Whatever Friday {Merry Christmas and all that}

From my family to yours, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas. This weekend I will be baking, cooking, eating, and spending time with my family. Thank you all for stopping by here each day and leaving your sweet comments. It means so much to me that I have actually developed a sense of community and friendship from this little corner of the internet. I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday!

I will still be hosting Crazy Sweet Tuesday next week (with a giveaway!), and I hope to still post a few of the many recipes I have saved for you. But my posting and commenting and replies may be a bit sporadic. You see, my husband has the week off and Jordan is supposed to spend a few nights with my parents. At their house. This means I will be alone with my husband for the first time since summer. And I can think of a few things I might rather be doing that blogging.

What? Don't give me that look. I meant hanging artwork, organizing, and watching TV. What did you think I meant?

Have a wonderful weekend and an awesome Christmas!

Peppermint Pie

"Honey, let's run by Ikea."

I wonder how many marital fights have been caused by that simple statement. I bet more than I could count on my hands.

You know what Ikea is, right? The Sweedish mega-store that sells everything from spoons to sofas? Pretty nice stuff for pretty low prices. The catch? 99% of it comes in a flat-pack box. Which means you have to put it together. Yourself. Or you have to make your husband do it.

Recently we bought a new dresser. The two bags of screws and bolts were bigger than my head.

The directions that come with the furniture are pretty good. They transcend the language barrier by using no words, just pictures. So before you use your tiny allen wrench to tighten that screw, you have to make sure the long black board you're attatching to the long black plank is the one that has two holes on the left side and three holes on the front instead of two holes on the front and three on the left.

My house is slowly becoming assimilated into Ikea, like the Borg assimilates the human race: one piece at a time. Currently our Ikea collection includes: 2 dressers, 2 nightstands, 4 bookshelves, 3 drawer storage units, an end table, a coffee table, 3 desks, and numerous baskets, dishes, and linens.

I really want a pair of sofas, but that concens me a little. How, exactly, do I assemble a couch?

I guess the pictures would explain it.

Plus, I think furniture has more personal value if you build it yourself.

At least that's what I tell my husband. You know, pride of ownership and all that.

What I don't mind assembling? Pie.

Remember how I don't like pudding? Well, I still don't, but I like it in pie. Sometimes. This would be one time. There's enough other stuff in there to make it worth it.

I made this pie for my dad, so I used all sugar-free ingredients. BUT you can use the regular stuff too. This is a kind of feel-as-you-go recipe. Add a little more, make sure it fits in pie dish, then add a little more to that. It's no-bake so it doesn't really matter. And it's super easy. Serve it chilled or freeze it for an ice cream like treat. 

And it's pink. Which is a win-win for me. I don't think my dad minded either.

{Note: There is a print link embedded in the footer of the post. Please visit the post to print.}

Peppermint Pie

Ingredients:

Crust:

20 Oreos*

4 tablespoons butter

Filling:

1 (1.34 ounce) instant vanilla pudding box, plus milk called for to make pudding (about 2 cups)*

1 tub Cool Whip, thawed*

½ teaspoon Peppermint Extract

10 mini candy canes

Red food coloring

Directions:

1.       To make the crust: Finely grind Oreos in a food processor. Melt the butter in a medium bowl and add the crushed cookies. Stir with a fork and press into a 9” pie plate. Chill until ready to fill.

2.       To make the filling: Prepare pudding according to package directions. Stir in thawed Cool Whip and peppermint extract. Add red food coloring (if desired) to create a pink pie. Crush candy canes and add to filling, reserving about 1/3 of them for garnish.

3.       Pour filling into chilled crust. Top with remaining crushed candy canes. Chill until ready to eat, or you can freeze to eat as a frozen pie.

*This pie has a SUGAR-FREE OPTION: Use sugar-free alternatives to the Oreos, pudding, and Cool Whip.

{Recipe by CrazyforCrust}

This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box), Talent Show Tuesday (Chef in Training). Wednesday: Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party (Mrs. Fox's Sweets) Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy), Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh), Sweet Temptations (Talking Dollars and Cents). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home), Latest & Greatest Friday (Days of Chalk and Chocolate). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters), Strut your Stuff Saturday (Six Sisters' Stuff), Moms Crazy Cooking

White Chocolate Cheesecake Peppermint Cookies {Peppermint Week}

I'm so excited for this week. While going through all the recipes I was planning on making for the holidays, I realized that I had four peppermint recipes. So welcome to Peppermint Week!

