Frane's Holiday Baking Extravagenza

The kids and I bake a few things every year so we have something for Santa.  This year we made 6 different goodies with 3 considered a complete success - 50/50, not bad.  To be honest, I'm not much of a baker-type.  Baking requires precision and great attention to detail, which is something I lack.  I'm more of a broad vision, big picture type person.    Here's the low-down:

• Snowflake Cookies looked beautiful but lacked great taste.  I had 3 teenage boys over and they ate one pan and our dog ate the other pan.  My taste buds may have been whacked from all the sugar. 

Cocounut Snowflake Cookies

• Sugar cut-out cookies were the hit!  We made 10 dozen cookies.  Gus made 2 special ones for Santa and Greta made 2 special ones to put on her Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's grave when we are in Osseo on the 23rd.  She thought Santa might come by to say hi to them.  For my Grandma, she made an angel decorated with yellow and blue frosting because she thought those were her favorite colors. For my Grandpa, she made a tree cut-out.  The rest of the cookies have been packed up and sent onward.  That's right, we made over 100 cookies and we're out and I'm glad (they are so good). 

Gus concentrating on his cutouts

• Almond-dipped pretzels tasted great!  But, I forgot to put wax paper down on the pan so they stuck and I couldn't get them off.  Funny!

Almond Bark Dipped Pretzels

• Super easy fudge was awesome!  It literally took 5 minutes and tasted great!

Super Easy Fudge

• Popcorn balls were fun and delicious.  But they didn't stick together.  We ate them anyway, but couldn't give them away because they did not stick. 

• Crock Pot White Hot Cocoa turned out fabulous!  I'm going to make this again.  Actually, I was going to enter it into a hot chocolate competition, but I had to stand outside for 3 hours and dish it out, so I decided to skip it.  I wasn't mentally prepared for that part of it.

White Hot Chocolate

All of our recipes were used with my Grandma's bowls, rolling pin, cut-outs, 65 year old Cuisinart, crockpot, and spoons.  We felt like she must've been there in spirit making cookies with us.  Here's a picture of some of my Grandma's supplies, all antiques I'm sure, being put to good use.

Grandma Johnson's Bowls, Cuisinart, Rolling Pin, Cutouts

Below you will find the 3 recipes I recommend!

Easy Fudge:

Microwave 1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips for 45 seconds.  Stir and add 1 can of sweetened condensed milk.  Heat for another 30 seconds.  Add in 1 cup of walnuts and stir.  Refrigerate overnight.  Delish!

Crockpot White Hot Cocoa:

In a crockpot add 12 ounces of white chocolate chips, 1 cup of whipping cream, 6 cups of milk and 1 tablespoon of vanilla.  Heat on low until warm.  Yum!

Sugar Cut-out Cookies:

Click on the link for the recipe:  Sugar Cut Out Cookies

Here's a picture of my kids making cookies at the Frane's just 2 years ago.  I can't believe how much they've grown.  Yikes!

Gus, Greta and Graham Frane

Gus and Greta before they made deliveries to our neighbors

Despite our 50% success rate, we had a total blast.  I couldn't count how many times I heard Gus tell Greta "I love you" and vice versa or Greta tell me how much fun she was having.  Makes my heart feel like it could burst with love.  How cool is that at Christmas time? 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Kristin