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but,  is time to see you go!

White Chocolate and Peppermint Popcorn

• 16 oz. white chocolate (can use white chocolate baking morsels) or almond bark
• 1 cup finely crushed (like sand) peppermints (about 10-12 candy canes or 40 mints) I crush my peppermints in my food processor. The mints will scratch the plastic.
• 4 quarts popped popcorn (about 1/2 cup  corn kernels) I used this to pop my corn, so it had salt. If you are using air popped corn, throw in a pinch of salt when you sprinkle in the crushed peppermints.

Slowly melt white chocolate or almond bark in the microwave or on stove-top with double boiler. Stir often to keep chocolate from burning.  Stir  1/2 cup crushed peppermints into the white chocolate.  Place popped corn into a large bowl.  Pour melted white chocolate and peppermint mixture over the popcorn. Gently stir to coat popcorn while sprinkling remaining crushed peppermints over the popcorn.

Pour out onto parchment paper and allow coating to harden.

oh yummy peppermint popcorn!

You can even drizzle with chocolate like Our Best Bites!

If you don't like popcorn you might give Peppermint Bark a try.  Miniature candy canes make great heart suckers and cupcake toppers ---perfect for Valentine's Day! Learn more here.

Marie at Makes and Takes also has a round-up of ideas for left over candy canes.

Today I've united with twelve  incredible food bloggers to bring you a holiday cookie celebration so big, it's being monitored by the North Pole. To see all of the participating bloggers, and to learn more about the valuable giveaways, please visit the Baker's Dozen home site at www.13CookieChristmas.info.

I hope you will enjoy my Holiday Candy Cookie!

Not only are they yummy but the mix makes a great gift and I have included some free printable labels to make it so easy!

The Mix

1 1/3 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup M&Ms

1 cup regular oats

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp.Kosher salt (or 1/4 tsp table salt)

To make cookies, mix jar contents with 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Drop by 2 tablespoons on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 350°.

(makes about 2 dozen cookies)

Instructions

Layer in a 1 quart jar

1.  Mix flour, salt & baking soda, place in bottom of  jar

2. Oats

3. M&Ms

4. Brown Sugar (press down firmly)

5. Sugar

Screw lid on tightly, add ribbon and the labels and you have a sweet gift!

Holiday Candy Cookie Mix Labels

Abby's Bakery is also in the giving spirit

Abby's Bakery's mission is to provide our customers with the best tasting, highest quality treats, created in a manner that is mindful of promoting sustainable, organic agriculture.

Abby's Bakery will  choose TWO winners to each receive a 3 month subscription in the cookie of the month club.  All you have to do is visit their site, choose your favorite cookie and come back here and leave a comment tell me which cookie you liked.

One winner will be chosen at random on 12.14.09. Open to US residents only.

Please take a moment to visit the other bloggers.  They are dishing up some fabulous cookie recipes you won't want to miss.  For more details visit http://www.13cookiechristmas.info/

...only a couple of weeks until Christmas. If you are needing some handmade gift ideas please check out the Handmade Gift Guide!

Onion and Pepper Relish

5 -  14.5 oz. cans chopped tomatoes (drained)

6 bell peppers (seeds and ribs removed) (I used two each of red, yellow and green)

6 cups sugar

2 Tablespoons salt

1 - 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (I used 1 1/2 tsp)

6 jalapeno peppers with seeds and ribs removed (a spoon does this easily)

3 medium onions

2 cups white vinegar

2 small boxes powered pectin (1.75 oz)

First chop all vegetables. It goes together very easily once all the chopping is done. To make this quicker I used a food processor.

Mix everything together, except the pectin, in a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer about 1 hour. Add in the  pectin and boil for 1 minute.

Pour relish into hot sterilized half pint jars, leaving about 1/2 inch head room. I needed 13 half pint jars.

Place lids and rings on jars. Process jars by placing them in a large pot of water. Water level should be an inch over jars. Boil for 15 minutes.  Carefully remove jars from water and allow to cool. You know jars are sealed when there is no give in the lid.

