Holiday Sweets!

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted last. We've been busy around here preparing for Christmas and, as I'm sure you've figured out, the chic is on Winter Break so there haven't been any lunches lately. Well, not the packable kind anyway! We just finished our holiday baking so I thought I'd post some photos.

I love to bake with the chics! They really enjoy getting in the kitchen and getting messy so the holidays are a perfect time to go crazy! Last year I came across this reindeer cookie idea. They were really simple to make and the grandparents and the chics loved the way they turned out so, we had to make them again this year! We used M&M's for the eyes and nose, but you can use anything you have. Cherries also make great noses!

After the cookies, we made some candy. My sister in law brought Buckeyes to our Christmas dinner last year and we all went nuts over them. What is there not to love? Peanut butter and chocolate...mmmm! We had never had them before then, but apparently these are a tradition in lots of families. My chics are awesome at the whole meatball rolling technique so I thought this would be a perfect item to add to our holiday menu. They look pretty time consuming, but with all three of us rolling, it went pretty quickly. You dip them in the chocolate with a toothpick and I didn't like the hole in the top left from the toothpick so I stuck a chocolate chip in each one to cover the hole.

The other candy was a variation of a Martha Washington candy. Another candy that I had never heard of until recently. My friend Amber told me about them when I told her that we were making buckeyes. She said they were also a "ball-rolling" candy and that they were coconut. And since I LOVE coconut, we added them to the list. The "variation" was that I used almonds instead of pecans. I thought it would make them more like an Almond Joy. Plus I'm making Pecan Pie Cake for Christmas dinner so I need all the pecans I have for that!

After the morning of baking and candy making, we are exhausted and my kitchen is a disaster! The chics did a great job though and I think everyone will appreciate their efforts! Everyone have a Merry Christmas!!