Tuesday, December 22, 2009

CARO COOKS

AHHHHH, the delightful scents of chocolate and sugar and toasting nuts and coconut which have been wafting from Caro's kitchen for the past couple of days!!! She always takes a great assortment of homemade goodies to work for their Christmas party---she makes up several trays just for snacking during the day:



And then there are containers of everything, for everyone to take home some of all the goodies---she orders pretty cellophane baggies and neat baking pans with lids so that her friends can all carry home some of the treats. These are 7-Layer Bars:




In back is a snacking pan, with a variety; in front are (middle bowl): Peanut clusters and toasted coconut clusters, both in Ghirardelli chocolate; bowl on right has Brownie Bites centered with Reese's Cups and little muffins with Reese's Pieces. Tiny pan on left is a sampler---she made up several for people who are off work today and will miss the treats.


The big pan sitting over the sink has individual pans of brownies, ready for lids---everyone got one to take home. In the bags are Reindeer Chow (sweet Chex Mix with chocolate, peanut butter, powdered sugar and chocolate almonds) and Regular Chex Mix.



Baby pans of Brownies with white chocolate chips:



Small pan of treats:




And there WAS other food, besides sweets---for the lunch table, she made three of the Corned Beef Cheese Balls by my Mother's recipe---the recipe originally called for a little jar of the dried beef, but Mother got Corned Beef by mistake, and a family favorite came to be. Recipe makes two or three balls, which we usually roll in toasted pecans at the last minute.



2 Philadelphia, room temp
1 can Corned Beef---we usually get Armour
Spoonclop of mayo
Sprinkle of powdered garlic
Sprinkle of salt
Green part of one bunch scallions, sliced very thinly across
Smush Cheese and Corned Beef together. Mix all ingredients, clop out onto waxed paper or Saran and roll into balls. Bag and store in fridge for up to a week. Roll in toasted pecans or toasted almonds just before serving. It's nice to have one for Christmas and save the other for New Year's Eve.
I DO believe that we're down to about fifteen pounds of sugar in the house.
And as of yesterday, my friends, Bon Hiver!!

1 comment:

  1. Well, that all just sounds wonderful! And, yes...yes I can smell it all the way to my house! I'm just wondering if one of those treat boxes would travel well down to the deep South?!!! :)
    Hope you and yours have a YUMMY holiday! God bless you all!

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