What's everyone making for your holiday gift baskets this year?

Graham Cracker Chewy Bars, for sure!

The co-workers have re-named this the O.M.G. bars. They said "Graham Cracker Chewy bars" sounded too boring for something so delicious smileys/smile.gif


Graham Cracker Chewy Bars Yield: 36 bars
These bars are chewy and sweet and yummy, like a pecan pie, and no one ever guess it’s made out of graham crackers! I use a whole box of graham crackers, and make everything in the food processor. I adapted it from a Los Angeles Times Top Ten Recipe of 2009.

Crust
3 cups (12 oz) graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup (6 oz) butter, cut into ¼” slices
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) sugar
2 tablespoons flour

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13” pan with parchment. Grind the graham crackers in a food processor into small crumbs. Measure out 2/3 cup, and set aside for the filling.

To the remaining crumbs, add the butter, sugar and flour and pulse until the butter is finely chopped, and the crumbs are moist. Press the mixture firmly into the prepared pan. Bake at 350º until the crust is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. While the crust is baking, make the filing:

Filling:
2 1/2 cups(1 lb, 2 ¾ oz) brown sugar
4 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Reserved 2/3 cup (2 1/2 oz) graham cracker crumbs
1 cup pecans, chopped

Place the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and baking powder into the food processor and mix until the sugar is well blended. Add the graham cracker crumbs and the pecans, and pulse 2 times to incorporate (you don’t want to chop up the nuts too finely).

Pour the mixture over the baked crust and return to the 350º oven until the filling is dark-golden on top and jiggles slightly when tapped, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and cool completely. Refrigerate until cold, so that it’s easier to cut into bars. When cold, cut into 36 bars, then sprinkle generously with powdered sugar.

 
Savannah Chocolate Chewies - a chewy, chocolatey cookie...

Love these! Chop the nuts kind small, so the cookie is not so lumpy.


Savannah Chocolate Chewies
Yield: 2 dozen chews

From The All-American Cookie Book, by Nancy Baggett

2 cups (8 oz) chopped pecans
2 1/4 cups (8 oz) powdered sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 ¼ oz) unsweetened natural cocoa powder*
2 tablespoons (1/2 oz) all-purpose white flour
Generous pinch of salt
3 large egg whites
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, grated (not unsweetened)

*Author calls for natural cocoa. I’m going to try dutch-process the next time I make this.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Spread the pecans in a medium baking pan and toast in the oven, stirring occasionally, for 7-9 minutes, or until fragrant. Immediately turn out into a medium bowl let cool.

Sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, flour and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer.

Beat the egg whites one at a time into the powdered-sugar mixture with an electric mixer on low speed. Add the vanilla and beat for 1 1/2 minutes on high speed, scraping down the sides several times. Fold in the pecans and the chocolate until evenly incorporated. (The dough will be quite liquid, like a cake batter.)

Drop the dough onto the baking sheets by heaping tablespoons, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until dry on the surface but soft in the centers when pressed. Reverse the sheet from front to back halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Slide the cookies, still attached to the parchment onto a wire rack.

Let cool completely, then carefully peel the cookies from the parchment.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container up to three days or in the freezer for 1 month.

 
This Sugared Cranberry Trail Mix is a Christmas staple.

I make large batches of this. It makes a lot, and it stores really well, so I can do it a couple of weeks in advance.

It's easy to buy everything at Costco. Unless you have a Trader Joe's near you. I don't smileys/frown.gif

SUGARED CRANBERRY TRAIL MIX
1 4 lb. bag of pretzels
4 cups of almonds (1/2 of a 2 lb. bag)
4 cups of pecans (1/2 of a 2 lb. bag)
4 cups (1/2 of a 30 oz. bag) dried cranberries
8 large egg whites (about 1 cup)
4 cups white sugar
6 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350º. Spread pecans and almonds evenly on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until nuts are slightly darker in color. Cool completely on pan.

Reduce oven temperature to 225º.

In two large foil pans, combine the pecans, almonds, pretzels, and cranberries.

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Pour over pretzel mixture; toss until well coated. In another small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over pretzel mixture; toss until well coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Store in an airtight container.

 
Thanks to the wonderful recipes posted here, and my long-time favorite:

turtles

classic Chex mix

chocolate buttercream fudge (posted by GayleMO)

shortbread walnut cups (L.A. Times SOS column) >

pistachio shortbread (King Arthur)

dipped peanut butter meltaway cookies

lemon pound cake (Ina Garten, posted by MariaDNoCA)

Louisiana pecan balls (Heather Allen)

and.... most likely some of Joe's Truffles aux Chocolat smileys/smile.gif

 
Mine doesn't change much from year to year.

Chocolate Covered Cherry cookies
Revel Bars
White Chocolate Cranberry bread
Turtle Pretzels
Sweet Potato Chews will be included if they have dogs

 
Brownies with nuts and chocolate chips. Also including a Melitta

single cup coffee brewer -- it has a cone shape area that holds a #2 coffee filter. Place unit on a mug and add ground coffee. Heat a mug of water in a hot pot or on the stove and pour into the cone to get fresh drip coffee. Am looking for a few small packages of flavored ground coffee.

 
I second that, they should most definitely be renamed O.M.G. bars! That's exactly what a friend

said when she made them after I shared your recipe with her. They're scrumptious.

 
the bark at 19477 is going to my bookclub ladies. I usually make Ina's linzer shortbreads,

but I'm not much into fussing with lots of cookies this year. I think a few batches of the toffee cookies posted on the Pioneer Woman site this week look easy and doable and my standby brownie bites with Reeses in the center. And maybe bake up a few cranberry coffeecakes to have on hand. one more fun item I want to try is that chocolate mouse that was posted up above somewhere. I'll try using a store bought chocolate covered cherry for the body, and then place the little mouse on a white chocolate covered oreo for his little snow perch.

 
Idea came from a post from Dawn re: labels / recipe cards; Hummus in a ramekin w/ pita chips on a

small bread board. Our neighbors exchange. Already done the jam, candy, nut thing, and like to make something a little different. I know it will go over well.

While I always love and treasure Christmas treats, the gift that had the most staying power was a neighbor that gave me a few bulbs in a potting container. I thought of her everyday as I would check the progress of my flowers. It was a neat idea.

 
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