Easy Candy Recipe: Christmas Crackers
Last year for the first time, I made Magic Wands, which are pretzels dipped into melted white almond bark and then rolled in colored sugar. The salty-sweet flavor made them a big hit. A easy treat, and yet they were the first thing that many habitancy reached for when they approached the plate of cookies.
So this year, when I decided to try to make up a method for a new Christmas treat, that salty-sweet blend was on my mind. I opened my pantry, and there sat an unopened box of Ritz crackers. Perfect! I would create something using the Ritz as a base. Its shape and size would make it both pretty and portable.
Crackers & Biscuits Baby Food
I didn't want to just dip it in almond bark and sprinkle it with sugar, though, because that would be cheating. This needed to be a whole new recipe, something that would make habitancy slap their foreheads and say, "Why didn't I think of that?!"
Often when I'm writing a book, I start out with a categorically great title and then try to come up with a story to fit the title. (And then my editor or the marketing agency ask me to turn the title because it turns out that I do not have a talent for titles. Even so... ) Before I started contemplating ingredients, I thought about what I could name my new treat.
Christmas Ritz?
Putting on the Ritz?
On Britzen?
Somehow, I stumbled upon Christmas Crackers, and felt that thrilling "Aha!" rush straight through me. I've all the time found the British tradition of Christmas crackers to be charming, those brightly colored minute pockets of wrapping paper, which pop open to spin candy and toys. So I would make my own version of Christmas Crackers with a Ritz cracker as the base with melted chocolate hiding a surprise inside. On the outside, these treats look nearly identical, but each one contains a different surprise under the layer of chocolate.
I experimented with some options.
Recipe: Christmas Crackers
1 box (4 sleeves) of Ritz crackers
1 36-oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1-2 T vegetable shortening or coconut oil
Line four cookie sheets with parchment paper. (If you don't have four cookie sheets, you can just lay the parchment paper out on any flat surface. You only categorically need the cookie sheet for the sleeves of crackers that will have the marshmallow filling.) Lay all four sleeves of crackers out on the parchment paper and cover each of the crackers with one of the following fillings.
Melt the chocolate and shortening in a double-boiler. If you don't have a double-boiler, then boil water in a small saucepan and determined equilibrium a medium-sized saucepan over it. Stir permanently until chocolate is melted. Cover each cracker thoroughly, hiding the filling. Refrigerate until set.
Caramel Filling:
1 C caramel bits or caramel candy
½ T heavy cream
In a microwave-safe bowl, concentrate the caramel and the cream. Heat in 30-second increments until melted, stirring after each time. Drop by scant spoonful onto each cracker.
Marshmallow Filling:
18 large marshmallows or 108 mini marshmallows
Place 3 mini marshmallows of half of one large marshmallow on each cracker. Broil for one minute, then flatten with a spoon.
Peanut Butter Filling:
1/4 C peanut butter
1/2 C chopped peanuts
Spread a thin layer of creamy peanut butter on each cracker, then sprinkle heavily with chopped peanuts.
Mint Crème Filling:
¼ C butter, softened to room temperature
1 C powdered sugar
1 T green crème de menthe
In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add crème de menthe and mix thoroughly. Spread a thin layer on each cracker.
Happy holidays!
Easy Candy Recipe: Christmas Crackers
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