You may be wondering where I've been these last few weeks. Well the truth is, I've just been busy with life. With getting Christmas shopping done, enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving, with our annual trip to the sand dunes, and everyday life of a stay at home mom of 2, it's just busy. I have been thinking about our neighbor gifts and what I want to make for them this year. I haven't done the same thing for our neighbors every year like some people. So I wanted to try something new.
I was watching the Barefoot Contessa one day and she made
toasted coconut marshmallows. They looked delicious and somewhat easy. So I decided to try and make a peppermint version. I used the basic marshmallow recipe and changed some things that I thought would work.
Here is the recipe:
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water (divided)
12 oz sugar (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup light karo syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. peppermint extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Empty packages of gelatin in the bottom of your mixer bowl with 1/2 cup of cold water. Make sure you use the whisk attachment.
In a saucepan, add 1/2 cup water, sugar, karo syrup, and salt. Put it on medium high heat and cover for 3-4 minutes. Remove lid, insert a candy thermometer and cook until it reaches 240 degrees F. Remove from heat.
Start your mixer on low (with just the gelatin and water in it, you will see it has been expanding) and slowly add the syrup mixture, pouring it down into the bowl along the side.
Once all syrup is added, increase the speed to high. Whip until it becomes very thick and is luke warm. 12 - 15 minutes (15 for a more stiff marshmallow). During the last minute, add the peppermint and vanilla extracts. (If you want normal marshmallows, just add 1 tsp. of vanilla extract.)
During the 12-15 minutes of whipping the mixture, prepare your pan.
Mix the cornstarch and powdered sugar together. Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray, sprinkle the mixture in the pan and coat the bottom and all the sides.
I added a little more to it, by sprinkling the bottom with some Andes peppermint crunch pieces.
Once I was ready to fill the pan, I added a couple of drops of red food coloring. I didn't mix it too much, or you will have very pink marshmallows. (unless that is what you want!)
Then, very quickly, dump it into your prepared pan. I sprinkled more Peppermint crunch on top, and added more of the cornstarch and powdered sugar mixture on top.
Let is set for 4 hours or overnight. Then put it onto a hard surface that has been dusted with the powdered sugar mixture. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 1 inch squares. I put the squares into a bowl of the powdered sugar mixture to make sure all sides were coated.
A couple packets of hot chocolate, some homemade peppermint marshmallows, a cute box that looks like a snowman and you have yourself a great neighbor gift!
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You gotta love a veggie tray that looks like a Christmas Tree! Hopefully it will help the kids to eat their veggies!
The kids are loving our Christmas tree this year! Thankfully it is in a room that we can close off!
My favorite part of my wreath is this snowflake and jingle bell garland I found and was able to wind throughout the wreath.
Then of course we have some homemade snowflakes that Mr. C and I crafted this last week. Q-tip snowflakes on our door between our living room and family room.
Cut cardstock and painted snowflakes hung from twine above our kitchen table.
Then I made this snowflake wreath (with supplies I got on sale at Michaels) that hangs on my back door and catches the outside light really beautifully.
Over the last couple months I have been collecting bottle caps of all sizes. My husband just shook his head as he watched them pile up. But finally I got them out and we made an ornament for our tree.
I found 3 varying sizes and we painted them white. I cut out a hat with some extra craft foam I had. I hot glued the bottle caps together, glued the hat on the top, some twine on the back for a hook and using sharpie markers, I made the eyes, nose, mouth and buttons. Mr. C loves hanging ornaments on the tree.
Awhile back I got a great deal from Amazon on Q-tips. We have a LOT of Q-tips at our house. With all these extra q-tips, I decided we could use them in a craft project. I originally wanted to make a santa or snowman with cotton balls, but I actually don't have any cotton balls at my house right now. Maybe we can plan on that for next year!
I put some glue on one of the circles and we placed 6 q-tips around the circle.
Then we glued another circle on the top to ensure the q-tips would all stay put. This is the center of our snowflake.
We went around from the center creating the other edges of our snowflake, gluing circles at all the places the q-tips would meet. When we were all finished, this was our final product!
I put them on our glass paned doors that are between our living room and our family room. They turned out great and we had a great time making them.
Thank you Papa for the super fun train. The kids are going to look forward to putting up around the tree for many years.
While the kids were dressed in their new Christmas outfits, we needed to get a picture in front of the tree. Not the best picture, but still show off their cuteness!! (no bias here!)
I like to think that a beautifully wrapped package can be just as fun as what awaits inside. I like to make pretty bows on the presents that I give away. (Don't get me wrong, I like to receive presents wether they are wrapped or not, I just like to wrap the ones I give away.)
These pictures were taken with my phone and with some not too cooperative models. But you get the idea!
She made a bunch for my niece that she probably had a different shirt to wear everyday in December. It's fun for the kids to wear matching shirts as we go to all the festivities around town. Thanks Grandma for helping us get in the holiday spirit this year!
