Chocolate Spoons for Hot Cocoa

I had seen this idea a couple of times but I'm not sure that they were meant to be swirled in hot milk for the purpose of making hot cocoa. Instead, they were made to be eaten like candy. I am not a big fan of candy myself (although, I do occasionally eat candy if it's the right kind). I am, however, a big fan of hot cocoa. I will go for the chocolate mix in the package if I absolutely have to, but, if given a choice, I'd rather have real chocolate (not some processed powder) in my warm cozy beverage.

These spoons are a great way to give the gift of truly great hot cocoa and they look pretty as well! I gave a couple of tins of assorted baked goods to some friends and I included a few of these spoons with directions on how to use them written on the back of the tag I attached.

I went at this project rather ambitiously by buying a ton of random candies and chocolates. I loved the ones that were made with Hersey's miniatures that were various mint flavored. I tend to favor dark chocolate for these spoons because it gives the drink a richer and fuller taste that is much more difficult to achieve with milk chocolate.

There really is no recipe. Instead it's kind of a wing-it-as-you-go type of situation. What I can provide are tips to make the process more fool-proof and some ideas on what kind of spoons you can make.

Here are the ingredients I had on hand (Although I didn't use most of them):

Okay, so here we go:

Tip 1: Melting the chocolate. You really, really don't want to overheat the chocolate. I filled a mug with chocolate and placed it in the microwave for twenty second intervals, stirring between each heating. Do this until the chocolate is nearly lump free. It really doesn't need to be absolutely and completely smooth, it just needs to be warm enough so that if there are any lumps left, they eventually melt.

Tip 2: when you dump each spoon in to the chocolate, make sure it is overflowing and don't be concerned with neatness. Less chocolate will make for a neater looking spoon but a weaker taste. That is a trade-off I'm not willing to make.

Tip 3: USE WAX PAPER to set filled spoons on. This is kind of a no-brainer for those who bake or cook a lot. For those that don't... seriously, you want to follow this suggestion.

Tip 4: Chill finished spoon in fridge. I placed my spoons on top of wax paper that was spread out on a cookie sheet and slid the cookie sheet on to the bottom shelf of the fridge.

Tip 5: Specify the amount of milk to be used for each spoon to whoever you give it to. I used the ration of one spoon to one cup of very hot milk. Obviously if you use more milk, it will result in a weaker taste.

Tip 6: This is probably pretty common sense, but I'll say it just in case this post is confusing. You'll want to add any toppings to chocolate while chocolate is hot. I added marshmallows, sprinkles, and crushed candy canes to mine.

I made three different kinds of spoons. The first used dark chocolate melties as the base and marshmallows and sprinkles as the toppings. The second was the same dark chocolate but with crushed candy canes as the topping. The third, I used Hershey's dark chocolate miniature mint

squares as my base and added little red sprinkles to the top. The third was by far my favorite and gave the richest taste of them all.

Happy spoon making!

5 Easy Christmas Centerpieces using Cake Stands

With work hours picking up and Christmas coming soon, life has been busy lately. Usually I do all of my own DIY projects but I searched for some time looking for a collection of centerpieces that could be made using common things you might have around the house during Christmas times anyways.

All of these centerpieces use cake stands. If you don't have a cake stand, you can use regular plates and stack them on top of cups. All the photos are linked to the original sites that they came from. Happy holiday planning!

2 cake stands + pine cones + Mason jars filled with Epsom salt + votive candles+ Christmas tree branches

Cake stand + Large Ornaments + Christmas tree branches

Add candle sticks topped with ornaments if wanted

Cake stands + Clear/Silver/gold ornaments + Pine branches + cup + White Flowers

Cake stands + candy dish + Green ornaments + ribbon + fake green leaves

Cake stand + Pine Branches + Sparkly ornaments + Pine cones + holly

DIY I-Spy Ornament for Kids

For those that travel during the holidays with children, you know how difficult it can be to keep kids entertained. Having little games they can play to keep themselves busy is almost a necessity.

This is a great use for any of these crafty ornaments you may have leftover. Depending on the age of the child, you're going to want to use different types of ornaments. Younger kids probably shouldn't have glass ornaments. I have seen plastic ornaments at Michael's that would be more appropriate. I did a pretty simple version just to get the idea across. Plus it came out pretty enough to hang if I wanted to.

Materials:

- ornament (alternatively, I've seen this done in mason jars for a more difficult and time consuming game)

- Filler beads (or rice in mason jar - for mine I used plastic pearls and plastic metallic beads)

- items to find (you can get pretty creative - I used charms and other miniature items I had laying around in my crafting supplies for mine)

- Hot glue gun and glue

Directions:

Step 1: make a list of what items you are going to put in your ornament or jar before putting everything in it.

Step 2: Take the top metal part off ornament (or lid off jar) and add beads and items.

Step 3: glue metal piece (or lid on jar) on to ornament using hot glue. Be careful! The metal will be hot.

Step 4: give to child, stuff in stocking, play a quick game yourself.... it's up to you!

Found the keys and the heart!

And now the feet and snowflake...

And it's so pretty!!!

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

This wonderful warm drink would be great served on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. It's rich chocolate flavor is balanced perfectly with the freshness of peppermint. I made a cup for myself today and absolutely loved it. Plus, it's easy to make and on;y takes a few ingredients!

I found the original recipe here but have tweaked it to my liking.

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

Servings: 4 (about 1 cup hot cocoa each)

Time to prepare: 1-2 mins Time to cook: 5 mins

Ingredients:

- 4 cups whole milk

- 3-4 ounces dark chocolate (I used chocolate melties)

- 8 candy canes (4 crushed, 4 whole)

- toppings of choice (marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, etc.)

