Christmas is practically here!

Yesterday we also tackled some Christmas baking, and gifts for neighbors.  I let the kids help me put together these Stove Top Potpourri kits from Calli at Make it Do. A quick, attractive gift. And it smells heavenly. I have some simmering right now. 

Each year I like for my children to make something and write a note to thank their sunday school teachers/youth leaders at church.  I decided I wasn’t in the mood for the extended sugar cookie process like last year, but I still wanted something the kids could feel like they were contributing to. This is what we came up with and I thought I’d share – partly because you can learn from our trial and error – and because I think they made a good quick, last-minute Christmas cookie option.

Basically we used a quick Cake-mix-cookie recipe (like this one at Make and Takes) to make quick cookie dough.  Then we embellished with those Candy Cane Hershey Kisses (I promise Hershey has not paid me any money for these endorsements).

This was our first experimental batch where we put the kisses on the balls of dough (we used Chocolate Fudge cake mix, by the way) before we put them in the oven. As you can see – this did not turn out that well – at least in terms of attractive presentation – they were still delicious and we did not mind keeping them for ourselves.  M&M’s however worked just fine.

The next batch we tried we put the kisses on a minute or two after the cookies came out of the oven, but while the cookies were still warm. Perfect!  The kisses melted slightly and looked festive without weighing down the cookie. Attractive, delicious and really fast. A winning combination if you ask me.

Finally – FYI – JAQS Fabrics is closing and Q is selling her whole inventory for 20% off (orders of $15 and over) with the code JAQSFabricClose.  She has some lovely things (including pre-cut FQ’s). You may find just the right last minute present for yourself.
UPDATE:  JAQS is not closing (lucky us!) but the same sale applies through Jan 5, 2012