Nov 14 | Holidays, Holiday Recipes, Homemade Christmas Gifts
Peppermint Brownie Jar. Those three words bring joy to my ears. 🙂
There’s no chocolate that I love more than After Eight wafers around Christmas time. And well, a brownie will do just about any time of the year. So, in my eyes, there’s nothing quite like this homemade Christmas gift idea: peppermint brownie jar! It makes the most wonderful hostess gift or it’s perfect for that person on your list that likes consumable (no clutter) gifts.
Here is how to create a Peppermint Brownie jar:
Peppermint Brownie Jar Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 package of mint flavoured chocolate chips
- 6 crushed candy canes
- 1 32oz wide mouth mason jar with lid
Peppermint Brownie Jar Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Mix well and pour into the mason jar.
- Tap the jar on the counter a few times for the mix to settle. Then pour the chocolate chips and candy cane pieces on top.
- Close the jar. Decorate with ribbon or twine, if you wish.
Enclose these directions for baking:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Pour the contents of the jar into a large mixing bowl.
- Add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil.
- Grease a 9×13 pan and pour the batter in.
- Bake for 25 – 30 minutes.
-
2
cups
sugar
-
1
cup
all-purpose flour
-
2/3
cup
cocoa powder
-
½
tsp
salt
-
½
tsp
baking powder
-
½
package of mint flavoured chocolate chips
-
6
crushed up candy canes
-
1 32
oz.
wide mouth mason jar with lid
Combine all the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Mix well and pour into the mason jar.
Tap the jar on the counter a few times for the mix to settle.Then pour the chocolate chips and candy cane pieces on top.
Close the jar. Decorate with ribbon or twine, if you wish.
Enclose these directions for baking:
Pour the contents of the jar into a large mixing bowl. Add 2 eggs and ½ a cup of vegetable oil.
Grease a 9x13 pan and pour the batter in.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Related recipes for gift giving:
Nov 18 | Holiday Recipes, Holidays, Homemade Christmas Gifts
This Homemade Winter Hot Chocolate Mix is the perfect, simple, consumable gift for the hot chocolate lover on your Christmas list!
I’m a big, big fan of consumable gifts. I like to give them and I like to receive them 🙂 This winter mix cocoa gift is perfect for a hostess gift, stocking stuffer, or for sticking in a care package! Really, the options are endless. It’s festive and versatile. (add different coloured candies if you want!) Here’s how you can easily whip up a big batch for multiple jars of Winter Mix Cocoa:
Winter Hot Chocolate Mix Gift
INGREDIENTS
- 5 Cups dry powdered milk
- 1 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 1/2 Cups powdered sugar
- 1 Cup powder coffee cream, original/regular flavor
- 2 tsp cornstarch, to prevent sticking
- Mini marshmallow bits
- Blue and white sprinkles
- Small glass jars
DIRECTIONS
- Combine the dry ingredients, mixing well.
- Add about 1/4 cup of hot cocoa mix to the bottom of the each jar and allow it to settle.
- Add in the mini marshmallow bits and blue & white sprinkles and fill to the top.
*Each jar is about 1 serving when added to 8-10 oz of hot water or warm milk.
Dec 17 | Holiday Recipes, Holidays, Recipes
We love peanut butter cookies in this house. Any time of the year actually! Since it’s Christmas time and all, I thought I’d jazz up some ordinary cookies and turn them into Rudolph cookies! Cute right? They taste especially delicious too. In fact, I think Santa would love to find some of these Rudolph peanut butter cookies on his travels! Be sure to leave a plate full 🙂
Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookies
-
1/2
cup
Peanut Butter
-
1/2
cup
Butter
-
1/2
cup
Sugar
-
1/2
cup
Brown Sugar
-
1
tsp
Vanilla
-
1
Egg
-
1 1/3
cup
Flour
-
1
tsp
Baking Soda
-
1/2
tsp
Salt
-
48
Red M&M's
-
96
mini Chocolate Chips
-
Mini Twist Pretzels
Break pretzels into pieces to use as antlers.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
Slowly add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating until incorporated.
Roll into 1/2-3/4" balls and place on cookie sheet several inches apart.
Sprinkle with sugar and gently make an indentation slightly off the center of each cookie.
Bake 12-14 minutes.
Place an M&M in the indentation of each cookie.
Insert 2 mini chocolate chips (pointy side down) above the M&M to be the eyes.
Insert 2 pretzel pieces to be the antlers. (If the antlers won't stick, place some chocolate chips in a sandwich bag and microwave 30 seconds and knead until soft. Clip the very tip of the corner and pipe onto cookie to act as glue.)
I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as we do!
Dec 3 | Easy DIY, Holiday Recipes, Holidays
I have got the cutest holiday project for you today! It’s so simple too! I think they’d make a good project to do with kids. Maybe as a craft at a holiday party? Or maybe wrap them up to add a cute touch to a hot chocolate gift? Regardless of what you do with them, they’re awesome because they involve chocolate and peppermint! 🙂
Here’s how to make simple Candy Cane Reindeer:
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
- Line a cutting board or cookie sheet with wax paper.
- Heat chocolate candy chips by microwaving for 30 seconds stirring and repeating until melted.
- Take 2 candy canes and dip the bottoms (straight parts) in chocolate and shake off excess.
- Place together on wax paper so hooks of each go off in opposite directions.
- Place an unwrapped Hershey Kiss on the chocolate covered canes.
- Repeat for remaining canes.
- Using a toothpick, take a dab or melted chocolate and glue the red candy on top of the kiss as the nose.
- Using a toothpick, take a dab or melted chocolate and glue on the eyes.
- Take the white chocolate chip and place on wax paper and heat in microwave for 15 seconds.
- Take another toothpick and paint a white mouth on each reindeer.
Aren’t they cute? Are you going to give these Candy Cane Reindeer a try?
Related holiday recipes:
Nov 25 | Freebies, Holiday Recipes, Holidays
I’m sure you are bound to have someone ask you for one of your holiday recipes this year. Or you’re bound to come across a delicious recipe at one of your holiday parties. Why not have a few of these free printable Christmas recipe cards on hand? I think they’ll even work really well if you’re planning on giving out edible gifts in jars. Like these Peppermint Brownie jars 🙂
To get the printable Christmas recipe cards, simply click this link then print as many as you need! I provided a 5″ x 7″ and 4″ x 6″ size.
Hope you enjoy!
What will you be using these recipe cards for?
Dec 9 | Holiday Recipes, Holidays, Recipes
I know peanut butter cookies don’t exactly scream Christmas, but they’re my husband’s favourite and I wanted to share my recipe! Included with this post is a free “Send Joy” printable to help make your gift giving more festive!
While I think the printable tag looks cute with cookies, I think it would also look great with a loaf! Maybe banana bread? If you’re not too keen on peanut butter cookies, you might want to consider these holiday favorites of ours:
Click the image above or click here to download the “Send Joy” printable tags.
-
1/2
cup
butter
-
1/2
cup
peanut butter
-
1/2
cup
sugar
-
1/2
cup
brown sugar
-
1/2
tsp
vanilla
-
1
egg
-
1 1/4
cup
flour
-
1/2
tsp
baking powder
-
1/2
tsp
baking soda
-
1/2
cup
chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl (I used my KitchenAid mixer)
Form dough into small rounded balls and place on cookie sheets
Press a fork into each ball twice to make a criss-cross design.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes
