Festive Fun Foods Part II Chocolate Trolls

So here is the second holiday treat I promised. A recent Christmas tradition in our home, these little guys are Chocolate Trolls after the trolls from the movie Frozen. Disclaimer: they do not look like the trolls in the movie! My baby sister called them that and it has....stuck! But they are just as cute and yummy!
Anywhooo

*this is what they look like flattened*

What you need:
A frying pan
A wooden spoon
A cookie sheet or cutting board (anything that wont crack in the freezer)
1 Cup of chocolate chips
1 Cup of peanut butter (with nuts is always better!)
3 Cups of cereal (we use Kashi Go-Lean, it is the best!)
1 Cup of mini marshmallows

Take your chocolate and melt it in the frying pan. Make sure the heat is on low. Better to learn patience then burn your chocolate, and trust me, it burns fast!
Now add your peanut butter, mix till it looks like melted frosting. Now we add the cereal, stir it really well and remove from your burner. Give it a few seconds to cool down just a little bit, you don't want to liquefy you marshmallows, but you do want to be able to work with it, so make sure it is still warm.  Now that it looks like Rocky-Road ice cream, take a spoon and make little balls or hills on your cookie sheet. Now put them in your freezer, this part takes about fifteen minutes. When they are done you can put them in a Tupperware or baggies, but keep them in the freezer.
These little babies taste SO good frozen, they are nice, chewy and cold!
Enjoy!

Festive Fun Foods Part I Apple Butter

In lieu of the holiday season so fast approaching us, I though I would share with you two of my favorite holiday recipes that our family has used since I could remember.

For the first; a harvest delight: Cinnamon-Apple Butter. If I ever what to make my brother happy I say I will make him some.


What you need:
A large bowl (depending on how many apples you use, I used 20+ so I needed a big one)
A large Teflon pot (Dutch oven)
Wooden spoon
Mill or grinder (a blender or food processor will work too)
Cinnamon
Vinegar (any vinegar will do, but our family prefers apple cider vinegar)
Sugar
Nutmeg
And of Course.....Apples, I use ones that we would not necessarily eat i.e.. bruised, cut or just ugly/old looking.

So if you are using the mill you can simply cut your apples into quarters. If you are using a blender or  food processor then I highly suggest you peel and core your apples. You may now proceed to boil them in your large Teflon pot just as if you were making mashed potatoes.

When the apples are soft, and basically falling apart, is when you can take them off the oven. You now grind them through your mill, or food processor, blender, whatever!
It should look like applesauce, does it? If it does, great! If not, keep blending/grinding.
Now, you can put your sugar in it right now and have applesauce, but that's not what we are making so, continuing on...
I used roughly 20 apples, so if you are not planning on using that much, please do downsize.
I put my applesauce back in the pot.

Add the following:
2 Cups Sugar (you can use whatever kind, even sugar in the raw, cause it will just boil away anyway. I cannot vouch for splenda though, we have never used it.) I used organic.(also, if you are not a health nut like my mom you can use 4 cups of sugar, if you don't you will just have to boil the dickens out of it)
1 Table spoon cinnamon (who cares about the measurement! Pour that baby!!!)
2 Cups vinegar (now this is key, if you don't add it, you will have cinnamon applesauce, the vinegar adds a small sweet tang that we LOVE in our butter)
The smallest pinch of nutmeg (this is not an apple pie, we don't want to be overwhelmed with the scent) you can add other spices too!

Mix it together, then let boil on low till done, or at least that's what mom says, and because I never know when "done" is,  she says its roughly (depending on how much you made)  up to five hours, but sometimes all day! (depends on how much sugar you use)

Now you can it and enjoy!  You can also freeze it and have it all winter, spring, summer, fall and winter! (it lasts a loooooooooong time in the freezer) I can't say that it lasts in the fridge very long in our house, I don't know how long it would take to ferment because it is simply gone before the due date ever arrives.
 There you go, I hope you enjoy it, its always fun to make and just as fun to eat! It goes on EVERYTHING! seriously, you can put it on toast, bread of any sort, your meat! on sandwiches, in cookies! the possibilities are endless!

Part II Chocolate Trolls coming soon