I plan to attach a tag to mine that says, "For an easy dip, mix jar contents with 2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese and serve with corn chip scoopers."

Enjoy!

If you are looking for more ideas on handmade gift giving, take a moment to browse through the Handmade Gift Guide.

Irish Cream Liqueur

from Bon Appetit

1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup Irish whiskey

1 tablespoon chocolate syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon instant coffee crystals

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon canned sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut) My can was solid at the top, so I placed about 2 inches of water in a skillet and heated until the cream of coconut was liquid)

Combine first 5 ingredients in blender; blend until coffee crystals dissolve, about 1 minute.  Add whipping cream and cream of coconut to mixture and blend 10 seconds.  Pour  into glass bottles, add a tag and you have a perfect gift.  On the back on the tag include instructions to keep refrigerated and that it should last two weeks.

You can pour chilled mixture over ice cubes, pour over chocolate or coffee ice cream too. This recipe make about three cups with just a enough to leftover to have a nice cup of coffee (or two)!

I used  8oz tall skinny bottles from Germany (sorry). I have tried to find them online with no luck, they were not expensive about $1.00 or so each. I did think these Round Ball Reed Diffuser Bottles would also make a beautiful presentation. They are 8.5 ounce, so if you forgo your cup of coffee it might work -- or you could add and extra 1/4 cup of cream and I don't think it would alter the recipe too much. There are many bottle supply companies online where you can find 8 oz bottles. You might also try World Market or the Dollar Store.

You could dress the bottles up even more with a hand painted bottle stopper!  Another festive and delicious drink you can make for gift giving is a bucket of Frozen Tumbleweeds.

Don't forget to check out other handmade gift ideas.

Enjoy!

Praline Ice Cream Sauce

1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

7 Tablespoons butter (divided)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 Tablespoons flour

3/4 cup light corn syrup

2/3 cup evaporated milk

Makes 3 cups of sauce.

Place chopped pecans in a microwave dish with 3 Tablespoons butter. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes, stirring twice. Watch the pecans closely to not burn them.

In another microwave safe bowl (I use a glass batter bowl because it has a lip for pouring) place remaining butter and heat until melted.  Whisk in brown sugar, flour, and light corn syrup until blended.  Cook on high 6-8 minutes, stirring twice, until the sugar is dissolved.

Add in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and the pecans, stir well.

Pour into jars.

Add a tag and bow and  you have made some sweet little gifts! Consider packaging with a cool ice cream scoop to make it extra special. Put  instructions on the back of the tag to keep sauce refrigerated and to reheat slightly in microwave to pour over ice cream.

YUM!

This week I am going to highlight some yummy gifts.

We are extra lucky to have Sandy, from the Reluctant Entertainer,   here  sharing a delicious recipe for Oreo Truffles. You will want to check out her new site.  It has been totally re-done and looks fabulous. Also, if you are a subscriber or want to subscribe she has a new feed.

I Love Oreo Truffles. They're so easy for kids to get into the kitchen and to help make!

Kids can use their own creativity by adding different flavors and decorations – to make their very own truffles! My daughter, Abby, just whipped up a batch this past weekend and had a ball decorating them herself. I think she has the recipe memorized now!

Remember it's not about perfection

I didn't stand over my daughter making sure these truffles turned out perfectly round, or that they were dipped exactly right. She had success in making them her own, and I will say it got a little messy!

What a delicious tasty treat to give away to teachers, grandparents or even neighbors!

OREO Truffles

18 oz. package of OREO Cookies

8 oz. package of Cream Cheese, softened

16 oz. Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

(I doubled the recipe using ½ fat-free and ½ regular cream cheese. I also used dark chocolate, which I bought in the bulk section at Winco grocery store.)

