All Bark and Lots of Bites!

My sister and I made lots of candy to give out as Christmas gifts.

We started out making butter toffee bark from a recipe we got from Jo at Smile Monsters.

We layered chocolate chips and almond slivers on the bottom and poured the hot toffee over that.

Next we made double layer peppermint bark.
Start by crushing 10 candy canes in a food processor or you can put them in a plastic bag and hit with a mallet (much more fun!) and set aside.
Then melt about 8 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a saucepan.
Spread a thin of layer the chocolate into a wax paper lined cookie sheet.
While that layer is cooling, melt one package of vanilla almond bark in a sauce pan. Remember to use low heat when melting candy.
Remove from heat and stir in one teaspoon of peppermint oil and half of the crushed candy canes.

Quickly spread over the semi-sweet chocolate layer and sprinkle remainder of peppermint bits on top.
Lightly press into the top layer so that the peppermint stays put!

On to Cookies n' Cream Bark.
Crush about 20-25 Oreo cookies in a plastic bag or food processor and set aside.
Slowly melt a package of vanilla almond bark until smooth.
Stir in half of the crushed cookies and quickly spread into a wax paper lined cookie sheet.
Top with remaining crushed Oreos and lightly press into top.

Melt about a cup of chocolate chips in a saucepan.
Using a spoon drizzle and swish it on the top of crushed cookie layer.

We also made cocoa puff candy for my nephew Hayden's class party goody bags! Yummo!

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. Karo syrup
1/4 c. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. peanut butter
5 c. Cocoa Puffs

Boil sugar, Karo syrup and honey in a saucepan.
Stir in vanilla and peanut butter.

Pour over Cocoa Puffs.
Stir and make into balls.
The mixture is hot so you have to work fast!

We made a double batch and had all hands on deck forming the balls!

We lost patience with the cooling process and sped it up by sticking everything in the fridge to cool. Here is the finished bark. It looks too pretty to eat.

Several hours, a few glasses of wine and lots of nibbles later, this is what we ended up with.

Two large containers for holiday parties.

Several cute little Chinese take out containers to send to my favorite co-workers. Yes, I play favorites!

Fun, festive, fast recipes you can make for your family and friends too! I'm getting a toothache just looking at the pictures! Happy Holidays!!