and another christmas gift from the kitchen – dark chocolate candied ginger bark

This is another Christmas treat recipe that I got from a co-worker. My husband tried to convince me that this batch should be a “test batch” but I managed to save most of it and hide it away from him. And then I ate a couple of pieces. And maybe another. I think I might have to buy some more dark chocolate tomorrow.

It’s an un-recipe, really. You can put anything in this that you like – the only constants are good quality dark chocolate and candied ginger. I like to make mine with a salted nut of some kind, though having forgotten to buy peanuts or cashews one year, I substituted trail mix and it turned out great. The proportions are up to you, but I will give you what I use.

Dark Chocolate Candied Ginger Bark

• 1 lb dark chocolate (I use wafers)
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup of candied ginger, chopped into smaller pieces
• 1/3 cup or more dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup or more nuts (macadamia, cashews, peanuts, almonds – all good)

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, add in remaining ingredients and spread on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Put it someplace cool to harden, then gently break into pieces. Store somewhere cool until needed.

I usually just store my candies and fudge out in the garage until Christmas. I did learn the hard way to keep them up out of the reach of the dogs. They can demolish hours of work in seconds. And our vets are our friends, but even they get tired of telephone calls on weekends and holidays.

Linked to Wildcrafting Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Frugally Sustainable

white chocolate party mix

Today the small squeaky kid and I made a start on some Christmas goodies. The dad and the tall kid are away at a day long hockey tournament, so squeaky and I spent our morning at hockey, then out for breakfast at a local diner, and then picked up supplies to make various and assorted goodies to give away for Christmas. Holiday parties are starting, and I like to give something along with the bottle of wine we always take along for the host or hostess.

I don’t really do holiday baking. My idea of Christmas baking is to invite the German-Swiss neighbours for Christmas dinner every year because they bring along a big platter of home-baked German goodies. Hey, it works for me. We’ve been doing it for almost 15 years now. Instead of baking, I have a few treats that I make every Christmas; assorted fudge, irish cream liqueur, dark chocolate bark, and this white chocolate party mix. My co-worker calls it White Trash, but I’m going to go with Santa Mix.

This is easy to make and you really can’t go wrong with some substitutions here and there. You can use a combination of rice chex cereal, corn cereal squares, even chopped up rice crispy squares, as long as you keep the amounts about the same in the end. Some people add in mini-M&M’s, but if you do, I’d add them in after the mix has cooled. I tried it once and the candy coating ran all over the rest of the mix as soon as the melted white chocolate was poured on top of them. It wasn’t pretty.

Oh, and you need a really big bowl or pot to mix this in. You could make a smaller batch, but you’ll eat it right away and need to make a second batch anyway.

White Chocolate Party Mix (Santa Mix)

• 1 pound of white chocolate
• 6 cups rice chex cereal (or combination of cereals of your choice)
• 3 cups toasted O’s cereal (Cheerios)
• 2 cups thin pretzel sticks
• 2 cups peanuts
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Combine cereal, nuts, pretzels and cranberries in a large bowl and stir to mix well.

Slowly melt the white chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water.

Pour melted chocolate over the dry mixture and stir until everything is well coated.

Spread the mixture onto wax paper and allow to cool. Gently break apart into small pieces. Store in air-tight containers or bags and refrigerate to keep fresh (or store it out in the cold garage or woodshed, like we do – just out of the reach of the dogs).

Linked to Simple Lives Thursday, Frugally Sustainable

german pancake

I’m on holidays this week again. It’s just me and the girls though, and I thought I should make them a little treat before I broke the news to them that the barn stall clean-out they did yesterday wasn’t up to standards and they needed to go back and shovel them out some more.

This is something that I had clipped out of a magazine years ago and made for guests. I wish I knew which magazine, but I did find an exact copy of the recipe here on AllRecipes. I halved it to make a smaller version for the girls and I – this size fits perfectly in a cast iron skillet. To make a larger version, just double the recipe exactly and bake it in a 9×13″ pan.

We like it served with maple syrup and powdered sugar and strawberry jam, but I’ve also served it in the past with sautéed apples and raisins. I’ve read the Germans just stick to fresh squeezed lemon juice and powdered sugar. Any way you like it, it’s a bit of a sweet treat. It’s somewhere between a pancake and a soufflé and nice and airy. I think four hungry adults could possibly eat 2 large pans of this – so you may want to double the doubled recipe if you are feeding guests.

German Pancake (serves 2 adults)

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 400F. Place the eggs, milk, flour and salt in a blender; cover and process until smooth (I just used an immersion blender – less clean-up. You can also just whisk it all together until smooth). Add butter to the skillet and heat in oven for a few minutes until melted, then swirl around to coat the skillet. Add the batter and bake for 20 minutes.

Linked to A Pinch of Joy, Frugally Sustainable, Homestead Simple