Christmas time is here!

Christmas time, regardless if you are religious or not, is a great time for cooking yummy things. Those things are even sweeter when they are made for someone else. It's also a time when I feel like an asshole since I can't eat anything others make me...but I digress.

This year I decided to make a few different things for may various friends at work. I felt like it was a great way for me to say thanks for being an awesome friend and coworker this year. I got the following recipes off of vegweb.com, under the candy section.

"Almost" Good for You Truffles

Ingredients

1 cup of peanut butter

1/2 sliced almonds

4 tablespoons of maple syrup

1/4 cup chopped dates

1/4 cup chocolate chips or carob chips

1/4 cocoa powder or carob powder

Directions

Place everything into a big bowl and mix well. Form the mixture into 1 inch balls and roll in cocoa powder. Eat immediately or allow them to harden in the fridge.

Makes about 25-30

The recipe really is as easy as it sounds. I used my ice cream scooper to form the balls (I usually use it to make perfectly round baking items like cookies or muffins). I then cut the balls in half so the truffles weren't overwhelmingly large. Plus, I figure it's a truffle so it should be pretty dainty.

I also couldn't find chopped dates so I used raisins. They seem to have a similar consistency and sweetness. I don't think it affected the recipe much. Someone told me they were really good about 5 minutes after I gave them to her...I think she ate them all.

Quick and Easy Candied Almonds

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

2/3 water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 dash cinnamon

1 pinch salt

1 tablespoon vegan butter

1 1/2 cups almonds

Directions

Take a cookie sheet and put parchment paper or tin foil on it and spray it down with nonstick spray. Next take all of the ingredients except the almonds and put them into a saucepan. Heating until boiling, stirring constantly. After boiling for a minute, add the almonds. Keep mixing for approximately 10 minutes or so or until all the liquid has dissolved and the crystalized sugar has full bonded to the almonds. Last, take the mixture and dump it onto the cookie sheet and like it cool for about 5 minutes.

Makes about 4 servings

I made about 4 batches of these almonds. They are so sweet that a little of these guys goes a long way. I wasn't 100% sure I was doing it right though. The liquid never fully dissolved onto the almonds. I cooked them until the first hint of a burnt caramel smell. I also pour a little bit more sugar and cinnamon over the almonds as they were cooling.

When the first batch cooled, it had more of a peanut brittle consistency. The almonds were stuck together in a shallow pool of sugar awesomeness. The others were more sticky and caramel-like. Once I put them in their festive Christmas baggies and let them sit in my fridge over night they started to look more like candied almonds and less like almonds dipped in gooey caramel.

As for the reviews - I got a lot of people telling me these were pretty good too. I even got a "can I have the recipe?" which always makes a cook feel like a million bucks.

Merry Christmas and Happy Baking!!