Candy Cane Fudge

This fudge is a delightfully festive looking treat for the holidays! It is easy to make, can be made by children and makes a great homemade gift for the neighbors and your kids' teachers. It is a twist on my original Quick Fudge recipe.

 Ingredients

2 cups white chocolate chips or 450g white chocolate
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
10 to 12 candy canes

Directions

Crush candy canes into very small broken pieces. (A mortar and pestle work great for this, or just put them in a seal-able storage and roll a rolling pin over it several times.)

In large glass measuring cup, combine white chocolate  and sweetened condensed milk.

Microwave on high 3 minutes.

Stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.

Stir in vanilla extract.

Stir in 2/3 of the crushed candy canes.

Spread evenly into foil-lined 8-inch square pan.

Sprinkle remaining crushed candy canes over the top.

Chill until firm, about 2 hours. Makes about 1 1/4 pounds fudge.


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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

This is simple to make, does not require the use of an oven (only a microwave) and kids will love it!


Ingredients:


1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup sugar
mini cupcake papers



Directions:

1. Mix the peanut butter, butter and sugar in a bowl and set aside.

2. Melt the chocolate in a mug by placing it in the microwave for 2 minutes, stopping the microwave to stir the chocolate half-way through.

3. When the chocolate is soft and fully melted, place a teaspoon into each mini cupcake paper and spread across the bottom.

4. Place a small amount of the peanut butter mixture in the center fo the chocolate in each mini cupcake holder.

5. Cover the peanut bitter with more of the melted chocolate.

6. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer.

7. Enjoy!





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Chocolate Spoons

These are incredibly easy to make and can be used as they are for a sweet chocolate lollipop or to stir into hot chocolate or for stirring coffee to add a bit of chocolate to it.

Ingredients

2 cups milk chocolate chips
plastic spoons
decorations (sprinkles)

Directions

Put the chocolate chips in a microwave safe mug and microwave for one minute.

Mix the melted chocolate chips until smooth and creamy.

Dip plastic spoons into the mug until the mouth of them is covered in chocolate. Tap on the side of to get any excess chocolate off each spoon.
Lay the spoons face down on wax paper/grease-proof paper and let cool until the chocolate hardens.

Sprinkle the cake decorations over both sides of the spoons.

There is also the option of making the spoons without any colorful cake decorations. The decorations just make the spoons more festive in appearance.



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Quick Fudge

This fudge is quick and easy to make, taking just a few minutes in the microwave and using only a few ingredients.

Ingredients

2 cups milk chocolate chips
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

In large glass measuring cup, combine Nestle’s Toll House semi-sweet chocolate morsels and sweetened condensed milk.

Microwave on high 3 minutes.

Stir until morsels melt and mixture is smooth.

Stir in vanilla extract.

Spread evenly into foil-lined 8-inch square pan.

Chill until firm, about 2 hours. Makes about 1 1/4 pounds fudge.

The kids lined some decorative gift boxes and poured the fudge into them to make quick and tasty Christmas gifts to give out.



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Graham Cracker Houses

Rather than making gingerbread houses which can be time consuming and difficult for children, try making these graham cracker houses instead. Graham crackers, if you live in the United Kingdom, can be found on-line at American Soda. You can also find the white frosting there as well.

Ingredients

graham crackers
white frosting
assorted sweets and candies (such as gum drops, midget jems, foam fruits, dolly mixture)
food coloring (red, green, blue, yellow)

Directions

1. Separate some of the white frosting into different bowls and add the food coloring, mixing them in until you have some white frosting, some yellow frosting, some green frosting, some red frosting and some blue frosting.

2. Break the graham crackers into squares.

3. Spread the white frosting along the edges of four graham cracker squares and stick them together, forming a standing square.

4. Stick one graham cracker square across the top using white frosting.

5. Using the different colored frostings, "paint" the house in your chosen colors.

6. Use the still-sticky frosting to stick different assorted sweets and candies around the house's walls.

Note: I ran out of graham crackers to use for the roofs, so the children used digestives (which are a round cookie that is similar to a graham cracker which can be found easily in the UK) to make the roofs to their houses.

Here are some of the results that the children came up with while making these.


















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Cocoa-Dusted Peanutty Balls

This is a really easy recipe for kids to make that doesn't require any baking or boiling.

Ingredients

1 heaping tbsp. smooth peanut butter (crunchy peanut butter can be used if a more crunchy texture is preferred)
1 heaping tbsp. golden syrup
1 heaping tsp. soft margarine or butter
2 heaping tbsp. brown sugar
2 heaping tbsp. caster sugar
cocoa powder

Directions

Mix the butter and the golden syrup together in a bowl, then add the peanut butter and mix it in.

Add the brown sugar and the caster sugar to the mixture and mix until thick enough to form balls. (If the mixture is still too sticky to form balls, you can add a tiny bit of plain flour to thicken it up, but usually this will not be necessary.)

Form the mixture into ten separate balls and roll each one in the cocoa powder until fully coated.

Place the cocoa-dusted peanutty balls on a plate and refrigerate for an hour.

Enjoy!




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Pumpkin Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, margarine, shortening
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp clover
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 175C. Grease cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, eggs and canned pumpkin puree. Once smooth, add the flour, soda, cinnamon, clover, nutmeg and ginger. Stir until dough forms. Fold in the raisins.

3. Spoon batter onto greased cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated oven for 9-11 minutes. Let cool on cooling rack before serving.






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Kids' Cooking Fun!