Mix cream cheese and crushed (fine crumbs) Oreo cookies together

Roll dough into 1 inch balls, putting on wax or parchment paper

Refrigerate for 30 minutes

Dip balls, using toothpicks or a spoon, into melted chocolate (use double broiler or microwave on 50%)

Refrigerate another 30 minutes until chocolate hardens

Anyway we can help our kids to be successful in giving it is encouraged in my home - and it usually is centered on food!

Decorate and Devour! Or package them up and give them away!

You might be interested in these other edible gifts ideas.

We peeled and peeled. I love this Apple Peeler (borrowed from a generous friend).  I have the Apple Peeler Corer Slicer from Pampered Chef.  I love it too, but this one is better for making pie filling since you need much thicker slices and this one only peels the apples.

Core and then slice the apples about 3/8 inch thick. Place apples in a large bowl of water. Crush about 5 - 500mg vitamin C tablets in the water to keep the apples from browning.

Prepare 7, 1 quart jars. You can download a wonderful canning resource from Kansas State University . It will give you many ideas for preserving apples and complete instructions for safe canning.

Preserving Apples from Kansas State University Download

Apple Pie Filling

6 quarts sliced fresh apples (firm crisp apples are best)(about 30 apples)

5 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups Clear Jel

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

2 1/2 cups water

5 cups apple juice

3/4 cup bottled lemon juice

Combine sugar, Clear Jel, cinnamon, water and apple juice in a large pot. Stir and cook on medium high heat until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble.  Add lemon juice and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add drained apple slices to sauce.

Fill jars with mixture, leaving 1 -inch head space. I packed the jars with the apples and then divided sauce among the jars.

Wipe jar rims clean, tighten lids and process immediately. Place jars in pot of water with water 1 inch above top of jar lids and boil for 25 minutes (For 0-1,000 ft altitude. See download for other times). Remove from water and let jars cool 12 to 24 hours. Lids should be indented if properly sealed.  Now they are ready to be saved for later or wrapped for gifts.

I felt the apples were a little soft for pie, but they made the most delicious Apple Crisp.

Apple Crisp

Mix together:

3/4 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup butter (use a 1/2 cup to make it over the top)

Pour pie filling into a 9 X 13 pan (or smaller for thicker crisp). Spread topping on top of apples. Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes until bubbly.

Serve warm with ice cream. Yum!

Note: Clear Jel is safest for canning. While it looks like cornstarch it is different. It worked beautifully in this recipe. I found mine at our local Cake and Candy Supply Store. You might also find it at bulk food dealers in your area.  Online you can find it here.

Ingredients

A

3 cups milk chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped walnuts or other favorite nuts (optional)
1/8 tsp salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

A

Directions

1. Place milk chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, butter , salt and vanilla extract in large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on medium until chips are melted, about 2-5 minutes, stirring once or twice during melting. Stir in nuts, if desired.
2. Pour into 8x8-inch pan that you have lined with foil and coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate until set. Cut into squares and enjoy!

So I began writing out the recipe and instructions and then realized this does all of you absolutely no good----you don't have a starter.  But lucky for all of you adventurous bakers a quick google search led me to many recipes for the starter. I have not tried this but they all looked the same.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

It is very important to use plastic or wooden utensils and plastic or glass containers when making this---no metal.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110°F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk (110°F)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl  dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.

2. In a  glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will get lumpy when you add the milk.

3. Slowly stir in warm milk and the dissolved yeast mixture.  Cover the mixture loosely with a lid or plastic wrap. The mixture will get bubbly. Consider this Day 1 of the cycle, or the day you receive the starter. I would put this mixture in a ziploc bag so I could continue on with the recipe.

For the next 10 days use the starter according to the instructions.

Allrecipes has another Amish Friendship Bread Starter recipe with tips about freezing the starter.

Here is the recipe and instructions on how to use the starter

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe and Instructions

There are many variations to make Pumpkin Bread, Strawberry Bread, Carrot...........

If you have a favorite or tips about making this bread please leave a comment!