Rainbow Favors

My little girl will be turning 5 this month, it is all going by so fast! For her 5th birthday I decided to give her a big party like she had been asking for. We invited her entire class and many other friends and family. To prepare I went to Pinterest for inspiration and found a picture that looked like something we could make however I could not find instructions. After some searching I discovered pretzel bags, M&M's and Rolos to be the answer. First we sorted a huge bag of M&M's by color.

Next four Rolo's went into the bottom of the bag.

M&M's are then added by color making a rainbow.

Quickly and easily it comes together into a cute party favor.

A lot of rainbows for preschoolers to eat!

Fantasy Fudge

Back in the day the Kraft Marshmallow Creme jar had a recipe for Fantasy Fudge on the back of the jar. A few years ago Kraft changed the recipe and there has been an outcry for the original ever since. Of course the original recipe is on the Internet and can be seen here. This is the fudge I make every Christmas, usually two batches, one with nuts and one without. I decided to start with the nut fudge this morning. Its a good thing I have my bar stool type sitting apparatus since standing to stir this was just not going to happen.

First the sugar, evaporated milk and butter/margarine are mixed.



Over medium heat, stirring constantly the mixture is brought to a rolling boil for four minutes, still stirring constantly.



After four minutes remove the pan from the heat and add the marshmallow creme and chocolate chips.



Next add the nuts (if you want them) and vanilla.



The fudge is them poured into a pan. The recipe says to use a 9 inch square pan but I have always used a 9x13. I also grease the pan rather than lining it with foil. For this step I had to have Mike come and assist since I have apparently lost the ability to hold up a pan and get the contents out, not that he minded since one of his roles is official taster and he got to walk away with the spoon afterwards (his other role is dishwasher, thank goodness). Here is the fudge in the pan cooling.



Later this evening or tomorrow I will make a pan of plain fudge.

Marble Bark

I found this recipe in a magazine many years ago, cut it out and make it just about every year. It is very simple and only has three ingredients 6oz of white chocolate, 6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and 1 cup of coconut.

To start the coconut gets toasted in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. The coconut needs to be stirred around every minute or two to keep it from burning. It should turn to a golden brown color.



The chocolate is then melted in the microwave. This year I used chocolate chips but you can also use the squares of baking chocolate.



When the chocolate starts melting you need to do a lot of stirring and make sure not to burn the chocolates.



Next divide the coconut putting half in the white chocolate and half in the semi-sweet chocolate.



On a wax paper lined cookie sheet spread out one of the chocolates in a sort of random pattern.



Then fill in the spaces with the other chocolate, I try to smooth or flatten it out as I go.



To marble the candy run a knife through in each direction.



I then put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator over night to let it solidify, this morning I broke the bark up into bite size pieces and put it back in the refrigerator till I am ready to wrap it up to give out.