It was a happy hunt: Laffy Taffy, Starbursts, and Twizzlers a-plenty. It's a chocolate-free tradition—the melting hazard is too high. Thank goodness too, or I might snatch some of Charlotte's spoils. I can resist the rest.
Not that there has been a dearth of chocolate around here.
Despite my belly-aching, we had a great weekend. To switch gears from working to family time, I went on a short run Saturday morning. I returned ready to pause my projects and enjoy the moment.
There are kids and cousins buzzing all around and Chopsticks is clanking on the piano in one continuous, clackity loop. I am determined, however, to harvest enough focus from my buzzy brain to post a Hello and a Merry Christmas.
Hello! Merry Christmas!
Today I learned that Lindor Truffles are an entirely different texture in cold climates than they are in the Arizona heat. Did you know this? It's a different candy. Better.
…and that my SIL, Maureen, loves kid-made ornaments and decorations as much as I do. Her kids' hand-tlered reindeer drawings and construction-paper santas are framed though, and hung throughout the house. Isaac, be warned, I'm into it. There will be frames.
This is the first Christmas we have spent with the Bailey bunch in quite a while. Our niece, Izzy, is getting married on Tuesday — the first wedding amongst the kiddos. With folks flying in all weekend, It's one big prolonged party this year. Serious feasting too. I'm hoping a good walk each day is enough to combat the bacon, cookies, chocolate, and chips layed out for every meal. If not, I may need a new dress for the wedding. This is caloric craziness.
Case in point: last night's hot cocoa. It was made with — not water, not milk — but cream. Have mercy! Mercy Christmas.
Chocolate
wands are a Gryffindor favorite. Even Dumbledore has been known to
stash a few candy wands in his desk. Young witches and wizards can use
them to practice basic spells, then pause for a bite! For a variety of
wand ‘types’, have crushed cookies, nuts or sprinkles handy as options
to roll freshly-dipped pretzels in.
For
this batch of wands, I first dipped pretzel rods in melted caramel.**
I then dipped each one in melted chocolate, and finished with a
dappling of nuts.
For
best results, melt caramel in a tall cylinder and dip pretzels
carefully. The taller the cylinder, the deeper you can dip the
pretzels. Set freshly-dipped pretzels on parchment-covered cookie sheet
till caramel has set. Then dip chocolate in the same manner. Once
chocolate has partially set, roll dipped end in desired topping.
**Alternatively,
use flat sheets of caramel used in caramel-apple
making. Each caramel sheet comes sandwiched in parchment paper. Cut
sheets into strips while still lined with paper. Then, peel off paper
& wrap strips around end of pretzel
rod. I've seen caramel sheets in the produce section of several
grocery
stores — but these might be seasonal.
• Cockroach Clusters recipe here.
• Butterbeer recipe here.
• Mini Broomsticks tutorial here.
