Christmas Baking for the Mom That Doesn’t Bake

12/10/2017

Sooooo. I’m not a baker. Or a cook. Or really much of a homemaker in general.  Because of this, being a work-at-home mom has presented some challenges in the stay-at-home mom portion of my responsibilities.  Honestly, I just don’t enjoy doing that stuff.  I try to like it more but I just don’t.  So when I got invited to what I consider to be the most MOM event of MOM events I have ever been invited to – a Christmas Baking Exchange – I was hesitant to participate.  But then I remembered I will be hosting both of my families at my house over the holidays and I should probably have a decent variety of treats. And I sure as hell wasn’t making all of them so…. here we are.

As with most times that I need a creative idea, I hit up Pinterest for some inspiration.  I stuck with a simple search of “Easy Christmas Baking” and got hit with a plethora of ideas.  I decided to go with a personal favourite of mine – Caramel Covered Marshmallows – and something that I wasn’t too sure about but looked simple enough – White Chocolate Covered Pretzels.

Again, not being super interested in baking and cooking, I am also not patient enough to follow a recipe in all of its helpful glory.  So I kind of read a recipe then just went with my gut! So here goes:

Caramel Covered Marshmallows

One bag of regular-sized marshmallows

About 3/4 cup butter (I didn’t have butter so I used margarine – it worked)

About 40 or so vanilla caramels (the ones that come individually packaged)

1 300mL can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of cinnamon

About a cup of Rice Krispies (you can crush if you want to – I didn’t)

Candy sticks (I bought mine at Bulk Barn, but had I been making them for just my family I probably wouldn’t have used sticks at all)

 

Get everything ready before starting to put this super satisfying treat together.  I put the cup or so of Rice Krispies on a plate so that it would be easy to roll the marshmallows.  I got the marshmallows ready to be stabbed with the candy sticks.  Lay out some parchment paper that the treats can set on. Once my assembly line was ready to go I went forward with making the sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) Add cream, butter, and vanilla caramels together in a pot with the burner on Med-Low. Stir constantly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Once the sauce has started to melt, add in the vanilla and cinnamon and stir until it looks like gooey deliciousness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) Add the sauce to your assembly line.  Start by stabbing your marshmallow with the candy stick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4) Dip the marshmallow in the caramel sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5) Roll the caramel covered marshmallow in the Rice Krispies (part-way through making mine I ran out of Rice Krispies so I used crushed up Cinnamon Toast Crunch on some of them and they were equally as delicious).

 

 

 

 

 

6) Put marshmallows upside-down on parchment paper and leave set for at least an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I loved about making these treats:

They taste amazing

My 2.5 year-old daughter was able to help

They freeze well (if they last long enough to hit the freezer)

What I wasn’t a huge fan of with these treats:

The dishes. So. Many. Dishes.

 

Overall, these treats were super easy to make, didn’t require the oven where most of my stuff really gets messed up, and they were a huge hit at the baking exchange!

Stay tuned for my recipe for the White Chocolate Covered Pretzels and details about how the baking exchange worked!