Food fun, task for the kids: Make Holiday Wreath Popcorn Treats. This recipe from The Popcorn Board can be made by older children.
RECIPE: CHRISTMAS POPCORN WREATHS
Ingredients For 8 Five-Inch Wreaths
3 quarts popped popcorn
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3 cups miniature marshmallows
3 tablespoons (1/2 of a 3-ounce box) lime gelatin dessert mix
Decorations: small red candies, mini jellybeans, dried cranberries or cherries, etc., plus red fruit leather for “ribbon”
Preparation
1. SPRAY a large mixing bowl lightly with cooking spray and place the popcorn inside.
2. MELT the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir in the marshmallows and gelatin dessert powder until the marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth. Pour over the popcorn and mix well until coated.
Almost too pretty to eat! Photo courtesy The Popcorn Board.
3. SPRAY your hands with cooking spray and press firmly to form the popcorn into 9-inch logs. Then bend the logs to form the wreaths.
4. PLACE the wreaths on wax paper. Press the candy decorations onto the wreaths to decorate. Add a “ribbon” cut from fruit leather.
5. SERVE immediately or wrap individually in cellophane bags for storage and gifting. Add a ribbon tie to the bag as a decorative closure.
6. TIP: Soak the saucepan in hot soap and water before cleaning.
A glorious Honeycrisp apple. Photo courtesy A.A. Modts Apple Farm.
While October is National Apple Month and September 20th is International Eat An Apple Day, today is Eat A Red Apple Day.
Our favorite apple is the Honeycrisp, developed at the University Of Minnesota and released in 1991. Beloved for its crisp flesh, juiciness and sweet and tart notes, it has become Minnesota’s state fruit!
They’re our favorite apple. The only fly in the ointment is that the University of Minnesota and Minnesota apple breeders developed the variety to be at its best when grown in the local soil conditions and climate.
Thus, the Honeycrisps from Washington and elsewhere (they are widely grown around the world) are just a little less glorious.
But we’ll take them wherever we can get them. Trader Joe’s has them in stock this week: The typically jumbo Honeycrisps as well as minis the size of Lady Apples.
APPLE TIP: Apples deteriorate quickly if they’re not kept cool. Don’t keep them on a table or counter in a decorative basket. That may look nice, but your apples will Keep better in the fridge!
For an inexpensive holiday gift or stocking stuffer, give one of your favorite kitchen gadgets—one that most people probably don’t have, but you wouldn’t want to be without.
But this year, it’s going to be a Wavy Knife from Crisp Cooking. Just by slicing in a normal fashion, it provides a decorative side to fruits and vegetables, whether cooked (including fries) or for crudités and salads.
We have an old-fashioned crinkle cutter, but the wavy knife is an improvement, easier to use and potentially safer.
The ergonomic handle provides a sure, comfortable grip and better cutting control. The offset blade provides plenty of “knuckle room” while cutting.
At $12.99, it’s pricier than the peeler or mushroom brush, but it’s also a more substantial gift.
This year’s gift to everyone old enough to cook: a Wavy Knife. Photo courtesy PeanutButterAndPeppers.com
It’s raining microchips: Hallelujah! Photo courtesy JK Chocolates.
Tiny cookies, 1/2-inch in diameter. When we first received them as a gift, we thought: What to do with these? Sprinkle them on ice cream? We’d rather eat one big cookie than fuss with tiny ones.
But we were the minority opinion. Squeals of delight from kids and adults alike. So: Heres a holiday gift that is way different and sure to please.
Since 1984, Julie and Karleen, the J and K of JK Chocolates, have been creating delicious chocolate sauces. What started as homemade teacher gifts evolved into a business, as people asked to buy them year-round.
Over the years, as word circulated about the chocolate sauce flavors, they subsequently developed Microchip Cookies, teensy weensy little bites. To imagine the Chocolate Chip Microchip, think of a chocolate chip covered in just enough cookie dough to bury the chip. It’s a half inch wide.
We received a gift set of two flavors, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Sweeties (like sandies). Our original reaction was, “These are cute, these are tasty, but for the money ($14.75 for a 4.75-ounce jar), we’d just as soon have some standard size cookies.”
We were the minority opinion. Everyone else oohed and ahhed over them.
So there you have it: a gourmet chocolate chip novelty that delights.
But Chocolate Chip isn’t the only Microchip in town. the line includes:
Cheddar Cheesies with Texas Heat
Midnight Chocolate Chip
Original Chocolate Chip
Peanut Butter Chip with Sea Salt
Pecan Sweeties
Six-Spice Gingersnap
White Chocolate Chip Crunch
You can purchase individual jars or gift sets, the latter packaged in a reusable black gift box with a ribbon and a gift card.
In addition to the single jar option, there are numerous other options, some of which are:
A four-jar gift box for $56 and a seven-jar box tower for $84
A stack of three smaller jars for $26
Single flavor tins for $38 and $62
Tin towers for $48, $114 and $186
An individual jar of Microchips is a unique treat. Photo courtesy JK Chocolates.
