Christmas kind of sneaks up on me every year. I think I have plenty of time and then I hear someone say it is only two weeks away. I don't have a lot to do this year to get ready but my baking ahead is done a little at a time and to keep it that way, I need to be more diligent.
We have celebrated on Christmas Eve with our son and his family at our place since they were married. We hope to continue the tradition but we are being adaptable this year with the possibility of needing to stay home due to COVID. With just the two of us, we do not have a big celebration on Christmas Day and my daughter-in-law's family does have their big celebration on that day, so that makes it easy for them to spend time with both families.
This week, I dried orange slices to use as decorations and I made the pretzel turtle candy using Rollos as a few blog friends suggested. I will provide a link below. It was good, although my husband doesn't like pretzels. (He doesn't eat any of the white chocolate pretzel candy I make.) He liked the Rollo candy better the next day when it was easier to remove the chocolate, caramel, and pecan from the pretzel base. ;)
May I say here that I absolutely love pre-cut parchment paper that prevents sticking? I've used it for a few years now and there is hardly a time I use it that I don't thank God for whoever it was that invented it. I use it almost every time I use a half-sheet or cookie sheet pan.
This week, I plan to make white chocolate "bark" with crushed candy canes sprinkled on it. I may put the white chocolate on a layer of dark chocolate like I did last year. Only then, I also added some Christmas M&Ms on top with the crushed candy canes. I just melt a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave and pour it on a parchment paper lined half-sheet pan (or cookie sheet).
I let it set completely, then I melt a bag of good quality white chocolate chips (I like the Ghirardelli brand the best) and pour it over the dark chocolate bark that has set. While the white chocolate is soft, I sprinkle on the chopped peppermint and a few Christmas M&Ms here and there. It is delicious with the M&Ms but I think equally as good with just the crushed peppermint.
Next week, I will make more cookies for the freezer and the traditional candy will be made either next week or early in the week of Christmas. These are all mostly for gifts. A friend asked if I eat any of the candy and I admitted to taking some extra insulin as I spend a few hours making them. That way I can "test" the product with no problem.
Since I'm not deepening the pantry this month, I did refresh the pantry with items I used the past few weeks. For instance, Kroger had a 10 for $10 sale on my favorite Red Gold tomatoes so I purchased five cans to replace what I had used.
I don't think I mentioned that I stocked up on regular white sugar a couple months ago. I was near the last of the sugar I've had for at least a couple years and when I saw bags of Michigan sugar in the clearance section at Meijer, I bought five bags for about $1.25 each. It wasn't really a priority but at that price it was worth stocking up again. I poured the "older" sugar in a smaller Tupperware style container and poured the five bags into the larger container.
I use organic "raw" Turbinado sugar for everyday (mostly for my husband' use) and Sugar in the Raw packets for my morning coffee. I remember them being so exotic decades ago! I find this sugar to be healthier for me than artificial sugar and the pre-measured packets are good when I'm not quite awake, yet. However, for baking it seems regular white sugar and brown sugar work the best for my recipes.
I often think of the articles I've read about the Great Depression shortages and those in WWII. Sugar was one of the items that became very difficult to get and homemakers would try to save it a little at a time if a birthday or Holiday was coming up so they could make a cake. Which was usually just one layer and not iced.
Before developing Juvenile Diabetes, I wanted to become a pastry chef once my homeschooler was older. I loved to bake and found spending time in the kitchen working on some complex recipe to be very fulfilling. These days, I cannot do that but Christmas is my excuse to bake again, albeit the recipes are far simpler now.
Happy baking and candy making! In my home, it makes this Christmas season a little more like normal. So enjoy the creativity, even if it is to give them as gifts for your local sheriff, police, fire department, etc.
Mentioned in this Blog Post
Pre-measured parchment paper... here.
Rollo pretzel candy recipe... here.
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Image: The sideboard decorated for Christmas, 2016
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