Yummy Treats!

So Jake and I like to make treats around this time of year. It is fun to get together and bake together, eat and share our treats with our friends and family. This year we make lots of yummy things including cherry chocolate candy, million dollar caramel cookies, cranberry snowfall chocolate bark and the Gwin's peanut butter balls. They all turned out super yummy so I thought I would pass along the recipes.

Cherry Chocolate Candy

2 C sugar
2/3 C evaporated milk
dash of salt
12 regular marshmallows
1/2 C margarine
1 C cherry chips
1 t. vanilla
10 oz. crushed salted peanuts
3/4 C peanut butter
1 T margarine
12 oz. chocolate chips

Combine sugar, milk, salt, marshmallows and 1/2 margarine in sauce pan over medium heat. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cherry chips and vanilla. Pour into 9 x13 buttered pan. Melt chocolate chips in double boiler. Add peanut butter, 1 T margarine and crushed salted peanuts. Spread over cherry mixture and chill.


Cranberry Snowfall Chocolate Bark

1 C dried cranberries
1/2 C walnuts
1t. finely grated orange zest
1/4 t. orange extract (optional)
2 (11- or 12-ounce) bags of white chocolate chips


Heat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a food processor, pulse together cranberries, orange zest, extract and walnuts (I chopped them all together with a large knife). Spread mixture over the pan within 1 1/2 in of the edges then evenly cover that mixture with the chocolate chips. Put the pan into the oven. When the chips start to look melty (about 5 minutes or so) take the pan out of the oven and use a rubber spatula to spread the chips evenly over the parchment. Chill until firm (about 30 minutes) and break into pieces.

Million Dollar Caramel Cookies

1 C butter, softened
2 1/2 C flour, plus 1/4 C
1 C white sugar, plus 1 T
3/4 C cocoa
1 C packed light-browned sugar
1 t. baking soda
2 eggs
2 Heath candy bars
2 t. vanilla
1 bag Rolo chewy caramels

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugars until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla and beat well. In a separate bowl, mix 2 1/2 C flour, cocoa and baking soda. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture a little bit at a time and blend well. If the dough feels too sticky, sprinkle in a little extra flour. Cover and chill dough in fridge for about 30 minutes. Chop Heath bar into small pieces. Place in a small bowl and toss with 1 T sugar. Once dough has chilled, wrap a piece around each caramel, forming a 1-inch ball and covering the candy completely. Dip top of the dough ball into the candy topping and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Cookies will look quite soft, but do not over bake! Cool in pan slightly before moving over to a rack or counter for cooling. Store in a covered container.

The Peanut Butter balls are sacred to our family. I will check with Rachel and Jeremy to see if they want the recipe posted. (They always get the most compliments)