Lazy Mama: Baking and Candy Making

Making Christmas candy and cookies is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season.  Growing up we used to go to my grandma's house and spend what felt like days making candy after candy.  There was peppermint bark and cinnamon ice, peanut brittle, toffee and home made caramels and fudge.  Then we would wrap plates and tins filled to the brim with goodies and pass them out to our neighbors and friends.

The thing about making candy is that it can be time consuming and dangerous.  The melted sugar gets so hot and needs to be stirred constantly, it can turn into a dangerous hot mess, especially around the little people.

• Stick with chocolate-based candies, or skip candy and bake cookies.  If you are going to make a boiled sugar candy treat, wait until those babies are in bed.
• Pick simple, fast recipes that don't require a lot of time.  I like simple fudge (recipe below), peppermint bark, and buckeyes.  They taste awesome, are cheep and easy to make, and go over well with almost everyone!
• Plan a swap or mass baking day.  Invite friends over to make cookies and candy together.  Or you can split up the work, make mass amounts of one cookie or candy and get together to swap your goods, leaving with a variety of home made goodies. 
• Pick recipes that are fun, that your kids can help with.

OK, guys, I'm going to share with you a super secret, super awesome family recipe for fudge.  It's awesome, and so easy.  You won't believe it will work, but it does and it's the smoothest fudge you'll ever eat.  Are you ready?

dollimama's simple fudge

1 bag of chocolate chips

(note: the quality and kind of chips you use will determine the flavor of your fudge.  Choose a good brand and quality chip .  You can also use peanut butter, white chocolate, or butterscotch chips for flavored fudge)

1 Tb of melted butter

1 can of sweetened condensed milk.

1. Pour the chocolate chips, can of milk and melted butter into a glass, microwave safe bowl and stir.
2. Microwave 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, just until the chips are melted.  DO NOT over cook.  Stir until smooth.
3. Pour into a glass dish lined with wax paper or foil.  Let the fudge set up in the fridge for 2 hours.  Cut into squares.

That's it!  You have to try this recipe, I promise it makes such easy fudge, and it doesn't get too hot, so your small kiddos can help!

That's all I've got for today guys.  What are your tips for baking and candy making during the holiday season?