Honeyed Words: Kicking Off the Celebrations

Kicking Off the Celebrations · 22 December 2006

The baking continues.

Some people in my life are coming to town this weekend, others are leaving town to celebrate with non-local relatives. We’re a mobile culture and as people grow up, migrate, and form new and non-traditional bonds, the holidays pull people apart just as much as they bring others together. As many do, I’ve dealt with this phenomenon by extending the holidays well past their calendar prescribed boundaries and so Christmas celebrations officially started for me last night as I kicked off a round of visiting people with whom I won’t be spending the actual holiday.

For those of you that can’t celebrate with everyone, bringing a bit of the holidays to your extended friends and family is as simple as setting aside time to do something special with them. Relationships are built in part on traditions, whether they be as whimsical as pointing out the oddities in each public restroom at the restaurants you visit together or as meaningful as a continuing foundation of trust and respect. The holidays are built around traditions as well, religious ones for some and cultural ones for others. Whatever your inclination may be, don’t forget to take time out of the busy season to nurture your own traditions with the important people in your life.

For me, gift giving is one of the highlights of the season. I really enjoy trying to figure out what people would like. I like giving surprises and abhor generic gift certificates. My idea of the perfect present is one that is based on some cue the person dropped, then totally forgot about. Given my philosophy, it’s not surprising that the giving of gifts ranks up there in my holiday get togethers and so I tend to put a lot of work into the finding, or in this case the making of, something special for everyone.

Here was my contribution to last night.

Vegetarian Friendly Chocolate-Dipped Krispies

Adapted from: ABC News – Good Morning America

Traditional Marshmallow Version:

½ stick unsalted butter
10 oz jumbo marshmallows
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
6 cups crispy rice cereal
10 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Vegetarian Adaptation:

I used Pangea brand Vegan Sweets gelatin-free marshmallows , and adapted the recipe a bit per the recommendations on their packaging. A general note for non-gelatin marshmallows is that they seem to melt into a smaller volume of marshmallow goo than their traditional brethren, so beef up on the butter and ‘smellows, and cut down on the cereal.

For my brand, I used 1/2 of a stick of butter, 12 oz of marshmallows, and about 5 1/2 cups of cereal. At that, they were a bit dry and lacked cohesion in a few places and I think I should have used about another 1/4 of the stick of butter and a bit less cereal.

Directions:

Melt the butter over low heat in a large pot. Stir in the marshmallows and cook until fully melted and no marshmallow white remains. Stir in the peanut butter until combined.

Stir in the cereal until distributed evenly through the marshmallow mixture. I recommend starting with less than the full 6 cups so you can adjust to less cereal if needed.

Pour out onto a lightly greased 9-by-13-inch rectangular baking dish. Smooth out the top of the treats by moistening your hands with a little water and using the palms of your hand to press down gently then set aside to cool. Once the treats have cooled, cut into rectangles.

Melt the chocolate over low heat in a double boiler or glass container set in a pan of gently boiling water. Dip one corner of each square into the melted chocolate, using a knife to cover any missed spots. Place squares on sheet of waxed paper until chocolate cools.

Makes 15-18

Searchable keywords: Chocolate, Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Holidays, Peanut Butter, Vegetarian

Posted by fortrix