I usually make the small loaves of pumpkin or cranberry orange bread for THanksgiving. I make plates of goodies for the neighbors and decorate tree or Christmas cakes for my close friends with children.
THis year I think that I will try the cocoa cones. Where can I find the cone bags? I will put that in a small basket with spiced pecans, cake balls and a few cookie sampples. Oh and I will make the spoons and flavor them with amaretto, orange and a few other flavors(according to whom the are going). IF anyone knows where to order or find the cone bags, please PM me. THanks.

kakeladi- I love your chocolate cookie trees. Great idea!! You decorated them so beautifully too. I make chocolate dipped oreos and I never thought of arranging them into a tree shape. I like the fact that you can make it any size, from just a few cookies to a lot. Thanks for sharing.

THanks! I should have thought of that. THanks to everyone for all of the great ideas. I have a great velveeta fudge recipe if anyone would like that. Also, I would love to have the pancake mix recipe!

i found some cute pails at target for $1 so i think i'm making almond bark and filling the pails with that and then topping them with a christmas tree sugar cookie made out of stars. Last year I over exerted myself almost not doing anything for my fam that I decided to take it easy on the neighbors. The K-I-S-S system is what I'm living by this year.

Chris

Last year for our neighbours in our cul-de-sac I made from scratch cinnamon buns. I make this corn syrup, butter, brown sugar sauce that you put on the bottom of the pan and then the buns on top. I used my Wilton Tree shaped pan so the buns baked up in the shape of the tree. After I flipped them out of the pan I made a PS/Milk glaze that I piped on the tree to look like garland and used red, green, yellow candied cherries to look like Christmas balls. They loved them - still talk about them - so I might do that again this year. I think I feel a craving coming on!!!

I do this every year. Last year I made Oroes dipped in various chocolates and rolled in various toppings like nuts, crushed peppermints, crushed Heath bars, etc. This year I am making Oreo Truffles and Vanilla Pecan Fudge.

Oh I hate when you don't get a notice telling you someone has posted to the thread. Whew! it didn't get to far along and easy to catch up.

For the cake balls, how far in advance could you make them?

As long as we're sharing these ideas . . . I'd love it if everyone shared their packaging ideas, too (what you use to box everything up, where you get it, etc . . . )

Thanks!

Oh this looks like a yummy thread ! I like to add peanut butter balls and a choc fudge,pb fudge the santa cones ! at least 1-2 drop cookies and a caramel corn! Im adding the caramels recipe I picked up from another thread its so yummmy ! If you like caramel its a melt in your mouth simple recipe to .
I change it up a little every yr with adding a new recipe I tried out and everyone loved. or a different decorated cookie ! The santa cones were a big hit last yr and Im adding the choc spoons also this yr and adding a sugar shape on the spoon also.If I have enough time I add a few diped pretzels and a choc bark a variety of flavors
Thanks for all the yummy ideas ! !

justdesserts--your raspberry pepper jelly is soo good. I am giving my friends the jelly with cream cheese and crackers also. Thanks so much for those recipes.

I too would love the recipe for those pancakes. I would love to give the mix for this year.

Last year I made up baskets with bottles of my homemade kahlua, a chocolate cake mix , the chocolate pudding mix and the recipe for the chocolate. It seemed to be very popular.

lilybird..do you have a recipe for a choc pudding mix ? Is it one you can share? How did you package it ? Please !!

Fiddlesticks--no I don't have a recipe for the pudding mx. I just put the boxed cake mix and pudding mix in the basket along with the recipe for the Kahlua cake. Wish I was that good!!!!!

Ooooo! I am getting so excited now to start putting together gift baskets! Did someone post the cocoa cone recipe? I imagine it is for hot chocolate? I assume it is cocoa and sugar? Please advise!

My mom just made this recipe. It was good and very pretty. She said it was very easy

8 squares of Bakers semi sweet chocolate (I don't know how much that equates to. I would probably use ghiradelli)
6 squares of white chocolate
2 T peanut butter
10 oreo cookies (use the christmas colored ones, red filling, if you can!)

melt semi sweet choco and add peanut butter
melt white chocolate

Crush cookies, 5 in each bowl

pour each chocolate over wax paper. use a knife for a marble effect (red cookies makes nice red swirl)

Let sit for about 1 hour or until set. Break into peices.

My mom packaged it in a cello bag. it look really pretty. it tasted great! The cookies added a nice crunch.

merissa.. Thats sounds good! Like a cookie bark then ?Im going to try that . There is a recipe for homemade cocoa in the link I carry that is called Treats I believe its that link ?
lilybird.. Thanks anyway!
Not sure If I posted it on this thread but the candy cane oreos, are delicious made with the oreo molds or Im sure just choc dipped the reg way to. Just eating them alone they taste like the girlscouts thin mints cookies and even more so dipped in choc !

The cookie bark does sound good! I wonder how good it'd be with the candycane oreo's....or the pb oreo's..yummy!

