The holiday season has started, meaning it’s time for all the Pinterest recreations to start entering households. Whether it’s a pass or fail, it’s always fun to make crafts or desserts. I’ve recently started to enjoy baking and want to provide three easy DIY treats to make for the holiday season.
- Candy Cane cake pops
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Cake pops are such a yummy treat to eat but take so long to make, at least for me. Maybe that’s because I made mine while watching “Modern Family.” Here is the recipe so I don’t turn into one of those people who tell their whole life story before getting to the ingredients list. You’ll need:
- One box of cake mix
- One tub of icing
- Candy melts
- Candy canes
Pretty easy considering it’s a four-ingredient recipe. First, you’ll bake the cake according to the instructions on the box or your own recipe if you prefer homemade. After letting the cake cool down, you’ll put it in a large mixing bowl and crumble it up. Then add one-third of the tub of icing and mix it all together. You want enough for it to stick together but not too much so that they fall apart when you roll them into the cake pop shape. Use a sheet pan with some aluminum foil on top to set the cake pops on. Take some of the mixture and roll it into a sphere shape, whichever size you desire, and set it on the aluminum foil. After filling up the sheet pan, pop them in the freezer for 15 minutes. When there are five minutes left, start melting the candy melts — again, follow the instructions on the bag — in order to give it time to cool down. This is also a good time to crush up the candy canes. To do this, put the candy canes in a Ziploc bag and crush them up, whether it’s with your hands or a spoon. Next, bring out the cake pops from the freezer and dip them into the candy melt. After each one you dip, sprinkle some crushed candy cane on top. It’s important you do it immediately after dipping it in so the chocolate doesn’t set before you’re able to add it. After finishing them all, put them in the fridge for about 20 minutes and you’re all done.
- christmas tree brownies
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For all of the chocolate lovers, these Christmas tree brownies will treat your sweet tooth. You’ll need the following ingredients:
- Brownie mix
- Green icing
- Rainbow sprinkles
Bake the brownie mix according to the instructions on the box. After letting the brownies cool, cut out brownies in triangle shapes. Then use the green icing to cover the triangle, either completely or in a squiggly line. For the squiggly line, you can put the icing in a Ziploc bag and cut off the corner, squeezing the icing out from left to right, top to bottom, or in one long squiggly line. Then cover the brownie in rainbow sprinkles to resemble ornaments on top.
- sugar cookie wreaths and ornaments
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A classic treat to eat during cold days while drinking hot chocolate: the sugar cookie. You’ll need:
- Sugar cookie mix
- Two circle cake cutters (one bigger than the other)
- Red icing
- Dark green icing
- White icing
- Sprinkles
Follow the directions to get the dough for the sugar cookies, then, using the larger cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough. Then, using the smaller circle cookie cutter, cut out a smaller circle from the already cut circles. Separate the ring-shaped ones from the circle ones, then bake them according to their directions. After letting them cool, turn the ring-shaped cookies into wreaths and the circle-shaped ones into ornaments. For the wreaths, spread dark green icing all over them and sprinkle some rainbow sprinkles on top. Let it cool in the fridge for about ten minutes, then, using the red icing in a Ziploc bag, make a bow at the top. For the ornaments, you can decorate them however you want. What I would do is pick a base color and make a sort of elongated zigzag line across the whole cookie — like a white base with a green line or a red base with a white line. This is where your own creativity comes into play: you can mix up the colors and add sprinkles or candies on top.
Hopefully some of these treats satisfy your holiday cravings and baking needs. May the holiday season bring everyone joy and memories made with family, friends and pets.