A COVID friendly hot cocoa bar for friends. This tumbler can be filled with a variety of toppings, here's what I put in ours. Oh and PS... the tumblers were just $5 at Walmart.
- 1. Hot Cocoa Packets
- Apple Cider Packets
- Marshmallows
- Peppermints
- Caramels
- Chocolate Cinnamon Bears
- Pirouettes
- Straws to drink under mask, but we decided to give to people to take home.
I actually made these as a Thanksgiving card to give to other doctors who send referrals to our office! (I work as the marketing coordinator for a dental practice 😉).
But these Thanksgiving gift tags are also perfect as little gifts from our family to give to others. We love to spend our Sundays baking and making happy kindness deliveries. We prayed about who we felt needed a little bit of cheer! Then we visit the people who come to mind!
”We’re grateful for you” gift tag and free printable. Right click and “save picture as” save it and make it the size you desire!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
3 cups sugar1 (29 oz) can puree pumpkin1 C Butter; melted1 t vanilla2 eggs4 T Pumpkin Spice (see recipe below)2T baking powder1.5 t baking soda1 t salt5 C all purpose flour1 (12 oz) bag os semi-sweet chocolate chips
Pumpkin Spice
8 t. cinnamon4 t ginger2 t cloves1 t nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat over 375 degrees F
- In large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, melted butter and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the eggs and beat for 1-2 minutes.
- Whisk the pumpkin spice, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt in a small bowl and add to the wet ingredients. Mix well. Mix in 2 cups of flour, then 2 more and then the final cup. Add the chocolate chips and mix until just incorporated.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat. Drop 1 T rounded scoops on dough on the sheet about 2 in. apart.
- Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes.
It’s been a while since we’ve made visits to our friends and neighbors with a yummy treat! This year we are going to dive into the Fall season with caramel apple gifts! 🍎 🍏 We sure could use an opportunity to serve and give and lift our spirits!
INGREDIENTS
Apples-firm and crisp
Caramel squares/bits
Chocolate Chips
Water
TOPPINGS (chopped)
Oreos
Mini m&ms
Toffee bits
Kit Kat’s
Snickers
Chopped mini marshmallows
Sprinkles
Chopped almonds, walnuts, peanuts
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Wash apples with baking soda to get wax off
2. Dry and remove stems
3. Insert a stick into the stem end--about 3/4 of an inch so that they are in there firmly. You can pierce the apple with a knife first to make the sticks go in more easily.
4. Refrigerate the apples. This will make the caramel harden faster.
5. Melt caramel in the microwave by adding 2 T water to Carmel. Each bag makes 5 apples. I made 2 bags and added 4 T. Zap in microwave for 3 minutes stirring each minute.
6. Dip apples in melted caramel
7. Roll the apples in toppings. Place the apples on waxed paper or aluminum foil that's been greased or coated with cooking spray. As some of the caramel drifts down and pools on the bottom, it will take these toppings with it. So, you may need to go back and gently pull the toppings back up and pat them back into the caramel. I ended up doing this a few times. Eventually the caramel hardens enough that everything stays put.
8. Chill apples for 15-30 minutes 9. Melt chocolate chips (or other flavored chips).
10. You can drizzle your melted chocolate with a spoon.
11. Wrap and give or cut with an apple sliced and eat!
Link to 6 tags per a page here.
Right click image and save.
Back in the day when we could hold baby showers I did this! My bestie was having her second baby. The first was a boy and this second was a girl. I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to get ladies together and celebrate the new baby so we had a baby sprinkle instead of a shower. MAN! I miss parties and gatherings. I made lots of yummy food and we opened presents (I’m lame and don’t love baby shower games). I made these adorable chocolate sea salt popcorn bags for all the guests to take as they were leaving! The tag said " ready to POP" a play on words for the mama now being "ready to pop". I love how the party favors turned out and of course they were yum.
But hey! These are also fun to bring to an expecting mommy in her last weeks! I’d give her a BIGGER bag of popcorn and just drop it by telling her I’m thinking about her and rooting for her!
I printed the free printable( linked below) on pink paper. It could also be printed on baby blue/ yellow paper. Cut it out with a circle punch and stapled ther circle on along with a cute patterned paper strip cut in a pendant. I think ribbon and tulle would look cute too!
Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Popcorn
Ingredients
- Plain popped Corn (we use an air popper)
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips melted (see notes)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt or more to taste
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Carefully pour the popcorn onto the prepared baking sheet. Be sure that no unpopped kernels make their way onto the baking sheet. Drizzle the popcorn with melted chocolate and sprinkle with sea salt. Toss the popcorn to distribute the chocolate. Taste it and add additional salt, if desired. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes for the chocolate to firm up (you can also quickly pop it in the fridge to speed this along).
Notes
Chocolate chips can be melted in a double boiler or in the microwave. If microwaving, heat in 15- 20 second intervals, stirring between, until melted and smooth. I added a little bit of coconut oil to help the melting.
I ❤️ to send cards and allow the receiver to #sharehomemadekindness by sending it to the next person!
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Here’s how that works! You put this nice little printable along with a folded envelope into the card. The printable explains it all! It says, “Share @homemadekindness. Remove this label and send the card to the next person! “ That’s it! Pretty easy and a nice lil way to #sharekindness. AND of course the #freeprintable is downloadable below! 💓🎀
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I print off a couple of copies at a time (there’s 4 per a page) and just keep them in my desk or in my love basket for when I want a sweet handmade card to be a gift (more on my “love basket” later).
Download vertical copy here..
Since delivering teacher gifts this year involved a shuffle of cars and/or shipping, I decided to make it easy. Who doesn't love a gift card to Target!
This sweet free printable will go with ANY treat you love to make! Print it in grey scale on kraft paper and jazz it up with a few pretty patterned papers. If you use this or any of my printables... I'd LOVE to see what you make and create! Let's go forth and share #homemadekindness!
These are in a PNG format so you can resize in a word document and place multiples. I you want all four in a PDF format there can be found here.
Let it be known we are Wisconsin fans as far as the Big 10 goes! BUT I couldn’t resist making this OSU free printable since we were making Buckeyes for our baking day this week! PLUS, we had a play date scheduled with our besties who are Buckeye fans! It brought so much joy bringing this to them, seeing their excited faces and listening to them talk about their days at THE Ohio State University. Free printable below.
free printables
I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Surviving Quarantine/ End of Year Teacher Gift Idea
5:12 PMA sweet friend reached out to me and asked me to make the cutest tag that said "I scream, you scream, we all scream for surviving quarantine." lol. Such a cute idea and play on words! She plans on creating an ice cream sundae kit and attaching the gift tag to give to teachers for end of the year gifts. You can download the FREE PRINTABLE gift tags at the links below! Which do you like the most?
