Holiday Treats - Recipes

Allergies, intolerances, and more ... oh my! With Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, and New Year's Day coming up, treats are looming in front of us and so is the fact that our kids can't have any of it.

Yesterday I decided to whip up a few treats to see how my kids liked them and, honestly to see if I could do it. I thought I would share those recipes with you. I feel bad, again, calling them recipes since they are so simple. Oh, these are also a great way to add in items that you kids need but won't take by mouth. I am giving you the base recipes, but you wouldn't believe some of the things that I stuffed in these treats.

Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients

• Chocolate Chips (I used Enjoy Life Dairy, Gluten, Soy, Dye free)
• Peanut butter (I used organic creamy peanut butter)
• Organic coconut oil
• Muffin cups

Directions

1. Melt a large handful of chips/chunks over a medium low heat. 
2. Once melted and smooth, pour a very thin layer in the bottom of a muffin cup. I used reusable silicone cups. 
3. Put in freezer. 
4. Wipe out pot or use another pot and put 3 rounded tablespoons into the small pot. Heat until smooth and melted. Add in 1 - 2 tsp coconut oil. Stir until incorporated and smooth. 
5. After about 10 minutes your chocolate should be solid. Remove the cups and pour peanut butter over the chocolate. (the same amount or double the amount of chocolate, depending on how much you like peanut butter. We used double.)
6. Put in freezer. 
7. Melt another large handful of chips/chunks. Once melted and smooth, pour over the peanut butter layer you just finished that should now be solid. It won't be hard like the chocolate but solid. 
8. Put these back in the freezer for a final setting. 
9. Remove and put in a container (you can remove the muffin liners). 

Nutty Choco-corn

Ingredients

• Popcorn
• Chocolate (I used Enjoy Life like mentioned above)
• Raw Almonds
• Organic creamy peanut butter
• Organic almond milk (you can use regular milk if you have no allergies)

Directions

1. Melt two large handfuls of chocolate over a medium low heat. 
2. In a bowl toss in 2 cups of pop corn. 
3. Dip 10 almonds into the peanut butter so half of the nut is covered and you have the top half with nothing on it.
4. Dip the almonds into the chocolate in the same manner so half is covered (where the peanut butter is) and the other half isn't. Lay the nuts on parchment paper and put in the freezer for a few minutes. 
5. While the nuts are setting, add about 1 Tbsp peanut butter to the chocolate and stir until smooth. Add 1 - 2 Tbsp milk until the chocolate/peanut butter mix is thinned a bit. Stir until smooth. 
6. Drizzle over the popcorn. Stir until about half coated. 
7. Drop in the nuts and stir to gently toss. 
8. Pop a movie into the BluRay player and have a fun evening on the sofa. 

Simple Chocolate Bars

Ingredients

• Chocolate (see above)
• Organic peanut butter
• Almond milk (I used a specialty formula my son uses to add nutrition to this bar instead of milk)
• Add ins (optional - rice crispy type cereal, marshmallows, nuts, etc)

Directions

1. Melt 2 handfuls of chocolate over medium low heat
2. Stir in 1 heaping Tbsp of peanut butter
3. Pour in 1 - 2 Tbsp milk until smooth
4. Lay out parchment paper and pour/spoon onto paper in a thin candy bar thick piece. (drop in add ins at this point if you want to use them)
5. Put in freezer until solid. 
6. Cut with a sharp knife into bar sized pieces

I had a little chocolate left over from some of these and decided to make another little treat. I bought some safe maraschino cherries (yes, safe. No dyes, HFCS, soy, etc). I dipped them in plain melted chocolate(keep the stem on as a handle). Set them on parchment paper or a few in a muffin cup and set in freezer or fridge to set the chocolate.

Talk soon.