Sugarplum Drops Recipe

When I was a kid my grandma used to mail us a tin of homemade Christmas cookies every year.  We'd keep them in the refrigerator and mom would let us each have one every day until they were gone.  One of my favorites was Sugarplum Drops.  They combine the flavor of dried fruits and nuts and sugar - so tasty!  When I saw a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, it brought back all of those Christmas memories.  Here's my version.

 
Sugarplum Drops 

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens magazine Jan 2008

Ingredients:
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup pecans
1 cup whole natural almonds
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar (or use colored sugar for a festive look)

In a food processor, combine the fruits and nuts and pulse until you get a course mixture, about one minute.  Add orange juice and continue to pulse until the mixture sticks together (like the photo), about 15 seconds.  

Shape the mixture into one inch balls and roll in sugar.  Refrigerate.
Makes 40 sugarplum drops.

caloriecount.about.com tells me that each one is 52 calories, 7.2 g carbs, and 0.9 g fiber.

Homemade Hand Warmers

These are so easy that you don't need a tutorial. Just cut out 5 inch squares of fabric (these are 100% cotton flannel) and sew them like you would a bean bag. Instead of beans, fill them with rice. When you need to warm up your hands (driving to work in the morning or shoveling snow, etc.) Just pop them in the microwave for a minute. Toss them into the pockets of your coat and use them to warm up your hands.

These are great inexpensive stocking stuffers.

Christmas Candy Advent

We love our Christmas Countdown at our house because it's made of candy. Who doesn't love Christmas candy? My mom made me this Santa hook years ago and we use it every year. Think of it as candy portion control.

This Christmas countdown is simple to make.

All you need is:

-Some kind of hook

-About 7 feet of plastic wrap (red or green plastic wrap also looks nice)

-Enough candy for everyone in your family to have one piece each day, so 75 pieces for us. Two 8 oz bags of Hershey's kisses was enough.

-Colorful ribbon cut in about 7 inch pieces

Just lay our your plastic wrap and place the candies on it, one day at a time. Separate each day with a ribbon tie.

Keep on going until you have 25 days, or in our case 29 since I don't like to wait until December to start.

Just cut below the candy each day and eat your treats. Christmas will be here before you know it.