Has anyone tried taking the puffed popcorn you get at the grocery store, and tossing with melted white chocolate, then you can drizzle with colored melted chocolate to add some color, at christmas maybe green and red and halloween some orange and milk chocolate

oops....sorry

It gives you that sweet and salty all in one. I package in the cello bags and tie with a ribbon. My family loves it.

Melanie Mc's (by request)

Raspberry Habanero Jelly

3- 5 habanero peppers (or 5 jalapeno peppers), deseeded and membranes removed (I use 3 habaneros and I find that to be plenty. If you like it really hot use another one)
2 sweet red peppers
1 sweet green pepper
12 oz. frozen raspberries, defrosted and put through a food mill w/ fine disc to remove most of the seeds
2 ¼ C water (**or a mixture of raspberry juice + water) I defrost my berries in a colander over a bowl and use the juice.
1 C vinegar (I use apple cider)
1 pkg Sure-Jel Pectin (POWDER not the gel I haven't had success with the gel in this recipe)
4 C sugar


Chop up peppers in a processor until they are chopped fine. Put all but ¼ C peppers in a saucepan with raspberries and water. Bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to simmer and cook 15 minutes. Press through a sieve or a jelly bag. You should have 2 C prepared juice.
Return juice to a clean pot. Add vinegar and reserved chopped peppers. Cool 15 minutes.
Add pectin. Bring to a boil; add sugar. Bring back to a boil and boil hard for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; skim foam.
Ladle into hot ½ pint jars leaving 1/8 headspace.
Seal; process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

Note: jelly is liquidy at first, but gels over the next 1 or 2 days.
Makes approx. 12 of the 4 oz. jars.

EDIT: Please use gloves when handling the peppers... those babies are HOT. And DO NOT accidently touch your eyes or mouth with even a speck of pepper as it will cause billowing smoke to emit from every orifice on your body.

I am lovin' the ideas!

What are candy cane oreos? Is that just the mint ones?

As for the cookie bark, I think mint oreos would be great, but I would omit the pb.

I saw another cute idea. Chocolate covered rice crispy treats. You could decorate or add lots of stuff. Sprinkles, nuts, coconut to make them fancy

Merissa, they are a special edition oreo, they have a candy cane on the front, and they are packaged different, the creme middle is white, they are sooooo yummy! Mel teased me about them for weeks then I finally found some!!!!

I got a bag of pb oreos to try the cookie bark with!

We love the spicey peanuts you can get in Mexico and my hubby copied this recipe from the Rick Bayless cooking show. It is so simple and really something different. We have a couple of friends that like that sort of thing, so I am going to package the peanuts in glass jars and put them in a basket along with some salsa and chips.

Chili Lime Peanuts
2 cups of lightly salted dry roasted peanuts
2 Tbs. lime juice
2 tsp. chili powder

Stir all together to coat well and spread on a large cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees for 20 to 40 minutes until dry. I stir them once during the baking time.

I used the 16 oz. jars of peanuts which are really pretty close to 3 cups but just added a little more lime juice and called the chili powder good as it was.

I do a peppermint bark. I melt Godiva chocolate in a double boiler. While melting I break candy canes in a zip lock bag into small pieces. When your chocolate is melted, I pour it into a wax paper lined baking sheet (make sure it has at least a one inch edge). I then sprinkle candy cane all over it and let it harden for a couple hours. When it's hard enough, I cut it with a knife, letting it break into all different size pieces. Put it in a holiday baggie with a twist tie. It's very yummy!

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.
Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods.
Chocolate Dipped Spoons for coffee and hot chocolate lovers.
Mini Bundt Cakes.
Mini Loaves- nut breads, pound cakes.
Mints.
Truffles
Nut Clusters.
Happy Baking and Decorating,
Chef Angie

I always get rave reviews on these Sugared Pecans that I include each year in my holiday tins. They are really easy to make (which balances out all of the time-intensive homemade toffee and decorated cookies!) They are great to nibble on and can be a bit addictive! I always double the recipe without any trouble.

Sugared Pecans:
1 pound pecan halves
1 egg white
1 teaspoon cold water
1 cup sugar
2 teaspons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Beat egg white with water until fluffy and they hold a peak. Fold pecans into egg whites until well coated. Mix cinnamon, sugar and salt. Fold coated pecans into sugar mix. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, ensuring that they are separated from one another. Place them in the oven and turn them over after about 30 minutes. Bake for another 30 minutes or until they are dry. Cool and serve or store in an airtight container.

You can put it in cute little jars or cello bags with a fun tag and you are good to go! I like this recipe as I can make it in advance.

merissa.. The candy cane oreo,s are better then just the mint ones I thnk. I think they are creamier!

okay, I will have to look for them!

I too over did it last year and plan to go simple this year. Plan to make 2 or 3 different coffee creamers, 1 flavored coffee, one spiced tea, 1 hot chocolate..... then a few cookies, banana bread, and a small pound cake of some sort.... (along with the chocolate spoon).

can't wait to get started!!

This year I think I'll do these pretty pretzels. http://www.countrykitchensa.com/ckideas/ckIdea.aspx?Occ1Id=&ideaId=191&idea=593&occasion=Christmas