Holiday Baked Goods Hacks
For whatever reason you need them...it’s nice to pick and choose where we save a little time!!!
Cookie Shortcut - Want to decorate cut out cookies but don’t want to bake them? Check out options at local stores for purchasing baked but undecorated cookies. For example, Gordon’s Food Service sells them for a reasonable price - last time I checked it was 72 cookies for $10 or $12.
Gingerbread Houses - Instead of making it from scratch, purchase one of the pre-assembled kits and focus on the decorating alone! Premade frostings should be available right next to the kits along with plenty of decor options! Remember to dig through your pantry for leftover bits of Halloween candy and other items that you can use - pretzels, fruit roll ups, peppermints, Oreo cookies, etc. there are tons of cute ways to use all of them!
Are they out of the kits? Try these simple but fun creations with your kids instead!
http://thedecoratedcookie.com/2014/...m_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes
Dipped Cookies Hacks
Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter “Cookies” - Take Ritz crackers (store brand is good, as well), sandwich peanut butter between two, and dip into melted chocolate, place on waxed paper and let harden. Yummy! You can drizzle them with white chocolate or colored icing...nuts...whatever! This would be great with other crackers too, Town House, Club Crackers, Saltines, etc.
Dip chocolate wafer cookies with melted white chocolate and top with crushed (or chopped real small) candy canes.
Take fig bars (store brand works fine) and cut them in half, either the long way (so you end up with two strips) or diagonally (you end up with two triangles). Or do some of each shape. Dip each piece about halfway in melted semi-sweet chocolate, then into finely chopped nuts. Place on wax paper until set.
Graham Crackers are another GREAT thing to dip in chocolate!!! How good would those be dipped in chocolate then drizzled with melted peanut butter chips???
Chocolate Dipping/Drizzling PERIOD! Any store bought cookie can be dressed up by dipping in chocolate. Pecan Sandies! Oreos! Whatever!!! Let harden on wax paper then dip other side in different melted chocolate. You can melt chocolate bars, baking chips, or get the packs of “barks” they sell at holiday time. Don’t forget options like the peanut butter chips or even butterscotch. Mix and match your dipping flavors to you cookies to make really fun creations! You can roll or sprinkle with crushed Oreos, peppermints, nuts, shredded coconut, etc. You can toast the nuts or coconut first even by popping in oven for a few minutes or just toasting dry in pan on stove.
For that matter - that bag of
pretzels - whatever kind you have - languishing in the pantry suddenly becomes an all star when dipped in chocolate and covered in colored sprinkles.
To Drizzle: Piping bags fitted with small round hole type nozzle work of course. You can also put melted chocolate in a small ziplock then cut a tiny bit off one corner and squeeze icing out that way. OR you can dip a fork in melted chocolate, let most drain off then kind of flick it over the cookies - this is the quickest (and probably messiest) way but it works in a pinch!!! Or do you have a plastic squeeze bottle - even the kind you would put ketchup or mustard in normally? Those work great too!
Candy Shortcuts
Small pretzels, regular style or circles or the little lattice squares can be set on a glass plate and topped with a chocolate candy - Rolos, Hershey’s Kisses - any flavor, Andes Mint Thins, etc. Microwave on defrost setting in short bursts until chocolate starts to soften up. Press another pretzel down on top and let cool until hardened.
Brownie Balls - Buy the little brownies they sell prepackaged for kids. I usually see the ones where there are two small squares in each little pack with an indentation where you can break them apart. Break apart and roll each square into a ball - use toothpick or skewer to dip in melted chocolate - could also roll these in whatever you like. Or make them into brownie pops if you have cake pop sticks around. Or those little pretzel sticks? That would work too!
Sugared Marshmallows - Stick a cake pop stick in one end of regular size marshmallow. Moisten marshmallow slightly with water, pat it mostly dry, roll in colored sugar. Done! Or, or, you could just dip it in chocolate. Just sayin’.
Keeping Melted Chocolate, Etc. From Hardening:
Use your Crock-pot!!! Saw it on Pinterest and it totally works! Put 1 inch or so of water in crock and get it hot! Once it is heated up well, you could turn it to LOW. Place melted chocolate (or PB chips or whatever) in a glass bowl that you sit down in the water in the crock. You just leave the lid off and dip right out of bowl(s) sitting in the crock. I’ve used a couple of bowls small enough so that I could fit both in at the same time so I could do both dark and white chocolate. Or you could use pint size Mason jars too. Let’s you not worry about rushing to dip before chocolate starts to harden up on you!
NOTE: I have always melted my chocolate in microwave or via double boiler before transferring to crockpot to just keep it melted. There might be a way to melt it in jars IN the crockpot but I personally haven’t tried it yet.
Extra Melted White Chocolate? Grapes in the fridge? Assign kids the task of sticking a toothpick in each grape. Dip ½ to ¾ of the way in white chocolate then in finely minced nuts - let harden on wax paper.
How about maraschino cherries that still have the stem on them - some of those would be AWESOME dipped in chocolate! But most things are, aren’t they?
Seriously, extra melted chocolate means it’s time to raid your pantry and fridge for things to dip and eat - who knows what you’ll come up with!
Simple Dessert Idea - Last minute dessert needed for company? Keep pound cake in freezer - I like to make my own, slice and flash freeze before transferring to bags for longer storage. Keep bag or two of frozen berries like strawberries (my pref) or raspberries on hand as well. You can pull out bags of pound cake slices and let them thaw on counter or wherever (if you want them out of sight put in pantry or inside a cupboard lol) while you are eating dinner, etc. Get frozen berries out to start thawing as soon as you can too.
Defrost them in the microwave on a plate if you have to. Either before dinner or after make a simple sauce by heating thawed berries with sugar to taste - thicken if desired with tapicoa or cornstarch (ladel out some hot liquid into small dish - whisk in 1 T of cornstach until dissolved THEN add back to syrup to avoid lumps) - heat until thick. Add additional cornstarch if needed. Splash in a teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract at the very end for a final touch!
Put this dessert over the top by having a tub of Cool Whip in the freezer you pulled out with everything else to thaw. Drizzle each whipped cream topped serving with sauce from a bottle of chocolate syrup like Hershey’s. It’s official - hostess with the mostest!