My husband decided to get the kids doing some cooking today. We had bought some cooking supplies, aprons and chef's hats for the kids, so he thought they'd have fun doing some cooking with the new stuff.

First, they had to get all of the supplies out. Connor was thrilled with the new dinosaur-shaped cookie cutters.



And Isabella was quick to put on her new cooking apron and chef's hat.




Connor put his new cooking apron and chef's hat on too.




They started out by making cupcakes (known as fairy cakes in the UK). Gabriella put the cupcake papers into the cupcake pan.




Then she realized that she wasn't wearing her chef's hat, so she rectified the situation.




The cupcakes were just made with a simple sponge cake mix, bought for 69 pence from the local store. The kids just had to add water and an egg to it, mix it and then have their daddy put it in the oven.

The cupcakes were baking when my husband realized that we were out of powdered sugar (called icing sugar in the UK). I left to go and get some powdered sugar. By the time I got back, they had already eaten the fresh-from-the-oven cupcakes! I have six kids (still at home) and twelve cupcakes were made, so they each had two. This means I didn't get any pictures of the cupcakes to share here.

They also used some of the new teddy bear and butterfly jello molds to make jello shapes. They were not ready when the younger kids went to bed though, so they will have them tomorrow, and we'll see how well they shaped.

Gabby used our new butterfly-shaped chocolate molds to make flavored ice cubes. The chocolate mold was little bit too flexible, so it was difficult placing it in the freezer without spilling some of the liquid. We'll have a look at the ice cubes tomorrow and see how they came out. (I think Gabby would have preferred to make chocolate in the tray!)

Then they made sugar cookies with the dinosaur-shaped cookie cutters. Fortunately, I was home when these came out of the oven, so I was able to photograph them both while they were cooling on a rack and again once they were put onto a plate.




The three of them really enjoyed cooking and making such a variety of different things. I must admit that they consumed more sugary food than I usually allow, and this resulted in them acting more hyper for a while and then much crankier and whinier once they came off from the sugar high. But I have a feeling that they will look back at today as a fond memory someday.

Basic Sugar Cookies

Makes 60 cookies (depending on the size of the cookie cutters).

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
1.In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

2.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3.Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.




Nutritional Information Per Serving
Calories: 109
Total Fat: 5g
Cholesterol: 26mg

Cookies & Cream Dessert

This is so easy for your kids to make, and it's relatively healthy too!



Serves 1.

Ingredients

1 Oreo Cookie
100g Fat-free Greek Yogurt
Sweetener (to taste)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Method

1. Mix the sweetener, yogurt and vanilla extract together in a bowl.

2. In another bowl, place the Oreo cookie and, using the back of a spoon, crush it until it is a combination of small chunks and powder.

3. Mix the crushed Oreo in with the yogurt mixture.

4. Spoon into a small bowl for serving.

Quick & Easy Strawberry Cookies

This is an unusual way to make cookies, but these cookies have a very cake-like texture and a terrific strawberry taste.



Makes 12 cookies.

Ingredients
1 cup Strawberry Nesquick
2 cups plain white flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons light margarine or butter
low calorie oil cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 200F/100C.

2. Mix all of the ingredients together until smooth.

3. Place spoonfuls onto baking tray sprayed with low-calorie cooking spray, leaving adequate space between each one as they will spread when cooking.

4. Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Alternatively, your kids can sprinkle some Hundreds & Thousands over the cookies before baking, making the cookies into Strawberry Confetti Cookies.

Peanut Butter Honey Oatmeal Balls

This recipe is simple, does not require any cooking, and provides a bit of protein and fiber.



Ingredients
1 tbsp. reduced fat peanut butter
1 tbsp. pure honey
1/2 cup oats

1. Mix the peanut butter and honey together until smooth.

2. Add in the oats and mix completely.

3. Using your hands, separate the mixture into five sections and roll into balls.

4. Refrigerate for one hour and then serve.

Candy Corn Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is very simple, but, for very young children, will require an adult to use the oven. This also makes a colorful cookie for Halloween.



Ingredients
cookie dough mix
package of candy corn
low calorie cooking oil spray

Prepare the cookie dough mix as instructed on the packaging. (Some only need water added which is ideal when cooking by kids, but other mixes may require eggs and/or butter. Alternatively, buy pre-made cookie dough, although your child will miss out on the "mixing" part of the preparations this way.)

Place spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a baking tray sprayed with low-cal cooking oil spray. Add one candy corn on the top of each cookie right in the middle.

Bake as instructed on cookie dough packaging. The candy corn will become slightly melted but stil retain most of its shape once the cookie is finished baking.

Good-For-You Strawberries & Cream

This recipe is super easy for children and very healthy.



Ingredients
Strawberries (washed and sliced - For very small children, the slicing can be done in advance by mom or dad)
Non-fat vanilla yogurt
1 tsp. sweetener (optional)

Place the washed and sliced strawberries into a bowl and pour the non-fat vanilla yogurt over them. (Optionally, for added sweetness, sprinkle the teaspoon of sweetener over the strawberries before pouring the yogurt.)

Serve.

Reduced Sugar Peanut Butter Cookies

Kids will find this recipe simple to make, and it only uses a small amount of ingredients. Very small children will need a parent to help with the oven.



Ingredients
2 oz peanut butter
2 oz light margarine
3 1/2 oz Splenda
1 beaten egg
4 oz self-raising flower

Cream peanut butter, light margarine and Splenda together. Beat in the egg. Stir in the flour and knead well. Place small balls well apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes at 200C/395F.