See, I really love peppermint. Peppermint ice cream, peppermint with chocolate, cookies, cake, brownies, pie, candy. Bring it on, I love it.

But I don't love candy canes. Or those peppermint candy things you get at restaurants. I love the flavor of peppermint in any and all baked goods, but hand me a stick of the stuff? *Gag*

And yes, I am perfectly aware of my crazy food issues. Condiments, bananas, pudding, candy canes. I know I'm abnormal. I am fully expecting to shell out money not only for braces for my daughter (bad genetics), therapy (for what she will inevitably see as bad mothering), but also for a nutritionist to deal with all the fun food issues I am surely passing on.

You all love me for my quirks, right?

Don't answer that.

Anyway, first up this week: these White Chocolate Cheesecake Peppermint Cookies, inspired by this recipe.

I knew I was going to make these as soon as I saw this in the store:

I don't normally buy store-bought cookie dough because I love making my own, but it has candy canes in it! How could I not buy it???

Mix up your cheesecake filling and chill it. When you're ready to fill, slice your roll of dough and place a teaspoon of the filling on half the slices. Top with the other half and press to seal.

Now, leave lots of room on your cookie sheet. Lots.

These are some seriously big cookies. I'd forgotten how much that cookie dough roll spreads. Massive. But good!

Because there wasn't enough sugar, I topped them with white chocolate and sprinkles.

You can't really see the filling, but it's there. And when you bite into it? Oh, yum.

{Wow, I need a manicure. Hubs, you paying attention?}

I hope you enjoyed the first Peppermint recipe of the week. And if you don't like peppermint...well you love my witty content, right?

Don't answer that either.

Happy Monday!

White Chocolate Cheesecake Peppermint Cookies

by Crazy for Crust (Adapted from Cookies & Cups)

Keywords: peppermint cheesecake cookie

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Ingredients (about 16 very large cookies)

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ¼ cups white chocolate chips, melted
• 1 tube Peppermint Sugar Cookies (Pillsbury)
• 1-2 cups additional white chocolate chips, melted and sprinkles for decoration

Instructions

1. Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and melted chocolate with a hand-held mixer until combined. Chill for at least 30 minutes before using.
2. When ready to assemble cookies, line baking sheets with parchment paper. Slice cookie dough about 1/4” thick and line them up on a cutting board. Place one teaspoon of the chilled filling in the center of half the rounds. Lay the empty cookie dough rounds on top the filled ones and press the edges together. Form it into a patty. Make sure it is sealed. Place on the prepared cookie sheet and repeat with rest of dough. Be sure to place at least 3” apart on baking sheet.
3. Once cookies are all formed, chill for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake cookies for about 12-16 minutes (mine took 15), rotating pans halfway through baking. Cool completely.
5. If you want to make the cookies fancier, melt the additional white chocolate chips and spread about a tablespoon on each cookie. Sprinkle with sprinkles, if desired.

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This recipe may be linked with:
Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box), Talent Show Tuesday (Chef in Training). Wednesday: Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party (Mrs. Fox's Sweets) Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy), Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh), Sweet Temptations (Talking Dollars and Cents). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home), Latest & Greatest Friday (Days of Chalk and Chocolate). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters), Strut your Stuff Saturday (Six Sisters' Stuff), Moms Crazy Cooking

Gingerbread Cookie Dough Truffles

Last weekend I bought one of those gingerbread house kits. We decorate one every year and use it as a centerpiece for Christmas. And every year I look at it and relive one of the most horrifying events of my (sheltered) life, but I still keep buying a gingerbread kit. What could be so horrifying, you ask?

I usually refer to it as the "Ant Incident of 'Ought Seven."

Or, "the day I called my husband on the phone and I was so hysterical he couldn't understand what I was saying."

Or, better yet, "the year the ants invaded my house and filled up my gingerbread house kit and I didn't know it until I opened it on the kitchen table."

We'd been having an ant problem for awhile, something to do with cold weather and rain and the neighbors behind us installing a swimming pool. The ants weren't in the kitchen, they were in the bathrooms. And the office. And then, the linen closet where I was storing my "it's not sealed even though it looks like it is" gingerbread house kit.

Every single towel in that linen closet was full of ants. They were on the walls. On the floor. Trails, trails everywhere.

Hence the hysterical phone call to my husband.

To this day, ants creep me out. My daughter thinks it's funny to joke and say, "hey mom! There's an ant on the kitchen counter!"

It's not funny. Really, it's not. Because there is never just one ant.

