G-licious Dishes: Holiday treats my mom still makes

But I tried my hand at it this year. Not really a baker, that Darbi G. I prefer to cook since I’m not a huge sweets-lover. But since I do love me some Xmas cookies, and since we do have a house now…and since we do have neighbors whom we’ve never met, I thought: let’s* bake cookies! and eat some ourselves, too!

*by the contraction “let’s”, which typically stands for “let us”…I do not refer to my husband because he didn’t help me at all, but yes he helps eat them. 🙂

So here they are…three recipes that I grew up on at this time of year. And I still love !

Fantasy Fudge
3 c sugar
1.5 sticks of butter or margarine
1 small can (5 oz) of evaporated milk (2/3 c)
1 pkg. (12 0z) Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla

Place sugar, butter and evaporated milk in 3 qt heavy saucepan. Bringn to full boil on medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil about 4 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees. Stir lots to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.

Add choc. chips and marshmallow creme; stir until melted. Add walnuts & vanilla; mix well.

Pour immediately into a foil-lined 8×8 square pan (or similar); spread evenly over bottom of pan. Cool at room temp for at least 2 hours. (we put ours in the garage for 3 hours). Store in airtight container at room temp…cut into 60-80 pieces.

Secret Kiss Cookies
2 c. butter or oleo (softened)
1 c sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
3.5 c flour
1 c. chopped walnuts
12 oz of hershey kisses, unpeeled
Powdered sugar

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Gradually add flour and nuts, beat on low speed until well blended. Chill dough for one hour. Remove from fridge and mold about 1 tbsp of dough around a kiss. Roll in hands to make ball. (Yes, it gets very sticky…) Cover kiss completely. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 min. Don’t let them brown though. Cool slightly….roll in powdered sugar. Store. Makes about 40 cookies.

Branches (my mom actually made wreaths with circular pretzels, but those are hard to find this time of year!!)
1/2 package of white choc. almond bark
full package of pretzel rods
Green & red M&Ms (if you can’t find holiday ones, do like I did and pick them out!!)

Melt almond bark as package instructs on top of stove. Keep heat low….hold rod above the pan, scoop up the melted chocolate and drip onto the rod until the bottom is covered. Or you can use tongs to dip the pretzels into the saucepan and get them out. Put M&Ms on before it’s completely solidified.

Oh and then here are chocolate chip cookies…jsut a simple recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens recipes. I have to admit, they got rather hard, rather quickly. So I use slices of bread in the tin to keep some moisture in the cookies.

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