Our Favourite Christmas Recipes: Part One

Christmas is a time of creating fond memories, celebrating family traditions, and giving to others. In our homes, baking is an integral part of the Christmas celebration. There hasn’t been a Christmas that has gone by without someone pulling out the old recipe books and creating some tasty treats. With three days left till Christmas, we’ve decided to include some of our favourite recipes for the Christmas season, hopefully they can provide some inspiration for your own holiday baking!

“Squished Reindeer”

This is a recipe I started making a few years back and it has quickly turned into a baking tradition. My family fell in love with these tasty sweets and they have become the most popular Christmas treat in my house. Usually they are gone by the next day. -Meghan

1 bag of regular pretzels
2-3 bags of Hershey’s Kisses
2-3 bags of M&M’S

1. Place a piece of parchment paper on a flat baking pan.
2. Arrange the pretzels in rows on the parchment paper. Make sure there is a small gap between each pretzel.
3. Unwrap the Hershey’s Kisses and place them on top of the pretzels. Try to set the chocolate down in the middle of the pretzel.
4. Set the oven to 200 degrees and carefully place the pan on the top rack within the oven.
5. Since every oven heats up differently you need to keep a close eye on the chocolate. When the chocolate looks like it has a shiny coat on it, it is time to take it out of the oven. Be careful taking the pan out of the oven since the pretzels can shift from their position.
6. Lightly press an M&M with the “m” side down into the pointy part of the Hershey’s kisses. You want the chocolate to spread out in a circle shape.
7. Once the pan has cooled, place it in the fridge.
8. You will need to wait an hour before the squished reindeer are ready to be peeled off the parchment paper. Peel them off slowly and carefully, and enjoy.

*BAKING HACK: Party City sells Hershey’s chocolate 12 for 1$. When buying in bulk it is cheaper to get it at Party City than Bulk Barn.

“Snowballs”

Every year at Christmastime my nana sends us a container of snowballs. I don’t know when this started, but it’s one of our most cherished traditions. My sisters and I literally tear apart the box she sends us every year and instantly devour the snowballs. While they might not look like the most appetizing treat, they are by far one of the most delicious.  -Meghan

2 cups of rolled oats
½ cup of coconut
½ cup of milk
2 tbs of cocoa
1 cup of sugar
¼ cup of butter
1 tsp of vanilla

1. In a pot on the stove, pour in the vanilla, sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa.
2. Bring this mixture to a boil. Make sure to stir it continuously so it does not burn.
3. Once the mixture is bubbling, pull it off the hot burner and add the coconut and rolled oats.
4. Mix until all the oats are covered in the mixture.
5. Wait till the pot has cooled and place it in the fridge.
6. After an hour of cooling the snowball mixture it is ready to be rolled.
7. Squeeze some of the snowball mixture in your hand and then roll it carefully into a ball shape.
8. Roll the ball in coconut and then enjoy!

*BAKING HACK: You want it to be slightly runny, as in you can see a little bit of the mixture sitting at the bottom but not much. If it is too runny you can always add more oats.

“Presents Under the Tree Cupcakes”

Now this is a new recipe we included in this article but it has some roots in my family’s baking traditions. When I was little my mom use to come up with new ways of decorating the different things she’d bake. It has become a habit now to try to come up with a new way to decorate our old favourite recipes, such as cupcakes. Last year I created an angel topping for my cupcakes but this year I tried to come up with something extra special. This topping is especially a hit with kids and the surprise chocolate underneath makes it so much more fun. -Meghan

Several cupcakes of any flavour already made
A box of ice cream cones with the pointed bottoms
2 containers of white icing
1 container of green food colouring
Several different types of sprinkles
1 bag of Hershey’s Hugs

1. Cover the top of your cupcake in a thick layer of white icing.
2. Take an ice cream cone, flip it upside down, and cover it in green icing. The green icing is made by adding green food colouring to one of the containers of white icing. Make sure to mix it well or else you’ll have white spots in your green icing.
3. Decorate the green “tree” with sprinkles so it looks like a Christmas tree.
4. Carefully place the tree on top of your cupcake. Make sure you’ve placed the Hershey’s hug in the middle of your cupcake before you place the tree on top.
5. Enjoy!

*BAKING HACK: If you don’t have any piping bags, plastic sandwich bags are a great alternative.