Simple Christmas Sweets

Between holiday parties, goody packages sent to family and friends, and Christmas excursions to the in-laws, it becomes hard to find time to actually get all your shopping, baking and decorating done and still have time left over to enjoy the season. So...this year I decided to keep my holiday treat quick, simple, and delicious. Here are two simple recipes will will keep your sweet tooth happy all season long. I love anything "fool proof" in the kitchen. These simple sweets are also a great way to get kids involved in the kitchen for some family time, they will especially have fun with all the sprinkling taking place! This picture was quickly snapped in our elevator as my husband and I were headed out to a Christmas gathering with our friends. 

Peppermint Bark

What you'll need:


-Box of 12 regular size Candy Canes (or 24 small candy canes...you can also use the round peppermint candies)
- 1 bag Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1 bag White Chocolate Chips


1. Roll wax paper onto you baking sheet. 


2. Melt the dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or pyrex dish. I like to do this in twenty second intervals, stirring in between, until chocolate is completely melted. 


3. Pour melted dark chocolate onto wax paper and spread with the back of a spoon. Put the baking sheet in the freezer for about 20 mins. (if you are making the Pretzel Pixies you can use you wait time to begin work on those!)


5.Crush up your candy canes. To do this I use a heavy duty freezer bag and the smooth end of a meat tenderizer. Set aside.


6. Melt white chocolate chips in the same fashion as the dark chips. Stir half of your crushes candy canes into the white chocolate. Remove dark chocolate from freezer. Quickly spread white chocolate over the dark.


7. Sprinkle remaining crushes canes over top and place in freezer. After about 20 mins, or until frozen, you can use your kitchen mallet to break the bark into pieces. What I did was roll out another sheet of wax paper and put the frozen bark white side down. Without removing wax paper from the dark chocolate side I then used a kitchen mallet the break the bark. You can make your chunks as big or little as you like. 


* I had some left over dark chocolate and crushed canes, so I made some dark chocolate bark. I just melted and spread the dark chocolate and then immediately sprinkled my left over peppermint over the top and placed it in the freezer. I think the while and dark chocolate added some nice color variety to the presentation. The same effect could also be reached by spreading the white chocolate first and putting the dark over the top. Have fun with it!

Chocolate Pretzel Pixies

You cannot go wrong with this salty, sweet and simple holiday "Taste Sensation" as my mother would say! Inspired by my brothers affection for chocolate covered pretzels and my limited time/energy. I personally think the white chocolate are the best and next year I plan to make more of these. 

What you'll Need:


- 1 bag pretzel rods
- 1 bag White or Milk Chocolate Chips (or both)
- Sprinkles


* Depending on how much you plan to make just know that you will need 1 bag of pretzels to every regular size bag of chocolate chips and you can probably get about 60 sticks from each batch*


1. Break pretzel rods in half. I don't do the whole bag, I just break a bunch before I start and then if I use those up I just break as I go.


2. Melt chocolate chips in microwave. Do this in a microwave safe bowl or pyrex cup. 


3. Dip pretzel rod, broken edge first into the chocolate. Set on wax paper.


4. Add your sprinkles. What worked well for me was to dip about 10 rods and then sprinkle those all at once! 


* The first batch I made I made some long rods and some short ones. Then I started breaking all of the in half as I had a higher yield so there was more to go around PLUS the smaller pieces were easier to pack and ship to relatives who lived far away or we were not able to see this Christmas.