Mom on a Mission’s sharing some great tips for making convenient cinnamon rolls that are easily portable…and giftable!

(Is ‘giftable’ a word?)

Enjoy!

I really love it when my slow cooker can do the work for me. January usually means a freezer and pantry challenge, including rice and beans. So, about once a month I batch cook some beans to tuck away in the freezer. Especially in the winter months, that means navy beans.

Using the slow cooker to batch cook takes only a little pre-planning.

• You need to rinse and sort beans the afternoon or evening prior to cooking.
• Next, let the beans soak overnight in the slow cooker.
• The next morning, strain out the soaking water, rinse your beans and rinse out your slow cooker.
• Put your beans back in the slow cooker.
• Cover your beans with fresh water – about an inch above your beans.
• I season my beans with minced garlic and onion.
• Cook at least 10-12 hours on low. If you are in a hurry, you can cook the beans on high for several hours then adjust the setting to low. You’ll just need to test the beans to be sure they are done.

Overnight variation: I have also rinsed and sorted the beans mid day. Let them soak until bedtime. Drain then cook the beans, as mentioned above, in the slow cooker overnight. Cool, bag individually and freeze in meal-sized portions. Then, serve those beans up with other veggies and some cornbread. Or choose from the recipes below:

• All of Erin’s bean recipes
• Erin’s Batch Cooking Beans the regular way
• Erin’s How to Cook Dried Beans
• A Southern favorite Senate Navy Bean Soup
• You might like my recipe for batch cooking black-eyed peas in the slow cooker.
• I love to use my slow cooker for batch cooking. I cook ground turkey in the slow cooker: It’s the Super Supper Saver

There’s no set-in-stone way to batch cook beans in the slow cooker. It takes a while but requires very little supervision. And the investment pays off big on busy weeknights. In our home it helps fill all those hungry tummies the frugal way!

As soon as you pack up the Christmas decorations the candy canes become out of season treats. However, peppermint never goes out of season, so I crush my candy canes and use them to add peppermint flavor to candies and treats.

Peppermint Divinity makes a delicious hostess gift if you attend any New Year’s Eve parties. It is also a lovely Valentine’s Day treat.

Divinity is much easier to make than most people realize. If you are still unsure after reading the directions, view this step by step tutorial for making Divinity.

I crush the candy canes very finely. It creates a light pink divinity without adding dye and the small pieces blend in nicely with the smooth divinity candy.

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We absolutely adore our children’s teachers and the other wonderful personnel at their school so the kids helped me whip up these Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Sticks for them, then I created these “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” gift tags to decorate them with.  Now the kids are super excited to hand deliver them at school tomorrow!  Feel free to download the gift tag files (PDFs) and use them for your goodie bags.

Use your choice of dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate – or make a combination of all three!  We decided to use milk chocolate and three different varieties of sprinkles so we could put an assortment in each bag.

The kids really enjoyed getting to roll the pretzel sticks in the different colored sprinkled and crushed peppermint bits.  These wineglasses were the perfect size for holding the dipped pretzels without marring the chocolate.

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oh. my.

if only we could reach through the screen…

Toffee Pretzel Bark from Brown Eyed Baker

i’m drooling…

You know anything from Bakerella will be amazing…send this cookie mix to your favorite cowgirl!

(Or use blue m&m’s for your cowboy!)

Get out those alphabet cookie cutters and get to work on a fun (and wordy) gift for family and friends…Imagine the smile on your loved one’s face when they open this box of cookies…I can see the J-O-Y now!

(Original photo/recipe (they look to be snickerdoodles), cannot be found…if anyone knows where this photo came from, please let me know!)

Homemade Break n Bake

Chatting with my friend Becky this weekend about frozen cookie dough gifts. And in the same instant, we both said, “Homemade Break n Bake!” And here they are…

Just spoon them together onto plastic wrap, wax paper or parchment paper, wrap in foil and put in the freeze. When you’re ready to deliver your frozen cookies dough gifts, simple add a cute Christmas card on top, place in a decorative bag, if you wish, and put them in a cooler for transport.

Perhaps the most delicious and convenient gift you’ll give this Christmas!

Slice and Bake

Photo Credit

From a fantastic article at The Charlotte Observer…a few great recipes for slice and bake cookie dough.

Cookie dough can be gifted cold or frozen…whichever you prefer. And be sure to tell friends that should be used within 3-4 days of making, or be frozen.

Packaging

Photo Credit

I love this packaging idea of recycling a used foil container for giving muffin gifts…but it would totally work for a roll of cookie dough as well! Just cut the cookie dough roll to the size of the foil container, then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and/or parchment paper to keep it together inside the container.  Keep it chilled or frozen.

Recipe on Packaging

Photo Credit

Print the recipe for the cookie dough onto a piece of white paper or vellum paper and wrap around the dough. Or you could also print a recipe onto a tag template and attach it to the dough.

What are your (frozen) cookie dough gift tricks or tips?!

Be the star at your next holiday party by serving or bringing these! I have a total crush on these and will be making them for my oldest, who has a slight obsession with Santa Clause (he was Santa for Halloween!)…and who just so happens to love strawberries and brownies!

• Santa Hat Brownies from Erica’s Sweet Tooth

Photo Credit

2 ingredients. 20 minutes. Sounds like the perfect edible holiday treat to me!!!

• Cookies and Cream Oreo Bark from Bakers Royale