chocolate is the only true currency…

… in this bankrupt world. And because we are kitchen witches in love with the alchemy of chocolate, these are some of our favorite go-tos when putting together quick holiday treats.

Maybe you don’t have a lot of baking skills or time to spend. No problem. Buy commercial cookies and dip them in melted chocolate. Semi-sweet morsels in a microwave safe bowl can be melted in minute or two. Lightly coat an aluminum foil sheet with cooking spray or spread a thin layer of vegetable on foil or cookie sheet. Partially dip cookies in melted chocolate and place on treated sheet or pan to harden. For additional flavor or interest, sprinkle on chopped nuts, chopped candied ginger, or orange or tangerine zest while the chocolate is still soft.

The fastest fudge.

- 3 cups of semi sweet chocolate morsels (1 1/2 standard bags— leaving some left for melting to drizzle and plenty to eat while you mix up a batch of fudge)
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (note: NOT evaporated milk— the syrupy super sweet stuff)
- 1-2 tsps vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- butter, cooking spray, or parchment paper for pan for fudge mixture

Prepare pan for fudge mixture to rest in in for chilling.
Line an 8x8 baking pan or aluminum foil pan with parchment paper or foil. Soften butter and coat the bottom and 1/2 sides of foil or paper OR spray with cooking spray.

In a large sauce pan over VERY LOW heat, combine 14 oz of sweetened condensed milk and 3 cups of chocolate morsels. Add vanilla and a pinch of salt. Stir gently with a spatula or wooden spoon until morsels are all coated then let the mixture sit until morsels start to lose their form. Stir gently. Once most of the chocolate is melted, remove pan from heat and continue stirring until mixture is glossy and fudge-y. This takes just a couple minutes, so don’t walk away and have the prepared pan ready before beginning mixture.

Pour into prepared 8x8 pan and spread mixture gently with wooden spoon or spatula to all edges. Cover with cling wrap and chill for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Once chilled, lift out fudge block and slice squares to share!

We added pecans to the top of one batch— pressing them into the fudge while still warm just before chilling.

We stirred small marshmallows and chopped pecans into to the slightly cooled fudge mixture while it was still in the pan before pouring into the prepared foil for rocky road fudge.

Mint plaid nearly instant fudge... no candy thermometer required!

We created plaid peppermint icing for one batch by creating 3 colors and flavors of icing and drizzling them on in layers once the fudge was cool.

Plaid peppermint drizzle:
- white chocolate baking bar dived into thirds
- 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels
- butter: 1 TB per color
- peppermint or spearmint extract: 1 drop
- green food coloring: drop

Melt 1/3 of white chocolate baking bar with 1 TB of butter by microwaving in 10 second increments until all the bits are melted and stir easily. Baking bars take longer to melt than morsels.

Melt 1/4 cup semi sweet morsels in microwave with 1 TB of butter by microwaving in 10 second increments until all the bits are melted and stir easily.

For peppermint drizzle: melt 1/3 of white chocolate baking bar with 1 TB of butter by microwaving in 10 second increments until all the bits are melted and stir easily. Once stirred, add a scant drop of green food coloring and a drop of peppermint or spearmint extract, and stir until smooth.

Fill baggies with each of 3 flavors. Cut a small corner of each baggie in succession and drizzle small lines of each flavor over the cooled fudge block. Re-chill to set the icing before slicing.

Divide into pretty boxes, then spread chocolate joy to neighbors and friends!

Packaged and ready for delivery. Happy holidays — especially to all the hardworking elves who make it all possible!

truly doable last minute holiday gifts

Down to the wire with a few holiday gifts? Hello, you gorgeous normal human, you. We got you on this, hon. Here are some truly manageable presents for when you are down to the fa-la-laing g-darned wire.

Bake something from a box— but put it in a reusable container like this breakfast bread with added cranberries, orange zest, and —duly labeled for the allergy potential— nuts, delivered in a fluted baking dish (ready to re-gift this year or next).

Ye Olde Fruit Bowl, Basket or Box is really a welcome gift for the classic ring and run. Fruit is pretty durable when placed on the porch as long as it is not below zero. Including lots of immune system boosting citrus is an especially good idea this year of all years. Make it extra EXTRA by adding a pineapple. Perfect for the background of your ZOOM interview, right RoomRater?

Don’t have baking skills or time to spend? Buy commercial cookies and dip them in melted chocolate. Semi-sweet morsels in a microwave safe bowl can be melted in minute or two. Lightly coat an aluminum foil sheet with cooking spray or spread a thin layer of vegetable on foil or cookie sheet. Partially dip cookies in melted chocolate and place on treated sheet or pan to harden. For additional flavor or interest, sprinkle on chopped nuts, chopped candied ginger, or orange or tangerine zest while the chocolate is still soft.

Print out or write up a certificate for future gardening sesh in person or Zoomalong. Include seed packets or planting plan with types of plants found nearby and where they can go.

Divide houseplants to share.

Some other suggestions that are always welcome:

• Commit to print and inexpensively frame or digicube family or friend pictures, especially for someone who struggles with technology.

• Send a donation to the animal shelter or food bank nearest to the gift recipient in their name— or to any charity you know that they hold dear.

• Contract with a service to provide and essential service for a shut-in or family who is isolating… meals, cleaning, deliveries, yard services, mobile pet grooming are all good choices.

• Pay for a subscription to an online newspaper or local print edition because supporting real journalism matters.

• Handmade artwork or cards from kids or grandkids are always heartwarming, welcome surprises.

• A mason jar filled with the dry ingredients from your favorite cookie recipe, along with instructions, and a simple bow or tag never disappoints.

hat ornament upgrade: gnome big deal

We are always learning, ya’ll. Sometimes the same lesson over and over! It took a bit of time to create the hat ornament from leftover and recycled materials. We have illustrations below on how to add on elements to create a jolly little gnome.

Perusing the wider webs, we saw so many examples. Gnomes are in! We saw some that were really adorable — and crazily “affordable.” Hard to resist absolutely adorable ornaments for $3. But the real costs are actually higher. Made us think we could not or would not work for such a low return on our time and materials, but somewhere someone has to do so.

Please, all, take a moment and contemplate how little workers everywhere are paid! Work towards changing the corporate approach to labor and supply.

Gather wool roving, cotton fluff, or any fuzzy bit for a gnome beard. Felt up wool roving into a ball for a nose, or use a standard commercially available pom pom.

Use tacky glue, white glue, or hot glue to secure the beard to the inside of the base of the yarn hat ornament, and the felted ball or pom pom to the front just above the beard. We secured the ball and beard with cord for extra stability. Then we added a nice Brooklyn groomed mustachio for extra panache! Go big or go Gnome, right?

christmas, christmas! it’s time for amaryllis

Options abound for purchasing living and giftable holiday florals. Amaryllis and narcissus bulbs are easy to add in to Christmas decor.

Try novel and unusual containers for displaying holiday bulbs. The thrift store is a perfect spot for hunting up bargain containers. Line anything that is not waterproof. Fill the lined container with rocks or potting soil and place roots down into rocks, or more of the bulb into soil.

Plastic liner for container. Cut kraft paper shreds to disguise the tops of bulbs.

Most bulb plants will need some sort of support as they grow tall. Branches pulled from the outdoors work as well as commercially available options.

Branches add interest while you wait for blooms.

🍅 pin tomato tips 🍅

Choose bulbs at different stages of development in order to have blooms into January.

Save bulbs for next year by cutting back spent leaves, allowing substrate to dry out, and place in a cool, dark location. Bring out pots at least 6 weeks before use, water, and place in sunshine. Hint: keep tags with pots to identify color and type of blooms!