Holiday Treat Roundup

It's no secret that I have a heck of a sweet tooth. What better excuse than the holidays to whip up bunches of sweet treats to share with everyone you know? Below you will find some of my all time favorite recipes for making up cookie plates for the holiday season!.

I replaced half the chocolate chips in these cookies with red and green M&M's for a more festive look.

If chocolate and peanut butter are your style, whip up these quick bars that my sister and I lovingly dubbed "Sugar Shock" bars, due to their super sweet richness!

You can't go wrong with these soft double ginger cookies!

We begged my mom every year to make Mounds Bars for the Christmas cookie tray. Add some colorful sprinkles for an extra fancy touch!

Almost nothing is easier than a batch of these Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles. Put them on the cookie tray or give them as gifts!


What are your favorite holiday treats?

Vanilla Sugar

I've been working on tons of projects lately, and feel like I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew. I'm going to use the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to play a little catch up (as well as do lots of cooking and eating). Here is a recipe for vanilla sugar you can make ahead and use in some of your holiday baking, or give as gifts!

To make your own vanilla sugar at home you will need:

granulated sugar
vanilla beans

I ordered my vanilla beans online from Beanilla. I would recommend them (especially if you want to make up a ton of this for gifts). They have great bulk prices and my beans arrived super fast (the shipping was also free!).


Cut open your vanilla beans lenthwise and scrape out all of the caviar (all the little bits inside the bean) with a small spoon. Add the caviar and the vanilla pods to your sugar and mix together very well. I generally use one vanilla bean for every 1-1.5 cups of sugar. Put your sugar and vanilla bean mixture into an air tight container and store in a cool, dry place (preferably out of direct light as well). Allow 2 weeks for the vanilla to properly flavor your sugar.


Add this to any recipe calling for sugar that you'd like to add a little extra vanilla flavor to. You may add more sugar and vanilla beans as necessary (if you use a vanilla bean in something else, put the pod into your sugar--add more sugar as space allows and stir well).

If vanilla sugar isn't your thing, you can try your hand at making your own vanilla extract instead!

Mocha Roasted Almonds

It's rainy and chilly here today in Portland and I'm loving it! I decided a yummy smelling snack needed to be made in my oven today and these Mocha flavored Roasted Almonds fit the bill! They only take a few ingredients and about 40 minutes of your time (they also make a great Holiday gift. You know, if you're thinking about that already.).

To make you own Mocha Roasted Almonds you will need:

2 1/2 cups Raw Almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 egg white

Preheat your oven to 325 (F). In a small bowl (3 cups or more by volume) beat your egg white until it is just frothy and beginning to lighten. Add in your almonds and mix them around until evenly coated with egg white.

In a zip sealed bag, mix together your sugar, cocoa and espresso powder. Shake until evenly combined. Add in your egg white coated almonds and shake to coat. Pour onto a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silpat mat.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 325 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes or so (this will clump together a bit if not stirred often- you can break it apart after it has cooled if necessary). Make sure you line your pan, as the mixture will stick to the pan if you do not (melting sugar just does that, you know).

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before packaging. Eat these as a snack on their own, or put them on ice cream, cupcakes, etc. as a delicious topping!

If giving this as gifts, an easy way to package this is to put it into clear bags and stick that into one of these little boxes as shown below. You can find them at most craft and hobby stores (paper mache boxes would also work well.). Just tie it with a piece of colored ribbon and you have an easy yet cute treat box that is reusable!

Have you made any extra yummy snacks lately?


Don't forget to follow The Craftinomicon on your favorite social media site so you don't miss any upcoming food and gift ideas!

Food Craft: Butternut Squash Risotto

This weekend I am posting a bunch of my favorite winter and Holiday recipes as a special series. I know I have dotted a few good Holiday recipes through here and there, but with Thanksgiving and Christmas fast approaching, it is time to get down to business! Every family seems to have a vegetarian, and there is no excuse to offer them nothing but side dishes as their holiday meal. This risotto makes a great main course for vegetarians and meat eaters alike.

To make this risotto you will need:

1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
3-4 cups vegetable stock (you can use chicken stock if you are making it for the meat eaters only)
1 cup white wine
1 cup butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 cup Crimini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded (I get a small block and use a microplane to finely shred--don't use that gross powdered stuff, it doesn't do anyone any favors)

*you will want to roast your squash prior to starting the rest of your risotto. Simply toss it with salt, pepper and olive oil and bake on a sheet pan in the oven at 425 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.

Start heating your butter and oil together in a large pot on the stove, about medium heat. On a separate burner, in a separate pot, bring your stock to a simmer. Add your onion and garlic to the pot with the oil and butter. Cook until the onion becomes translucent. Add in your rice and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add in your mushrooms, then start adding your stock a ladle at a time. Wait until the rice has soaked up all of the stock before adding more.

Smash up your squash with a fork and add it to the risotto and allow to cook together for about 5 minutes. Once all stock has been added, add your parmesan cheese and white wine. I always use a wine we would drink, never anything labeled as "cooking wine". Once your wine is absorbed into the risotto, you can add another tablespoon of butter if you like to make it extra rich and creamy. Serve warm.

This is great as a whole meal, or on the side. Enjoy!

