christmas cooking

Yay! Another post within a week, I'm doing better!

So yesterday I spent some time in Lakeville making holiday treats that my family has every year. Ok, admittedly I didn't do to much baking. I did keep the young child busy though, important work. Mom, Laura, Becca, and Becca's friends Lindsey and Katie were the cooks. We all also received copies of old family recipes, score! Here is what was made, if I can remember it all: caramels (x2), fudge, peanut butter balls, peanut brittle (x2), white chocolate covered pretzels (x2), chocolate covered peanut butter Ritz. A few of the items had to be remade because of mistakes made on the first batch.

Katie's son Julian - CUTE!

So when I said I didn't do to much baking, it wasn't a lie, I had my hands on two dishes. The first attempt at peanut brittle was a disaster. Because not a lot of people were interested in peanut brittle, Mom thought of using this microwave recipe she got when she bought her first microwave. Why wouldn't it work? It's 24 years old and was created for microwaves with much less power. Did you know that in 1984 they actually had classes to show you how to use a microwave, we've come a long way. Anyways, I tried out the recipe. Microwave a bunch of sugars and peanuts for 10 minutes, easy enough right? Well, maybe that was too much time, the sugar burnt and was smoking up a storm. You can only imagine the smell that permeated from the glass bowl. We decided this recipe wasn't much of a keeper and to go back to the classic which has proved itself time and again. Laura made the second batch (I added the salt at the end!) which turned out as expected, delicious.

Oopsie! Burnt peanut brittle

Becca was working hard on the caramels all day. Her first batch wasn't as much of a disaster as my treat. It cooked well, set in the pan perfectly, and went out on the deck to cool. The problem came when it was time to cut up the pieces. Apparently the caramel was cooked too much as well, making it still edible, but not the chewy goodness we all know and love. So another batch was made, keeping the first because it was still good food. The second attempt on this was perfect.

Caramels cooling outside

Peanut butter balls, before and after dipping

I think a lot of people had their hands on the making of the peanut butter balls. Laura mixed up the ingredients, Mom and Lindsey rolled them, and Becca and Katie dipped them in chocolate. Yup, that's everyone but me. At least I tasted them, I was the inspector! And they are yummy, peanut butter balls are one of my all time favorite holiday treats. So easy to make, it looked like.

Mom had made some fudge earlier in the week, but Katie also wanted to try her hand at this dish. I'm sorry I don't have much to say on this one. At this time I was either taking photos or watching her son Julian (cutie!). I didn't even get to taste them as they were the last item to get cut up and dished out. Although from the looks of the pan of chocolaty goodness, I'm sure they were just as amazing as usual.

Fudge, during process and spreading to cool

Becca had to make one dish that isn't on our list of usual suspects, the chocolate covered peanut butter Ritz. I guess this is one of Joe's (her husband) favorites so they were mainly for him. Another one that appeared pretty simple although I had no part in. Take Ritz crackers, spread peanut butter in the middle, and dip into chocolate.

Ritz treats, peanut brittle, and peanut butter balls cooling out on the deck

Finally, Katie and I (yes, I helped!) made white chocolate dipped pretzels. The first batch on these weren't so much a mistake in cooking, as a trial in chocolate shopping. Katie bought the expensive chocolate dip not knowing that we typically use the cheapo almond bark. When we dipped the pretzels in the expensive dip it wasn't covering them like we are used to, the color was a little yellowish, and the chocolate wasn't hardening. After careful examination of the samples it was decided to use some almond bark Mom had. These were, again, just as expected and delicious.

A lot of fun was had and a lot of sugar consumed by all. I think the main thing we learned was to just stick to the classic recipes, trial definitely equaled error this day.