Santa Grams

Our fundraiser at school this month are Santa Grams.  Santa Grams are either a chocolate dipped pretzel rod, Cake Pop - sprinkles or Snowman, or Rice Krispie Treat.  We had a snow day today - so I spent my entire day from 6:15 to 2:00 p.m. working on them, not to mention yesterday from 4:47 - 10:00. They were very time consuming, but FUN FUN FUN - and turned out pretty cute!  One co-worker ordered some for her family Christmas as well as for her husbands co-workers/employees.

Holiday Fun! Snowmen Cake Pops!

Butterfinger made from Candy Corn!!!!

Kody, the secretary at the high school, mentioned that her sister made a dessert out of melted candy corn and peanut butter.  I was intrigued.  The following weekend I was at Dillon's and they had their 22 oz. bags of candy corn on sale for $1.29, so I purchased 6 bags.  Then of course two weeks later while visiting Dillon's, they had it on sale for .65 cents of course that is my luck.  Anyway, so I searched the Internet for the recipe that called for peanut butter and candy corn.  Found several.  

Ingredients

• 16 oz. of candy corn
• 2 cups smooth peanut butter
• milk chocolate chips or candy melts, for dipping or just melt the chocolate and spread on top of candy in pan.

Instructions

1. Place the candy corn in a large bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir and return to microwave. Continue heating for 30 seconds and then stirring until it is completely melted.
2. Stir in the peanut butter. The heat from the candy corn should melt the peanut butter, but if not return to the microwave for 15 seconds. Stir to combine.
3. Spread the mixture into an 8x8 (or desired pan size, these are bit thick in an 8 x 8 pan) baking dish lined with parchment paper. Smooth it out evenly in the pan.  Place pan in the refrigerator to harden candy. Remove pan from refrigerator.
4. Melt the chocolate chips or candy melts in the microwave.  You could probably put the melted chocolate on prior to placing in the refrigerator.
5.  Spread melted chocolate onto bars still in pan.
6. I placed the bars back into refrigerator (over night and cut in the morning) - the next time I made these, I cut the bars after putting the melted chocolate (prior to placing back in the refrigerator) - easier to cut and the chocolate doesn't crack.  
7. Store at room temperature for a chewy texture or in the fridge for a more crisp texture.
8. Cutting:  you can use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut bars.

****You can also cut the bars with a pizza cutter and dip each bar individually into melted chocolate.

Slow Cooker Sweet and Tangy Chicken

Shannon found this on allrecipes.com a few years back. It is one of the households favorite! The original recipe follows.

2 (18 ounce) bottles barbeque sauce (we use KC Masterpiece)

1 (15 ounce) can pineapple chunks

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Directions

In a large bowl, mix together barbecue sauce, pineapple with juice, green bell pepper, onion, and garlic.

Arrange 4 of the chicken breasts in the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour half of the barbecue sauce over the chicken. Place remaining chicken in slow cooker, and pour remaining sauce over the top.

Cover, and cook on Low for 8 to 9 hours.