses

• 1. Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a medium bowl; set aside.
  2. Mix butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes; mix in spices and salt. Mix in egg and molasses, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Add flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined. Divide dough in half; pat into two disks. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
  4. To make puzzles, cut rolled dough into six rectangles, each 6 by 9 inches (reroll scraps once). Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet; refrigerate until firm, 20 to 30 minutes. Bake until cookies are set and edges are just starting to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. While cookies are hot, use a pizza cutter or paring knife to cut out desired puzzle shapes. Carefully lift edges of parchment to keep puzzle pieces together; transfer to a wire rack. Let cool completely.
  5. Fit a pastry bag with a 5/16-inch plain round tip (I used a ziploc baggy with the a small cut in the corner) ; fill with untinted royal icing.  Tint remaining icing as desired; fill another pastry bag the same way.
  6. Outline each puzzle piece with tinted icing; fill outlined area with more icing, smoothing with an offset spatula to make a thin layer. Let dry completely, about 1 hour. Keeping pieces together, use untinted icing to outline the shape of a tree (design should overlap all pieces); decorate area inside outline as desired. One at a time, lift each piece; sprinkle with sanding sugar, tapping off any excess. Let dry 1 hour; package in boxes, or store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Elf Donuts

They are actually cheerios, to leave with Santa's cookies or pass out as a little gift with a cute saying!

 Chocolate Gifted Candy Canes

 What an easy, genius idea someone thought of! Dress up those common candy canes. YUM!

Snowman Poop!

  My mom and I went to craft shows when I was growing up and cam across this when I was probably 12 years old. What a funny and cleaver gift for friends! I handed them out over the years at school to my classmates and they always love it. When I met my husband it was an immediate hit with him because of his LOVE for marshmallows! And really if you think about it everyone has a craving for something sweet at times... little marshmallows are a get way to get that fix and having them bagged up like this gives you some kind of portion control, right?! :)
  This is also a GREAT idea if you plan on gifting a hot cocoa set to someone. I have made mason jars with homemade cocoa and then given them, Snowman Poop for the marshmallow topping!

I hope you enjoyed these little gift ideas and try them out yourself. If you are like me, I am always on the hunt for great, new themed ideas for the season!