busy day.

Thursday was jam packed with animals and food. Julie came out and we went out to the Busby's to ride horses. We also made Christmas candy and cinnamon rolls. Julie had to leave early because of bad weather but we still had a good time. 

I started the day off by giving Gus a bath. He smelled horrific! It almost made me want to throw up... he had rolled in something dead. 

He loves baths. Can't you tell?!

We made Christmas candy. My family loves this stuff. It is super sweet, but a delicious treat. Cooking isn't my favorite thing but the tradition of making this stuff seems to have fallen to me. It went pretty quick this time though because Julie helped me. Also, cooking is more fun to me if I can take pictures while I do it, so here is step-by-step for you guys. It is very simple and easy! So, make it for your family this Christmas. Don't even think about how many calories you are taking in though. 

Christmas Candy

The cast of characters (yes that is wax)

Get distracted and take a picture of your beautiful Christmas cactus that actually bloomed at Christmas this year.

This is my favorite cookbook. We made them and sold them when I was in grade school at Bristow Adventist School.  It's full of great recipes from our church ladies. (and our church knows how to cook)

So, here we go! 

Add 2 boxes or 3/4 a bag of powdered sugar to a bowl.

Then dump a cup of coconut in. 

Next, chop up some yummy pecans and add a cup of them to the mix.

Now things are getting fun. Find a can of sweet and condensed milk and go ahead and add that to the concoction. It's weird stuff, I know!

Melt a stick of butter and add that. Told you it wasn't healthy.

Now mix it all up. I always use my hands because, well, it's just more fun. It's a lot easier too because this stuff is kind of a weird texture. 

Once you have it all mixed up, roll it into little balls. I always make a variety of sizes. It doesn't really matter but I wouldn't make them to big because that's just a lot of sugar. 

After you roll them up, then put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so. Just make sure they are frozen before you move onto the next step.

This part kind of freaks people out. But add about 1/4 of a stick of wax to a pan. The wax isn't going to hurt you. It makes the chocolate harden much better and easier to dip. I use two pans. One underneath with a little water and then one on top that is slightly smaller than the bottom one. Unless you have one of those fancy things then you don't need this contraption. 

Once the wax is melted add a bag of chocolate to the pan and melt it. I usually end up melting more chocolate so you can go ahead and add about a bag and a half if you want. 

Once it is melted, use toothpicks and dip the balls in the chocolate then put them back in the freezer 'til the chocolate hardens then you can store them in the fridge.

We also made cinnamon rolls. I was feeling very Martha Stewarty. ;) I didn't really take pictures as I went but sometimes I have a hard time with dough rising so I had to take a picture of this. I was pretty excited about it! ha

 

I think they turned out quite lovely. I made p-dubs recipe. The coffee was a bit strong for my non-coffee drinking family but some of us really loved them. They were delicious! :) 

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Eve! Lots of Christmas stuff coming tomorrow.