White Chocolate Christmas Trees
Christmas Treats- Toddler Appropriate
I love being in the kitchen cooking up sweet treats for myself mostly, if I am being honest, but also now that I am a mom I feel a little (ok, a lot) of obligation by people to also cook. See, I have never been into cooking. If you read former posts on here, you will read that I am by no means a great cook. I grew up with a mom who all about despised cooking and therefore did not teach me a single thing. I mean she bought remade cookie dough and remade, ready to pair pancake mix- that was her idea of cooking and baking. Horrible? I thought so growing up. And I think so now, as a mom. Not horrible that she did not like it. Hey, to each their own. Horrible in that the example that was set for me was that there was no value in cooking and that it was "just as good." Nutritionally speaking we all can agree pre-made store bought anything is not "as good" as homemade anything else. Also, in taste they are also no way, "just as good." I promised myself I would be better, I would try. My kids might not like my food or think I am a good cook but they will always be able to say "my Mom triied. she was always in the kitchen." So, I am trying now because I have little people to feed and a budget to stay on (I quit my full time job earlier this year making me now a full-time SAHM). This whole new world of cooking is a scary one to be honest. I don't want to or like to waste food, so I am always apprehensive about trying anything new because I don't want to mess up a whole bunch of food that will then be wasted if it doesn't taste good. One thing I am confident about is baking. I can look at a picture and discern what I need, what I would do differently, and pretty much freestyle in that realm. Is it perfect? Does it always taste great? No. But like I said before, I always try. Here is a recent little successes-
These are so beautiful when finished. I did not want to even let my kids eat them, but of course I did and they loved them. Ingredients: White chocolate melts parchment paper pretzel sticks sprinkles *optional green food dye
Take out a cookie sheet to put under the parchment paper for support. Lay out 6-12 pretzel sticks and think about placement once the trees are laid. My plan was after melting the chocolate in the microwave- see directions on package- to use food dye to make these green chocolate trees. But after melting the white which happened to be the funfetti sprinkled kind of white chocolate (a left over from my baby sprinkle 18 months ago... don't judge), I thought snow capped White Christmas trees would be more beautiful plus one less step plus this is an activity to do with toddlers- food dye is always a scary thought (you take your eyes off them for one second and....), not risking it. After melting your chocolate pour it into a baggie, snip a hole in the side to makeshift a pastry bag. Be quick, the chocolate is drying and hardening at this point. After your hole is cute, be artsty and drizzle away. My kids helped me, so some looked better than others but really your are just slowly moving back and forth and overlapping drizzles so it is impossible to mess up. Add sprinkles for a festive look, they really do look like ornaments and the kids love helping with this part. The cookie sheet at this point is serving as a sprinkle guard for your floor.
I slipped my cookie sheet into my fridge for a few minutes to ensure they were hard. Then- viola! An instant and delish treat!
::::meanwhile moon mamas::::
*as usual- if you recreate this or any of my other recipes please leave a comment and let me know how it goes!
Follow me on IG @RoPlusCocoPinterest- Enjoy!