Creative Christmas Treats and Favors

Peppermint Pops:

For each lollipop, simply place 3-5 peppermint starlight mints onto a
parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, so they are vertical and touching.
Place in a 275 degree oven and bake for 8-12 minutes. Watch carefully and
when the candies start to melt and flatten a bit remove from oven and
immediately place a lollipop stick into one end of the candies. When it sets
the candies will have stuck together and become a long lollipop.

Candy Cane Curls:

To make candy cane curls that are perfect for topping hot chocolate or
cupcakes, simply follow directions above for the Peppermint Pops but use
candy canes instead. As soon as the candy canes get soft – don’t let them
melt, remove and carefully (don’t burn your fingers) bend and shape the cane
into a curl. (If it sets too fast simply place in oven again.) Do a few at a time.

Snowman Cookies:

Dip Oreo cookies into white candy coating and let set. Decorate like a
snowman face using tiny candies. Mini chocolate chips work great for eyes
and mouth and a candy corn or a rolled and shaped orange Tootsie Roll or
Starburst candy works great for the nose. Make ear muffs by placing an m&m
type candy on either side of the cookie and connecting with a strip of licorice,
Sour Belt candy, etc. A scarf can be made from fruit roll-up type candy.
These are cute served as regular cookies or placed on a cupcake or ice cream
sundae. These would also be cute placed on sticks.

Santa Hat Snack Mix:

Create a snack mix using Chex cereals, Bugle chips, pretzels, nuts, red and
green m&m’s, etc. Coat with your favorite candy syrup, chocolate or leave
plain. Stir in gingerbread men shaped marshmallows. Set aside. To make the
Santa Hats: Dip Bugle chips into red candy coating and place onto wax
paper. Let set. Dip bottom of Bugles into white candy coating and sprinkle
with tiny white candy sprinkles. Let set. Dip pointed tops into red candy
coating again and place a mini white marshmallow on top. Let set. Package
up the mix and carefully add the Santa hats or place mix in a large bowl and
place Santa hats on top.

Reindeer Truffles:

Use round chocolate truffles (like Lindt Lindor brand), make cake balls or use
large marshmallows dipped in chocolate coating. Use melted chocolate to
add mini pretzels to top of truffle for ears and to attach a red hot or other
small red candy for a nose. Add small candies for eyes. Place in mini baking
cups. These can also be made onto sticks to create reindeer pops. These
also are cute made using Nutter Butter cookies dipped in chocolate.

Gumdrop Tree:

Fill clear disposable cake decorating bags with green (or a mixture of
red/green) small gumdrops (or other green candies). Tie closed. Spray a
small terra cotta pot with gold spray paint. Place some gold shred in the pot.
Invert cone of gumdrops and place in pot to resemble a tree. Place a
punched gold cardstock or glittered star on top of the point. These are cute
to place at each place setting as a place card/favor for a meal or as a party
favor. These also make great centerpieces or neighbor gifts.

Elegant Dipped Pear:

This is one of my favorite ideas to do for a nice dinner and to place at each
place setting. Simply dip a green or red pear (hold by the stem) ¾ of the way
into caramel. Then dip again into white candy coating half way up leaving
some of the caramel exposed. Place into chopped nuts to coat the bottom
third of the pear. (I drizzle a little white candy coating sometimes up onto the
caramel layer.) Place into a cupcake paper liner. Tie a gold wired bow to the
stem and add a pretty tag on the stem. This also makes a great gift.