I wish you all a blessed Christmas with family and friends.
I've been busy this week with cooking, baking, candy-making, cleaning, and wrapping gifts. One of the gifts that I give to my son and daughter-in-law each year is a stack of tins filled with treats and snacks. I spend the week prior to Christmas making these goodies. Here's what is in the tins this year, from top to bottom:
- spiced nuts
- homemade cocoa mix in cellophane cones
- homemade candies -- dark chocolate dipped dried apricots and dark chocolate almond clusters
- gingerbread men, peppermint-vanilla swirl cookies, and nutty caramel bars
- cheese popcorn
I also wanted to show you the type of chocolate that I've been using for dipping dried fruits and nuts. Instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips, I've been buying "dark chocolate" chips. The brand I've been using is Great Value (Walmart store brand). They're 60% cacao and higher in fat, lower in sugar than semi-sweet chocolate chips -- so they're creamier and less sweet. The Great Value brand is about 20 cents more per package and the package is slightly smaller (10 oz compared to 12 oz semi-sweet).
We hope to see our son and daughter-in-law tomorrow, weather-permitting. Wishing you all a merry Christmas!
recipes:
