Fast Holiday Treats.

Hello everyone and welcome to Boone Appétit. If you’re feeling like me right now you’re probably wondering where December has gone. It almost feels like I went to sleep on the 1st and woke up today on the 13th! The holidays are upon us and there’s still so much to do. As long as I can remember making fudge has been a Christmas tradition in my family. My mom use to make it the old fashioned way where you boil it until it clumped together in cold water(soft ball stage), after that, you had to beat the heck out of it until it lost it’s gloss. Only then was it ok to pour out into the setting pan. It was the best fudge around and I remember relatives clamoring for her peanut butter fudge, some would drive hours to get it! Luckily now we have easier and faster ways to make fudge , that’s almost as good. I wrote about making quick fudge here. Today I’ll be sharing other links with you as well. I have two more super quick and fun recipes that’ll save you time so you can stress about other things! Just kidding, the holidays shouldn’t be stressful , but we do put expectations upon them, so maybe this year let’s give ourselves a break.

The first recipe is something I thought I’d give a try and see how it would come out. I used the fast fudge recipe to make a salted butterscotch and chocolate layered fudge. The chocolate set nicely the butterscotch stayed a little gooey, so now it’s kind of like a messy yet delicious candy. I think the problem was I used a little more sweetened condensed milk then I should have. If you give it a try , take out a couple tablespoons of the milk, that should help.

• Salted Butterscotch And Chocolate Fudge
• 3 Cups butterscotch chips
• 3 Cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 – 14 ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk
• Good sea salt like Maldon (to sprinkle between the layers)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided equally between the two fudges.
• 1- 8×8 baking dish buttered
• In a heavy saucepan place the 3 cups of chocolate chips and one can of the sweetened condensed milk and a dash of salt. Heat on medium stirring as the mixture begins to melt.
• Once melted remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
• Pour melted chocolate mixture into the prepared 8×8 pan and place it in the fridge to cool.
• You want the chocolate fudge to get somewhat hard so when you pour the butterscotch mixture on top you’ll have layers. This takes about 30 minutes.
• Making the butterscotch fudge is exactly the same as the chocolate except you’ll use about 2-3 ounces less of the sweetened milk and of course the butterscotch chips!
• Once the chocolate fudge has set remove it from the fridge and sprinkle the sea salt evenly over the top. This is optional but I find the salt helps to give you a burst of both flavors.
• Once the butterscotch mixture has melted pour it over the chocolate fudge and place in the fridge to set. 2-3 hours should do it.

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The second recipe is fun to make anytime of year and it holds a place of nostalgia in my heart. I’m talking about the good old rice crispy treats. I’m going to turn them into holiday treats by using the red and green M & M’s. I’m also going to use marshmallow fluff instead of melting marshmallows. This step is a little quicker but I’ve found it doesn’t hold together as well as the traditional way using marshmallows. This recipe can get sticky really quickly so a few tricks are, butter your spatula, butter the mixing bowl and butter the pan you’re going to put the treats in. This helps in keeping the sticky marshmallow mixture from sticking to everything! You can add just about anything you’d like to these. I think you could crush up candy canes and toss them in the mix with chocolate chips and make a peppermint bark rice crispy treat. If you love peppermint bark try my homemade version here .

• Holiday Crispy Rice Treats
• 5 Cups Rice Crispy cereal
• 1 – 7 ounce jar Marshmallow fluff
• 1-2 Cups red and green M & M’s
• 3 tablespoons SALTED butter. Emphasis on salted!
• 8 x 8 buttered baking dish or whatever you have, you can use plastic there’s no baking involved. I used 9×13 baking dish.
• Place the 5 cups of crispy rice cereal into a large buttered mixing bowl.
• Mix in the M & M’s with the cereal .
• Melt the salted butter in a heavy sauce pan.
• Once butter is melted pour the marshmallow fluff in the pan and melt together with the butter stirring constantly.
• Pour the melted marshmallow mixture into the mixing bowl with the cereal and candies. Stir everything together using your buttered spatula.
• Place the mixture into the buttered baking dish and gently press the cereal into the corners and make it even across the top.
• Place in the fridge to set, cut into squares and enjoy!

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These two easy to make recipes should help to get you started along with the other links for peppermint bark and the other fudge recipe. I have also written about gingerbread and you can get that recipe here. I don’t think I should leave out the apple cookie recipe just because it’s so good. You can see it here.

I hope to be posting a few more things to help you get through this holiday season as easily and as deliciously as possible. If you have a cookie or candy recipe you’d like to share with us please feel free to email me or place it in the comment box. If you have any questions please leave those in the box as well and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Take a deep breath and relax it’s only the Holidays. Until next time Boone Appétit!