Caramel Christmas Gifts

We used caramels as our filler for the few Christmas gifts we handed out this year.

 Here's the 2 recipes we used:
#1-Mom's Caramels (I doubled this recipe)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup karo syrup
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup of butter
 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

Add sugar, 1/2 cup of the cream and karo to heavy pan over low heat. Wash sides with hot water and don't let boil until sugar dissolves. Once sugar is dissolved turn heat up to medium. Add other half of cream slowly then add butter. Cook to 242 degrees (this temp depends on the altitude your in).  I usually do the drop water test(put a spoonful of caramel into a cup of ice water then sample it) every time to make sure it's at the consistency I like. Add vanilla. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Once it's cooled cut into bite size pieces and wrap in wax paper.

#2-Eggnog Caramels (I got this recipe from livelaugheat.com-her recipe is a little different)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 2 cups eggnog
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (add less if using salted butter)
• Directions
  Line an 8×8 pan with buttered or sprayed aluminum foil. In a pot, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn down heat to medium and insert candy thermometer. Continue to stir mixture until it reaches 245* F. (Mine almost cooked to 250 so do the drop test if your not sure) Then remove from heat and pour into prepared pan. Allow the mixture to cool completely for a few hours in the refrigerator. Remove mixture from the pan using the foil. Cut into 1″ squares. Store caramels in an airtight container.
  
   We made these for all the kid's teachers. 

 We wanted to give them gift cards but didn't want to just hand them a card so we filled mason jars with caramels and decorated the lid with ribbon and Christmas paper.

 We made this simple tag to attach to the jars.  We tried to incorporate the Amazon A in (a)mazing but this was as good as we could do.

 I put these together for the ladies I visit teach at church.

 I found these containers in the dollar spot at Target.  I filled the inside with caramels and attached this ornament.

I found the ornament at Hobby Lobby.

 We put these together for Jared's employees.

I found this tag here at lillunna.com

 We thought this gift card was perfect to go with the cute tag.

Have a Sweet Holiday Season!

More Christmas Pretzels

These were for our ward Christmas party.

 I did these the simple way again.  I used the Caramel Apple Wraps, chocolate and sprinkles. I also did a few trees.

 I broke the pretzel rods in half to make them go further and plus there are always so many yummy treats to sample at a church party so the smaller the better, right?

Christmas tree snacks

 It's Wyatt's turn to bring the class snack in and this is what he wanted to do, Christmas tree pretzels.

 I copied this idea from online.  All you need are pretzel rods, green candy melts, sprinkles, mini M&M's, and wax paper.

Melt your green chocolate and put it in a ziplock baggie, cut the corner, and pipe it over the pretzel in a tree shape using a zig-zag pattern.  If you are like me and need a guideline to go by just trace a basic tree shape onto a piece of paper and lay your wax paper over it before piping.  Decorate with sprinkles before it dries.  I used mini M&M's for the star and ornaments, candy cane sprinkles, and Christmas colored non-pareil sprinkles.

 We also made some fruit trees to balance out the treat since we are suppose to bring a healthy snack.

I found the trays at Dollar Tree.  I also saw this idea online.