Christmas Recipes

Marshmallow Puffs

18 large marshmallows

36 vanilla or chocolate wafers 1 1/2″ in diameter

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1. Preheat oven to 350º F.

2. Cut marshmallows in half with scissors.

3. Arrange wafers on ungreased cookie sheet; place 1 marshmallow half, cut side down, on each wafer.

4. Bake 4–5 minutes or until marshmallows puff, but before they begin to tip over.

5. Allow pan to cool; then refrigerate cookies on cookie sheet 10 minutes.

6. While cookies are in refrigerator, melt chocolate chips and butter in saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently; remove from heat.

7. Dip tops of cooled cookies into chocolate mixture. Refrigerate about 15 minutes until set. Store cookies in refrigerator.

Date Bars

1 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup light or dark molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

2 cups flour

1 cup wheat germ

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup chopped, pitted dates

1 cup chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease oblong baking pan.

2. Beat butter or margarine until soft and creamy.

3. Gradually blend in molasses and sugar.

4. Add eggs one at a time, beating lightly after each addition.

5. Measure flour, wheat germ, baking powder, salt, and oatmeal into separate bowl, and mix gently with spoon.

6. Add flour mixture, dates, and nuts to butter and egg mixture; beat until blended.

7. Spread evenly in baking pan. Bake 30 minutes or until done.

8. Cool in pan. Cut into 1″ x 2″ bars.

Apricot Peanut-Butter Drops

1 cup dried apricots

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

1 cup flaked coconut

1. Cut apricots into small pieces.

2. Stir peanut butter and honey together in bowl. Mix in apricots.

3. Spread coconut on plate.

4. Drop teaspoonfuls of mixture onto coconut; gently roll in coconut with fingertips and form into balls.

5. Chill in refrigerator until firm.

Gumdrop Tree

4 cups toasted oat cereal

32 large marshmallows or 3 cups miniature marshmallows

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon green food color

butter or margarine

small gumdrops

1. Grease cookie sheet.

2. Pour cereal into bowl.

3. Melt marshmallows and butter in saucepan over medium heat; stir until smooth. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla and food color.

4. Pour marshmallow mixture over cereal, and stir until cereal is coated.

5. Rub some butter on your hands, and divide cereal mixture into 6 equal parts on cookie sheet. Form each part into tree shape.

6. Cut gumdrops into slices with scissors. (Dip scissors frequently into glass of water to keep candy from sticking.) Press gumdrop slices onto trees.

Chocolate Cracker Kisses

2 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons crushed salted soda crackers

2/3 cup semisweet or mint-flavored chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 300º F. Grease cookie sheet.

2. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add vanilla and cream of tartar; while continuing to beat, add sugar.

3. When mixture is quite stiff, gently fold in soda crackers and chocolate chips.

4. Drop teaspoonfuls of meringuelike dough onto cookie sheet. Bake about 20 minutes.

5. When cool, store in tightly closed container.

Photos by Michael McConkie