Strangely, I'm not creeped out by gingerbread house kits. But I'm wary of them. Very wary.

Gingerbread I'm not wary of? These truffles.

I think these were one of the easiest truffles I've ever made. I have realized it is so much easier to dip stuff in chocolate when it is winter and not 85 degrees in my house.

I used a King Arthur brand Gingerbread box mix for my cookie dough. I won it last month from Flour Me With Love and was dying to try it. I don't know if you can buy King Arthur mixes near you, but almost every major brand at the grocery store makes a Gingerbread mix with a cookie variation on the back.

The most important part of making the cookie dough is do not use the egg called for! You don't want to kill your recipients, just make them fat. Substitute the egg with a tablespoon or so of water, just until the mix comes together, like this:

Roll the truffles into little balls and chill until firm, about 30 minutes. (Unless you're cheap like me and refuse to turn on the heater.)

Melt your almond bark or white chocolate melts and dip, dip, dip away.

I topped mine with little gingerbread men sprinkles that were in one of those multi-sprinkle packs. I was giving these away and wanted everyone to know what was inside, but you could use any sprinkle you want, of course. I'm a sprinkle lover, not a dictator.

Package up to give as gifts or keep them for yourself. After trying them I'd wish I'd made them for me!

And in the meantime, I'd keep an eye on the gingerbread house kit. You just never know.

It's the last week of the 12 weeks of cookies!

Gingerbread Cookie Dough Truffles

by Crazy for Crust

Keywords: gingerbread Christmas truffle

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Ingredients (about 3-4 dozen, depending on)

• 1 box gingerbread cookie mix (any brand), plus ingredients called for to make the mix EXCEPT NOT THE EGG.
• 1 package of white almond bark or white chocolate melts.
• Sprinkles for decorating

Instructions

1. Mix cookies according to box directions, substituting about 1 tablespoon of water for the egg. Mix until the dough comes together into a large ball.
2. Scoop tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill until hardened, about 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt your almond bark according to package directions. (I like to keep mine warm while I dip over an electric griddle set at 200 degrees and covered by two kitchen towels.)
4. Dip each ball into the white chocolate. Tap to remove excess and place on a new cookie sheet. Garnish with sprinkles and chill until firm.

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This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box), Talent Show Tuesday (Chef in Training). Wednesday: Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party (Mrs. Fox's Sweets) Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy), Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh), Sweet Temptations (Talking Dollars and Cents). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home), Latest & Greatest Friday (Days of Chalk and Chocolate). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters), Strut your Stuff Saturday (Six Sisters' Stuff), Moms Crazy Cooking

Stuffed Snowballs

Snowballs. Butterballs. Russian Teacakes. Mexican Wedding Cookies. I never know what to call these cookies. The have so many names it's like they're felons or something.

I grew up eating these cookies at Christmas, but that's not why I made them. I realized I haven't talked books in awhile and I really wanted to introduce you to a series I really, really loved. In order to that, I needed to bake something, of course.

The series (and the name of the first book) is called Perfect Chemistry, by Simon Elkeles. It's a trilogy of young adult books (I can't seem to get enough of those lately) about three brothers who fall in love. The brothers are Mexican and come from the rough side of town. Of course, the girls they fall for are the total opposite of them (rich white girls) and trouble ensues. But, you should never judge a book (or a person) by it's cover, because the Fuentes brothers have a lot of layers to them.

And you shouldn't judge these cookies that way either.

Because these cookies have a secret. They're stuffed.

With Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Oh, yes I did.

They are buttery, nutty, sugary cookies stuffed with a peanut butter cup and rolled in more sugar.

You're welcome.

Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter Cups. *Swoon*

Squish some dough flat and place a peanut butter cup on top. Add more dough on top (c'mon, it's the holidays, calories don't count!) and roll them into a ball. Super easy!

Now you have a great cookie to eat and a great series to read. Don't say I never did anything for you!

Seriously, these books are great. Cute, quick reads. Because who has time for War and Peace when you have stuffed cookies to make?

{Note: there is a print link in the footer of the post, please visit the post to print.}

Stuffed Snowballs

Recipe adapted from my Mom’s

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup finely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, or almonds)

24 miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (or other small candy of your choice), unwrapped

Powdered sugar for rolling

Directions:

1.       Preaheat oven to 375°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2.       Mix butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. Stir in the nuts. If dough is too soft, chill it until you can work it easily with your hands.