Friday Food Craft: Hot Chocolate

Before I dive right into my latest Food Craft post, I would like to invite you all to partake in my latest Giveaway! Just scroll to the bottom of my Sugar Skull Masks post and you will be able to enter to win your choice of three lovely books, two of which are baking/sweets related. Good Luck!


The temperature has dropped dramatically the last few days here in Portland, I foresee a long cold Winter. However, my spirit is lifted slightly by the fact I will have all the more excuse to indulge in this amazing hot chocolate. It is velvety smooth and just the right amount of sweet. It even puts me in the Holiday spirit a little early (I should really start shopping for those Holiday gifts).


To make this amazing hot chocolate for you and the ones you love you will need:

2 cups whole milk
4-5 ounces chopped dark chocolate (I used a chocolate with 54% cacao)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup (you could substitute Honey or another natural sweetener as well)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Start chopping your chocolate as finely as you can and set it aside.

Pour your milk into a saucepan and heat over medium low heat until it is barely simmering. Add in your chocolate, vanilla and maple syrup and whisk until everything has melted together. Sprinkle in your cinnamon and whisk until combined.

Pour into the mugs/cups of your choice. Enjoy!

I generally use teacups for my cocoa, in which case this makes 4 servings filled to the brim. If you would like to add an extra festive touch, you can substitute 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract for the cinnamon as well to make minty hot chocolate. :)

Friday Food Craft: Phenomenal Pie Crust

It's Friday again already, and I am back with another yummy food craft! I'm still on a kick for the cold weather comfort recipes (it was extra cold and rainy again here last night) so I thought I would share with you my husband's recipe for a super flaky pie crust that can be used with both sweet and savory pies! That's right you can use it to cover pot pies and turn around to use the scraps for apple turnovers for dessert! It's also pretty easy!

You will need:

2 cups flour
1 large pinch of salt
1 1/3 cups cold unsalted butter, cut into about Tablespoon size pieces
about 2/3 cups water (we usually need slightly less than 2/3 cup before the dough comes together)

food processor


In your food processor, pulse together your flour salt and butter until you have pretty uniform "pebbles" of butter, about pea sized. Then, add your water at a slow drizzle while the processor is on a low speed, stop once your dough has just come together away from the sides of your food processor.

Form into a disc and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling out, you will still have fairly large chunks of butter mixed throughout. This is a GREAT thing as it will result in yummy, flaky layers almost like puff pastry. YUM!

After 30 minutes remove from refrigerator and place onto a floured surface to roll. You will want to roll it to 1/8"-1/4 " thick. Then use it for the application of your choice: top your favorite stew or casserole for a yummy pot pie, cut up some fruit and make a fruit pie (I generally go for apples mmmmm), make some turnovers, put some lemon curd between two layers for lemony pop tart treats, cut circle from your dough-add filling and fold to make little hand pies!- the possibilities are limitless.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes (for a whole pie) until the crust is golden brown. For smaller applications I would check after about 30 minutes to see if it is done.


*To make the apple turnovers I have pictured above I used about 1/3 of the above dough recipe (leftovers from dinner) along with 2 apples, some cinnamon, a tablespoon of sugar and an extra dot of butter each (I would also recommend using a fork to close your turnovers as I did not so mine came apart a bit, I was in a hurry for flaky apple goodness!).

Friday Food Craft: Yeast Dinner Rolls

With a week of Portland's cool Fall rain behind me, my mind is starting to turn a little towards Holiday time. In particular, Holiday dinners, though this recipe is great any time. What dinner at any time of year couldn't be improved with some delicious dinner rolls? This recipe yields 16-18 small dinner rolls, but if you are cooking for a crowd I would recommend doubling it, who can resist seconds or thirds?


To make these dinner rolls you will need:

1 cup warm milk
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), room temperature (you can microwave to soften, it's ok if some is melted)
1 egg
3 1/2 cups flour (plus a little extra for your counter tops when kneading)


Start by warming your milk. This can be done in a microwave or in a small saucepan on your stove top. It should be around 108-110 degrees, too hot and it will kill your yeast (not a yummy thing). Put your milk, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl (or stand mixer) and mix it together a little bit, let stand for about 5 minutes.

Next, add in your butter and egg, plus one cup of your flour. Mix this together until your egg and any butter lumps are worked into the dough (sometimes I just melt all of my butter to avoid the lumps altogether). Then add in the rest of your flour and mix until it has come together. Remove onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a couple minutes, if your dough is too sticky you can add a bit more flour (with all the rain we get here I often have to add up to an extra 1/2 cup). Don't add too much extra, this dough is a pretty soft dough, you just don't want it to be a sticky glob.

Place dough into a greased bowl and cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for an hour, or until it has doubled in size. Punch down, and allow to rise an extra 30-45 minutes (until doubled in size again).


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Form your dough into balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet (you could also just grease the bottom of your pan, but I like keeping my pans clean and ensuring easy removal). Allow formed rolls to rise an additional 15 minutes or so before baking. You may brush the top with an egg wash if you like. Bake 12-14 minutes until tops are golden brown and delicious! I generally brush the tops of mine with a little butter when they come out of the oven as well. Allow to cool slightly before serving (I almost always burn myself a little tasting one as I simply can't wait, don't be like me).


Enjoy!