Directions:

1. Pour milk into a medium saucepan. Heat until milk is hot but not boiling. Add chocolate and crushed candy canes. Whisk until thoroughly mixed and candy canes and chocolate have completely melted.

2. Pour into mugs. Top with favorite toppings (I used mini marshmallows) and stick candy can in each mug. Serve immediately. Candy canes can be stirred to add more mint flavor to drink.

DIY Snow Globe Ornament

These adorable ornaments only require a few materials and are quick and easy to make. They make great, affordable gifts as well!

Living in Southern California means I only see snow on far away mountains and rarely up close. It's great to have a little piece of the quintessential winter hanging on a tree.

Snow Globe Ornament

Materials:

- Clear Ornament

- Miniature evergreen tree (I found mine at Michael's in the an area designated for miniature Christmas villages)

- White or clear glitter

- A pair of tweezers or something you can use to position the tree once inside the ornament

- Hot glue gun (with glue of course)

- Small funnel if glitter container had too wide of a mouth for a controlled pour

Directions:

Step one: Remove metal top from ornament. When glue gun is fully heated, add a dollop of glue to the bottom of the ornament by inserting the nose of the glue gun into the hole at the top of the ornament and letting the glue fall into the bottom. You will want to make sure that the glue is very hot so you have time to position the tree (so don't put glue in when glue gun has just barely heated up enough to push glue out).

Step two: Put tree in ornament through hole. I had to push mine in pretty hard since it was a bit wide. Don't let the tree touch the glue until you get tweezers inside to position it correctly, so that the bottom of the tree is firmly affixed to the glue. Hold tree in place until glue dries.

Step three: Add glitter to ornament until happy with glitter depth at bottom of ornament.

Step four: glue metal top to ornament by adding a circle of hot glue to the inside of metal top and pushing firmly to top of ornament. Be careful! Metal will be hot!

That's it! You're done!

Easiest Christmas Snacks Ever!

I had seen a couple of ideas for how to make these on Pinterest and other sites but decided to get some different types of candy from the store and experiment a bit. I have to say, these were by far the easiest Christmas candies/cookies ever! Oh, and they all tasted awesome. I made three different types and couldn't decide which was my favorite =)

AND... I did it all in the microwave!!!!

Rolo Turtle Pretzels

Ingredients:

- Rolos

- Pretzels

- Pecan halves

Peppermint Kisses Pretzels

- Peppermint flavored kisses

- Pretzels

- Green and red M&Ms

Dark Chocolate M&M Pretzels

- Dark chocolate melts (or chocolate kisses can be used if milk chocolate is preferred)

- Pretzels

- Green and red M&Ms

Directions:

Step one: place pretzels on plate covered in parchment paper. Top each with chosen candy (either Rolo, Kisses, or Chocolate Melts).

Step two: Place in microwave and heat at 50% power for 20 seconds. Check to see if candies are melted enough that they are soft and formable throughout.

Step three: top each with chosen candy (M&M or pecan) and push down into melted candy. Place in freezer or fridge to harden and remove from parchment paper.

DIY- A Year of Memories Ornament

I want to make one of these every year! Write down things that happened within the year on strips of paper, then curl them with the blade of a pair of scissors. Create a cute, dainty tag with the year on it and hang it on your tree. Make a new one each year to remind yourself of all the wonderful things that have happened in your life!

A Year of Memories Ornament

Materials:

- a clear glass ornament

- a pair of scissors

- a blank sheet of white paper (or whatever color you'd like to use)

- some ribbon

- a small tag with string

- something to decorate tag with

- glue (I used E6000)

Directions:

Step 1: Cut strips of paper from blank sheet. Write memories from the year on each of them. I wrote some of the bigger things as well as some little, sillier things.

Step 2: Curl strips using blade of scissors by pulling strips between finger and blade in a quick motion. Remove metal top from ornament and feed strips into opening on the top.

Step 3: Replace top and tie ribbon around metal piece (I glued mine on to make it easier to tie). Tie bow in ribbon.

Step 4: Attach decorations to tag using glue and tie tag around metal top under the bow. Repeat once a year =)

DIY Glitter Ornaments

These ornaments are cute and extremely easy to make. Floor finish is the secret material used in this project that works surprisingly well. The best part is, with one bottle of finish, you could probably do this project every year for the next 10 years since each ornament uses so little of it! I originally saw this on a link on Pintrest but was unable to find the link again.

DIY Glitter Ornaments

Materials:

- Clear Ornaments (I ended up doing a total of 6 for this project, 3 medium sized, and 3 smaller ones- all bought at Michael's)

- Glitter (I used about 1/2 - 3/4 of a 3.5 g vial for each ornament)

- Floor finish (I got a large bottle from Walmart for under $6)

- glove to protect hand, newspaper to lay on work surface, container to pour excess finish into

Directions:

Step 1: prepare your space by placing newspaper over area you will be working on. Make sure you have a container to pour extra finish into since it is hard to pour it back into original container while working quickly.

Step 2: pop metal top off ornament. Put on glove and pour enough finish into ornament so that when shook, it can completely cover inside of ornament. Place finger over opening of ornament, making sure you've sealed off the top, and shake vigorously until entire inside is well coated. Pour extra finish out into container. You want the inside to be pretty wet, so you don't need to get every drop out.

Step 3: pour in vial of glitter, cover hole with gloved finger, and vigorously shake again until entire inside is covered evenly. Pour out excess glitter back into vial. Originally, I tried to pour in a little glitter at a time but I noticed that parts of the ornament were less covered because finish dries extremely quickly. DON'T add more finish after glitter is inside. It will add lines where the liquid runs down the sides and cannot be covered well again.

Step 4: let dry for about an hour and carefully replace tops. Pinch wires close together so that they do not rub the sides of the ornaments when pushed back in.