3.       Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough and flatten with your hands. Place 1 miniature Reese’s on top. Take another tablespoon of dough, flatten it, and lay it on top the peanut butter cup. Press the sides together and roll to form a sealed ball of dough. Place on prepared cookie sheet.

4.       Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for just a minute, until you can handle them. Fill a small bowl with additional powdered sugar and roll each cookie in the sugar until coated. Place on a rack to cool.  (Once cookies are cooled, you may want to re-roll them in more powdered sugar.)

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

What good books are you reading?

This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box), Talent Show Tuesday (Chef in Training). Wednesday: Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party (Mrs. Fox's Sweets) Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy), Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh), Sweet Temptations (Talking Dollars and Cents). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home), Latest & Greatest Friday (Days of Chalk and Chocolate). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters), Strut your Stuff Saturday (Six Sisters' Stuff), Moms Crazy Cooking

Chocolate Mint Kiss Crinkles

Things that I loved in 1990:

-My crimping iron
-Sweatshirts with puffy painted koala bears
-Saved By The Bell
-My bedroom: a shrine to Joey McIntyre
-That Hershey's Kisses came out in Almond flavor, thus embarking the Kiss evolution to the best kisses ever: Holiday Flavors.

I mean, don't you agree? Christmas candy isn't just red and green anymore. There are special flavors you can only get during certain times. Flavors you crave all year long until finally, finally they show up in the stores. I wait all year long for the Candy Cane Kisses and these Mint Truffle ones. I snatch up several packs as soon as I see them just in case they run out. Then I "save" them for baking, slowly eating one or two or ten a day until I have to buy more so I can actually make something out of them.

I searched long and hard for what to pair with these Mint Truffle Kisses. While perusing Pinterest I, of course, came across an awesome looking chocolate cookie with loads of chocolate but no flour or butter, ensuring a rich, deep chocolate flavor. I thought they'd pair awesome with these Kisses, and they certainly did!



I made these cookies for the Food Blogger Cookie Swap. I love cookie swaps, but can you believe I've never hosted one and I've only been to a few in my lifetime? As soon as I heard about this swap, I knew I wanted to participate. It was easy; I baked three dozen cookies and mailed a dozen to three different bloggers. In return, I got three dozen cookies in the mail. I was never more excited to see my mailman!

A big thanks to Rachel at The Fromagette, Michelle at Red Pepper, Green Pepper, and Tiffini at The House of Belonging for the awesome treats! Rachel sent me some awesome cranberry white-chocolate dipped biscotti and granola that was to die for. I ate Michelle's rugelach in only a few days and didn't want to share with my daughter. And Tiffini's Oatmeal white chocolate butterscotch pretzel cookies? Amazing!

I tripled the original recipe for these cookies because the yield was 18. I ended up with a TON of cookies, which is a good thing because then I got to eat some! If you like rich chocolate and mint, these are the cookies for you. They are easy to make and great for a cookie swap. A perfect use for seasonal Kisses.

Now, is it Easter yet? I'm dying for some Coconut Kisses.

Chocolate Mint Kiss Crinkles

Recipe adapted from Divine Baking

Ingredients

4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

9 large egg whites, room temperature

4 ½ cups powdered sugar, plus more for rolling

1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

About 60 Mint Truffle Hershey’s Kisses

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350°. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and unwrap your Kisses. Melt 3 cups of the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Cool slightly.

2.       Whisk 3 cups powdered sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

3.       Beat egg whites in an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1 ½ cups powdered sugar. Continue beating until fluffy and thicker (a little thinner than marshmallow crème). Beat dry ingredients into the meringue on low speed. Stir in lukewarm chocolate and remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips. *The dough will seem too liquid to scoop. Give it a few minutes and it will stiffen a lot!*

4.       Place about a cup of powdered sugar in a bowl. Roll balls of cookie dough (about a tablespoon) in powdered sugar and place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake about 8-10 minutes. Immediately place one Mint Kiss on each cookie. Do not move cookies until they are completely cooled or the Kiss will collapse.

Note: This makes about 5-6 dozen cookies. I originally tripled the recipe because the yield was 18 but I ended up with way more. You could cut the recipe in half if needed.

This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box), Talent Show Tuesday (Chef in Training). Wednesday: Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party (Mrs. Fox's Sweets) Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy), Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh), Sweet Temptations (Talking Dollars and Cents). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home), Latest & Greatest Friday (Days of Chalk and Chocolate). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters), Strut your Stuff Saturday (Six Sisters' Stuff), Moms Crazy Cooking

Elf Munch & a Printable

On the Monday of Thanksgiving week I was enjoying my coffee and reading blogs when I came across this post from Cookies & Cups. I immediately wanted to do something similar but had no reason too.

