Adventures in cooking- Christmas candy

Every year at Christmas time I make a list of all the Christmas candies that I want to make to give to those who make our lives easier each year. Shortly after I choose the recipes I want to use and make the list, I give up and decide that its going to be just too much work to tackle. And so gift cards are then bought in lieu of Christmas goody tins. But this year, well, this year I didn't throw in the towel. Instead, I wised up and pitched the idea of an afternoon dedicated to candy-making to a friend who I knew just couldn't resist. So my friend Katy was generous enough to offer up her kitchen (a new swanky IKEA kitchen none the less!) and her help so that this year I finally was able to give Christmas goody tins to friends and family. Katy's husband is Swedish and it just happened to be Santa Lucia the day we got together so we started off our afternoon with some saffron buns and glogg (sp?).

Saffron bunsEmilia with the saffron bun that she made

Conner and Lizzie had fun playing with Marcus and Emilia while the men watched football and the ladies slaved over the hot stovetop. All together we made peppermint bark, haystacks http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/857/Butterscotch-Haystacks127552.shtml, chocolate peanut butter cups www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/homemade-holiday-candy#slide_2, and chocolate covered pretzels. And I think all of it turned out well since most of the tins were empty less than 12 hours after presentation to the lucky recipient.

The starting ingredientsThe finished product Two little monkeys jumping on the bedWhile the girls watched a fish find his momCheese pizza among friends to end the day