Holiday Treats

Since Christmas is almost upon us, I thought I'd share some of the holiday treats I've given this season. I always see cute ideas for packaging online, and I want to try them out. Figuring out what to put in them is always my challenge. I struggle with baking. Not all of us are blessed with baking talents like my cousin, Blair. She even makes her own marshmallows and has a blog to prove it!

Take 1: Puppy Chow
I decided that for my Student Foundation executive team I would make them a little bag of puppy chow to thank them for all the time they've dedicated this past semester. I like the holiday treat mixes with almond bark, pretzels and Christmas M&Ms, but there's something about puppy chow that makes me feel like a kid again. Probably because I still have vivid memories of eating it at Beth Berkenbile's house during play dates.

Unfortunately the store was out of Chex cereal, and I had waited until the night before to make the treats, so I grabbed the off brand and headed home to get started. I was making a double batch, which required two separate bowls. However, I heated up all the ingredients together. I think the chocolate got too cool or something because it was extremely hard to mix together. It was all clumpy and the more I stirred, the more the off brand cereal broke to pieces. :( It's pretty hard to screw up puppy chow, but I did it. So I decided to scrap that idea all together.

Take 2: Peppermint Rice Krispie Treats
I needed something I could make over lunch and when I saw peppermint marshmallows at the store, I thought that would be perfect. This time it turned out great. I think next time I might mix 1/2 peppermint marshmallows and 1/2 regular. They were more pink than I thought, so I dusted them with powdered sugar to make them a little more Christmas-y.

As it turns out, one of the execs was allergic to peanuts, so the puppy chow wouldn't have worked anyway. Everything happens for a reason! 

Chocolate and Candy Cane Marshmallows
I was looking for something different to give to my work friends. I absolutely love hot cocoa, so when I stumbled upon this idea, I just had to make it! Not only was it yummy but it was super easy and inexpensive. As an added bonus, the website I got these from also had printable gift tags making it even easier!


I changed up the recipe a bit using 1 bag of jumbo marshmallows to 1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips instead of chocolate bark. I also added red, green and white sprinkles to half of them. Overall, I was very pleased with the way this one worked out. It's my favorite so far.

Now I'm off to try Blair's white chocolate peppermint pie. It's going to have to be Oreo peppermint pie because I couldn't find the white chocolate pudding mix, but I bet it's just as good! :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chi-town Shenanigans

Image
The Tuesday before last, I left for a trip to Chicago. The annual ADRP conference was there this year and while I've been in the past, this year was different because our ENTIRE team went. There were seven of us in all, and we had so much fun together! Chicago is a place I've never really been dying to visit. I haven't been opposed, it just wasn't on the top of my list. However, after going there, I definitely want to go back. It's a very clean city and there is so much to do and so many wonderful things to see. Kyle and I will have to plan a trip there some day. If I learned one thing this trip it was that I work with the most awesome people! On the airport parking shuttle on our way home we met a lady. She said she opted to take the full shuttle because she and four of her coworkers had been together for four days and needed a little time apart. We all smiled and nodded as if we understood completely, but in that moment I couldn't. We spent our spare ti...
Read more

Love Text

Image
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but I LOVE the first Sex and the City Movie. The second, not so much, but I’m pretty sure everyone in America agrees with me on that one. I watched it while I was sick last week. In the movie, there’s an exchange between Carrie and Big that goes a little something like this: C: “Have you ever written me a love letter?” B: “Does a love fax count?” C: “When have I EVER gotten a love fax?” B: “Oh, I'm sure my secretary sent you one...at some point. What can I tell you, baby? It's just not my style. Besides, those guys had to write. They were separated from their loves by wars and hundreds and hundreds of miles. I'm right here. Hello. You make me very happy.” C: “Yeah, yeah. Put it in writing.” Comic genius. Anyway, that got me thinking that Kyle and I rarely ever stop to focus on what we love about each other. Unfortunately we spend far too much time pointing out things we wish the other would do differently....
Read more

Spring Break

Image
Contrary to popular belief, the OSU Foundation is not closed during spring break. In fact, we are open on most of the university-specific holidays. However, I was fortunate to be able to take 1 1/2 days off to spend a little time with the family during their break. My parents, Zach, Stacy and Asher had planned to visit my Donahue grandparents in Kansas, so I decided to tag along. Poor Kyle had to work, but he also got to spend the weekend with Greg and Stacie. They took him to a Thunder game and then out for golf on Saturday. They also found some basketball video game Greg and Kyle used to play as kids so that entertained them for most of Saturday evening. Stacie sent me this photo. They won with a dunk during the final seconds of the game. I think they're excited! :) Back on the farm, we got to spend a little time with Landon, who is now 6 months old. It's hard to believe how big his is! He is even sitting up on his own. Asher did pretty good with him although he did unintenti...
Read more