Another quick idea for stocking stuffers: Hot Chocolate on a Stick (you can do lots of flavors but I happen to make Cinnamon, Coconut and Irish Cream). When I was in Germany recently, just about every chocolate shop seemed to have these and they seemed like a cut idea. Note that the chocolate can be a little tough and can seize up on you if get it too hot, so be careful!
Here is another “Autumn Cookie” that could actually double as a Christmas Cookie. I seem to be experimenting a lot with these sorts lately. Ginger and cinnamon make it at least sort of like a Christmas Cookie, though I do associate maple more with the fall (don’t really know why though). At any rate, really simple and homey. Do beware that they spread a lot because of the maple syrup.
OK, these are awesomely delicious. And time consuming. I’m not sure I would have made them had I really realized that they are more or less a 5 step process (make dough, make rounds/dip, bake, caramel, chocolate decoration). Actually, who am I kidding … lots of my cookies take this long. They are worth it though.
Before someone asks me, what Hazelnut Croquant is, I’ll just tell you: In a nutshell (no pun intended) it’s like a nut brittle that is than smashed to pieces. Candied nuts, chopped fine. You can do it with any nut sort, but in Germany, they sell pre-packaged hazelnut croquant, so instead of making my own, I went with that. I know, cheater. If you don’t want to go through the effort of making croquant, finely chopped nuts will do. If you use peanuts, these will be little “turtles” (chocolate, peanuts, caramel).
I don’t typically make a lot of Halloween themed baked treats. I never get invited to Halloween Parties (do childless adults have those?) and you can’t really give away homemade stuff for trick-or-treaters. This year I did see these cute witches hats though, so I thought that I would make them just to giveaway. They are just sugar cookies with Hershey’s Kisses on top, then prettied up a bit. They are small, so just a bit of a witch, so to speak.
If you like peanuts, these are the cookies for you. Actually, if you *love* peanuts, that would be even better because these are loaded with peanut butter, raosted peanuts and peanut butter chips … in addition to chocolate chips and an actually good for you ingredient of oatmeal. Well, I guess peanuts are good for you too. I’m not sure how I could have added more peanuts to this really. Any ideas for my next try?