Fun Friday: Easy Rolo Treats

We were looking for something to make using what we already had, and we ended up doing a variation of the idea on the back of the Rolo's bag. It listed pretzels, Rolos and pecans. We didn't have pecans, but we had crushed walnuts.

So this is what we did:
Place pretzels on a cookie sheet. We used the square butter snap pretzels.
Put one Rolo on top of each pretzel.
Bake at 350F for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from oven and push nuts down on top of soft Rolo.

Answer to last week's fun Friday brain teaser:
1. They are pronounced differently depending on whether they are capitalized or not.

2. They are both common and proper nouns.

Fun Friday: Making Butter Beer

Whether or not you are a Harry Potter fan, you can try these two recipes for butter beer (it's not really beer!) for a fun fall drink. One is a hot drink and one is a cold drink. Try both and see which you prefer. And if you figure out how to make the topping for the cold one so it's not lumpy, let me know!



Hot Butter Beer

You need:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons hot butterscotch topping
• 1 cup cream soda (or you can substitute rootbeer if you prefer)
• large bowl
• whisk

Do this:

1. Combine milk, butter, and brown sugar in a microwaveable bowl. Use a whisk to stir them.
2. Microwave for three minutes.
3. Remove and stir.
4. Microwave again until milk is foaming. About 3-4 minutes.
5. Remove from microwave and add the butter using the whisk. Make sure all the sugar is dissolved and mixed in. 
6. Heat the butterscotch topping for 30 seconds. Add to mixture and use whip to combine.
7. Whisk in one cup of cream soda.
8. You can add sprinkles, ginger, canned whipped cream to your taste.

Even River got in on the hot butter beer

Cold Butter Beer

You Need:
48 ounces Cream Soda
1/4 cup butterscotch syrup
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted butter
Two bowls
whisk
beater

To Do:
1. Combine cream soda and butterscotch syrup using the whisk in one bowl
2. In the other bowl, use the mixer to beat the heavy cream until peaks appear
3. Fold in the sugar and vanilla.
4. Add the butter and mix.
5. Serve the butter beer with the cream mixture on top.

Just keeping it real --Our cream mixture came out lumpy, and I think we either didn't beat it long enough or it went lumpy when we added the butter. I sprinkled cinnamon on top to hide it :)

We will just  pretend it's supposed to be a lumpy mountain of goo

What is your favorite fall or winter drink? Or soup? Or something festive? Leave me a recipe to try!!

Try This at Home--Building with Graham Crackers

Before vacation is over, you may be looking for something to do. Especially if your younger siblings are driving you crazy. Involve them in this project and see who can be the most creative.

You need graham crackers, frosting or peanut butter to act as glue, assorted candy or other food items for decorations.

Then use your imagination.

My son Adam and his friend Leon built this interesting sculpture at our Thanksgivng get together. (He recently broke up with his girlfriend so just brought a friend)

My daughter Jessica built a penguin encounter with her husband and mother-in-law looking on.

pretty cool!

 My daughter Jasmine and I built a nativity.

We had envisioned a much more elaborate stable, but it kept collapsing!

The other kids' projects collapsed before pictures.

So we decided to try again and built a graham cracker village the last two days.

 We found the easiest way to cut graham crackers is by "sawing" them with a steak knife.

 You needed two end pieces and two side  pieces for each house.

And you need two half squares for the roof.

You can cut the end pieces shorter and use 1/4 a cracker for the sides to make a smaller house.

 Here is our finished village. We've had a snowstorm! You can see that there are cars stranded.

 The people are as big as the houses. The snow is coconut flakes. 

 The trees are made from ice cream sugar cones frosted and turned upside down. The snowbanks are peppermint circus peanut candy (it's usually orange, but the Christmas ones are white) covered in coconut flakes.

So if you get bored during vacation, try building a village of your own.