Then I got a phone call from a friend who asked if I could take her place as Snack Mom for our Daisy troop meeting that day. She had been sick and just didn't have the energy to make a snack. Of course I said yes.

Now, a normal person would have just picked up some cookies while already braving the grocery store for Thanksgiving dinner supplies. But I'm not a normal person. I thought about buying a snack for about five minutes until I talked myself out of it and decided to make something.

Which is when I thought about that cute Thanksgiving snack mix that I had seen that morning.

But then the blogger in me took over.

Mini-blogger whispered in my ear, "But if you make a Thanksgiving snack mix you'll have to post it in the next two days. You can't do that. And you can't actually make something you're not going to post."

I agreed with myself, I had to make something I could post. So I decided to use that other mix as an inspiration for a Christmassy mix. The box of Chex was on sale so I decided to go the sweet Chex mix route.

This is a super simple recipe. I made it in less than 15 minutes and had it all bagged up and ready to go in under an hour. I used a mixture of white and semi-sweet chocolate and some M&Ms. But not just any M&Ms...MINT M&Ms. I saw them and snatched them up so fast. They are SO good!

You just coat half the cereal with semi-sweet chocolate and half with white. Crunch up some pretzels for and add some M&Ms and you're set. Stir this up and serve it in a bowl and you're set with an easy holiday treat.

Or you can make it all cute and bag it up in little bags with tags. I'll admit it, I like getting those "Oh, that's so cute, you made this didn't you??" comments. Those comments are like a drug. I get a rush and everything. (Come on, I'm not the only one, right? Isn't that part of why we do this whole blogging thing?)

I used fold-top sandwich bags to hold my snack mix. I filled the bags with about 1/2 cup of mix each. Gather the top of the bags and fold them over and staple them to hold them shut. Then fold your label in half and attach them to the bags with double-sided tape.

I even made you a printable! Click here for the Elf Munch tags. (I just printed them on regular computer paper.)

The other Daisy scouts loved the mix...it disappeared quickly. And I managed to save a cup (or two) for myself to devour. And when one of the troop leaders gave me the "Aw...those are so cute!" I got a rush the likes of Lindsay Lohan.

Enjoy!

Elf Munch

by Crazy for Crust

Inspired by Cookies & Cups and the back of the Chex box

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Ingredients (20 - 1/2 cup servings)

• 6 cups rice Chex cereal
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup mint M&Ms
• 2 cups pretzels

Instructions

1. Place 3 cups of rice Chex in two separate large bowls. Line two cookie sheets with wax paper.
2. Melt white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for one minute on HIGH. Stir and continue heating for 30 second intervals until melted. If you’re like me and can never get it to melt right, add a teaspoon or two of vegetable oil, stir, and continue melting. It should melt smooth. Immediately pour over one bowl of rice Chex and stir to coat. Spread on one of the wax-paper lined cookie sheets. Chill until hardened; about 5 minutes.
3. Repeat step 2 with the milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips and the second bowl of rice Chex.
4. While chocolate Chex is chilling, stir M&Ms and pretzels in a large bowl. Once chocolate and white chocolate covered Chex is hardened, break into pieces and add to the M&M pretzel mixture, then stir to combine.
5. You can serve this in a big bowl or in individual bags. For individual bags: place ½ cup of mix into a fold-top sandwich bag. Fold closed and secure with a staple. Cut out the printable and fold in half. Secure to top of bag with double-sided tape.

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This recipe may be linked with:

Monday: Mingle Monday (Add a Pinch), Joy of Desserts. Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), Tea Party Tuesdays (Sweetology), Mushki Loves My Stuff (Mushki Loves), Totally Tasty Tuesdays (Mandy's Recipe Box), Talent Show Tuesday (Chef in Training). Wednesday: Cast Party Wednesday, Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Turning the Table Thursdays (Around My Family Table), Tasty Thursday (The How-To Mommy), Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), I'm Lovin' it Fridays (TidyMom), Friday Favorites (Simply Sweet Home). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Seasonal Inspiration (Crumbs and Chaos). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life,Sharing Sundays (Everyday Sisters), Strut your Stuff Saturday (Six Sisters' Stuff)https://sites.google.com/site/crazyforcrust/elf-munch-printable