Easy Yummy Party Treats. Three Fabulous Recipes

For the past two years my friend, Jenny Youngberg, her husband Matt, and their daughter Brekken have given me the most amazingly yummy Christmas gifts. I was blown away today by the delicious homemade turtle candy she brought to school. I was equally stunned when I found out how super easy it was to make. I got to thinking that her recipe would make a great jumping off point for a new hub about marvelously simple, awesomely delicious holiday treats. Here are some tremendously easy-fantastically quick-under five ingredient recipes that make totally remarkable treats to have at your next party, take to your next holiday gathering, give as a gift, or just have around the house when visitors drop by. I hope you like them.

To create these super snacks you need:

• a bag of small pretzels
• a bag of caramel covered chocolate candy
• Planters creme brulee almonds

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on parchment paper and top each of them with the caramel candy. Pop them in the oven and leave them in long enough for the candy to become soft and start to melt. Take the candies out of the oven and top them with the candy coated almond. Press down on the almond causing the candy to spread slightly.

Variations:

• Use round, waffle shaped, or holiday shaped pretzels for the candy base.
• Delete the nuts so that people who are allergic to them can still enjoy the treats.
• Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave and drizzle them over the top.
• For a spooky Halloween spider shaped treat melt the candy on top of pretzel sticks.

As a child who didn't enjoy eating peanut butter cookies topped with an ooey gooey Hershey's Kiss melted in the middle? The cookies were fabulous but time consuming to make. I was introduced to this recipe by my good friend Jynger Roberts. Her easy version uses just four simple ingredients-and seem to stay much moister than the origional recipe.

Ingredients:

• 14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups of baking mix (I use Jiffy)
• 3/4 cup of peanut butter
• Kiss shaped candies

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients except for the kisses together. Shape the dough into balls and place and bake them in the oven for 6-7 minutes. Top each of the balls with one of the candies and press down-causing the cookie to spread and the base of the candy to melt. I love these cookies because they are much moister than the traditional version.

Variations:

• Use miniature Kisses that can be found in the baking isle instead of the full sized candy. Shape dough into smaller bite sized balls and bake accordingly. Top with the mini kisses.
• Use Hershey Hugs or Holiday Kisses to top the cookies. Mint kisses make a quite delicious cookie!
• Use Nutella instead of peanut butter giving the cookies a wonderful chocolate hazelnut flavor.
• Roll the cookie dough in sugar, colored sugar, chocolate sprinkles, or chopped nuts before baking.

My husband and I were watching FoodNetworks Secrets of a Restaurant Chef when he saw this recipe for Palmiers and begged me to make it. I changed the recipe by increasing the amount of cinnamon and adding a layer of butter to the puff pastry before sprinkling on the cinnamon and sugar. These cookies were really easy to make and tasted absolutely wonderful.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup of Sugar
• 1/4 Cup of Melted butter
• 1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
• Puffed pastry

Unroll the puff pastry and brush it with the melted butter. Sprinkle on the cinnamon and sugar. Press the cinnamon and sugar into the dough. Start at one of the short sides of the dough and roll it into the middle. Do the same with the other side. You are trying to create an almost heart shaped dough. Press the sides together and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Take the dough out of the fridge-cut into cookie sized pieces-then bake in a 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Flip the cookies over and bake them for another 4 minutes.

Variations:

• Omit the cinnamon and use just sugar.
• Use brown sugar instead of cinnamon and white sugar.
• Add festive spices like: ginger, cardamon, cloves and allspice to the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
• For a savory version omit the cinnamon and sugar and use 3 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 2 teaspoons of garlic powder, and 1/8 cup of sun dried tomatoes. Spread the ingredients over the puff pasty then follow the steps of the original recipe.