This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NuttyForTheHolidays #CollectiveBias ~ Need Easy Christmas Cookie Exchange Recipes? Our Nutter Butter Snowmen are a perfect no-bake recipe! They make a creative Elf on the Shelf idea too! ~
Are you an Elf on the Shelf family? Well, we are. Three years ago, our first Elf came to visit us after our children came home from school crying one afternoon saying that everyone had an Elf in their home except for them. Up until then, my sister and I had avoided the whole Elf thing, but when you’ve got four kids bawling their eyes out, you quickly cave.
Our first Elf, a girl that my daughter promptly named Brookie, brought more joy to my kids than I ever thought possible. My husband and I would deftly move the creepy little doll around the house each night, and in the morning, the kids would squeal with delight. It was tiring, but it made them happy, so we carried on with it.
The next year, a boy Elf came to stay with us. My son named him Snowball, and just like Brookie, he got into all sorts of trouble that winter. The third year, both Elves came to stay with us and I thought I was going to lose my mind. One Elf was a lot of work, but two Elves was close to impossible. Somewhere along the way, after many late nights texts with my sister, “DID YOU REMEMBER TO MOVE THE ELVES?!?!” – we created an Elf on the Shelf Ideas Chart to help out other parents…and to give us some ideas when we were too tired to think for ourselves.
We’re now in our fourth year of having Elves stay with us, and to be honest, we’re running out of ideas. Sometimes, I get annoyed at having one more thing to do each night. But mostly, I try to remember that they’re only this little for such a short while, so as long as it makes them happy, I’m game.
But, like I said, I’m running out of ideas this year. The last two weeks, our Elves have been pretty lame, if I do say so myself. They’ve only been changing locations each night — moving from room to room, propped up somewhere different each night. So this weekend, I wanted to do something special for the kids. I didn’t want to stress myself out because our weekends are pretty packed right now with basketball, gymnastics and errands galore (Hello, Christmas?!), but I knew I wanted to take a stab at being creative. However, I also knew that if I tried to be an overachiever, it was going to be an epic fail, so I decided upon a Fun With Food project instead.
Since my son has recently discovered NUTTER BUTTER cookies at Walmart and is wild about them, I thought it would be fun to dip them in melted chocolate and decorate them. Then, I would set them out on a plate with the Elves for the kids to find on Sunday morning. If the Elves caused a bit of a mess while they were decorating the cookies – well, so be it! It was a Sunday and I could quickly wipe off the counters after our kids freaked out.
The most difficult part about this project is actually dipping the NUTTER BUTTER cookies into the melted chocolate. I used a hamburger tong to flip them around and pull them back out. Since I have no patience, I put them into the fridge to harden and then I just used edible food markers to draw faces and outfits on them. If you wanted to, you could use candy for this part, but I really wanted to test out the edible markers. The best part is that the Elves are making the cookies — not you — so they don’t have to look perfect!!
Once decorated, these cookies travel really well and are perfect for any Christmas Cookie Exchange parties that you may go to this year. And just in case you need more Easy Christmas Cookie Exchange Recipes, we’ve included a list of our favorite cookie recipes below.
FUN WITH FOOD: NUTTER BUTTER SNOWMEN
Materials:
- NUTTER BUTTER Cookies (16 oz.)
- 2 (12 ounce) packages of Bright White Chocolate Melts
- 1 package of Edible paint pens, bold tip
- Random assortment of small candy, if desired
Directions:
Step 1: Following the directions on your package of chocolate melts, melt chocolate over a double boiler until smooth. (Tip: Don’t have a double boiler? Just place a small amount of water into a saucepan and place another tightly fitted bowl on top of it. Bring water to a simmer. Stir chocolates constantly until completely melted.)
Step 2: While chocolate is melting, place a large sheet of parchment paper down on your work surface. Place a cooling rack on top of it. Lightly spray your rack with olive oil spray.
Step 3: Using hamburger tongs (fancy, right?), carefully dip your cookies, one by one, into the melted chocolate. Tap your tong lightly against the rim of your bowl to remove excess chocolate and set onto rack. Using a regular old butter knife, quickly smooth out the chocolate on the top side of the cookie so that you can write on it. Leave cookies be until completely cooled and the chocolate has set.
Step 4: Once chocolate is hardened, decorate with edible paint paints. (Do not use the fine tip markers or you’ll make yourself bonkers – you need the bold tip!) If you don’t have edible markers, never fear. Just gather up an assortment of candies that look like buttons and use those instead. To adhere candy to your cookie, simply apply a little bit of melted chocolate to the back and stick it on.
Step 5: Set your Elves out with the cookies and let the kids find them in the morning!
EASY CHRISTMAS COOKIE EXCHANGE RECIPES
Here are some delicious, family-tested, kid-approved cookie recipes to get you through your next cookie exchange party…or, you know, in case you just get a hankering for a cookie or two!
- Thumbelinas – Jam Cookies
- No Stress Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Fiber Rich Oatmeal Cookies With Cranberries
Happy Holidays,
Denine
