So, the gifting (cooking) began last Saturday as I made Toasted Coconut Walnut Fudge and Pecan Delights. The recipe for the fudge is the same as my Rocky Road Fudge<\/a>, only I substituted toasted walnuts and toasted flaked coconut for the peanuts and marshmallows and added a bit of salt to make up for the salt it missed when I didn’t include salted peanuts. The Pecan Delight recipe was given to me by Jennifer S. who sweetly emailed it to me. The candy was delicious and beautiful. (I didn’t get a decent picture, dang it.) I discovered, however, that I don’t have the soul of a candy maker and so I feel that it was a miracle that the candy turned out well — especially since I found out that my candy thermometer was kaput once I was to the point of needing it (way to plan, right?). I’ll be happy to email the recipe for this gorgeous candy to anyone who would like it. Just leave a blog comment. <\/p>\n And may the candy force be with you.<\/i><\/p>\n So, I gave out a bunch of gifts and then found myself needing more. So I switched over to cookies. Both of these recipes can be found on Smitten Kitchen<\/a>. I made the crispy salted oatmeal white chocolate<\/a> and the peanut butter<\/a>. <\/p>\n They were both really good. The peanut butter was particularly liked by my boys — only next time I’ll be making them without the chocolate or peanut butter chips. The boys want them plain and I sort of like plain peanut butter cookies, myself. The texture of these is really good.<\/p>\n Then I ran out of cookies. So, I moved on to this<\/a> cracker that I also found on Smitten Kitchen<\/a> although an example of it is in cookbooks everywhere. I just love this cracker because it is a combination of salt and chocolate and buttery goodness. Also, it is cheap and easy to make. And, I like to top it with walnuts and craisins. <\/p>\n What? My boys don’t like it that way? I guess that’s more for me…..I’ll stuggle through, somehow.<\/p>\n And, now I think that I might be close to being done with my Christmas baking, although I have a few more gifts to give. Maybe I’ll just bake up some cinnamon rolls for the remaining people. YES. We have a winner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Baking and Gifting Well, I had intended to get to y’all earlier to let you know what I had decided to give for food gifts this year — especially after all the help you gave me before Thanksgiving. Let me … Continue reading ![](\"\/auto_images\/lowres\/img21621260584376.jpg\")
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