I won’t lie to you. I do make a ridiculous amount of candy this time of year, some types more involved than others. The more complicated varieties come together when the elves are at school or in bed to avoid holidaycandymakingstress, a real condition. This however, is an easy recipe for delicious candy treats that even preschool elves can make by your side. Around here we call them reindeer noses. To make your own, you’ll need:ring-shaped pretzels (can be hard to find…Meijer’s store brand has them or just use mini pretzels)
rolo candies
m&m’s
First, unwrap the rolos. Put the rolos on a baking sheet and throw them an inner tube/pretzel ringing each rolo. (If you are using a different shaped pretzel just place your rolo on top and call it a raft.) Place in a preheated 275 degrees oven for 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven. Immediately press a m&m into the center of each melty rolo. Leave the candies on the baking sheet until they are cool and hardened.
That’s it…*really.* Place on a festive dish and enjoy!
*Linking some good advice here about embracing holiday baking shortcuts (and I’m totally with Jen on the 80% off gingerbread in the attic ; )
Yesterday, with all the fixings, my three sugarplums spent the afternoon assembling and decorating the gingerbread houses left for them by St. Nick.This has become a fun tradition that we do every year. I crank up the Christmas music and think about how (I’m sure) this will be a fond memory of their childhood.
This house had serious structural damage/crackage from the start. Perhaps St.Nick should think twice before being tempted to buy these a year in advance (you know when gingerbread house kits are 75% off and “he” reasons that no one eats the things anyway so why not save a little cash and keep them around until next year? eh hem.) I found it quite humorous that the kits included the following note in the directions: “Do Not become DISTRESSED if your house cracks. Just repair with icing.” Same thing for roof slidage. Luckily no one became “DISTRESSED” and a very cheerful afternoon was had by all…even if this year our gingerbread village looks like it suffered some sort of unfortunate weather related event.