Holiday Candy Hacks

Creative Holiday Candy hack!

Catch the after Christmas sales for red and green mixed chocolates like M&M's and Hershey Kisses.

Sort the candies by color and store them away (so you won't be tempted to eat them!).

Now you have both Valentine's Day AND St. Patrick's day covered! 

You are covering two holidays at once, and your holiday chocolate needs through mid-March while getting deep discounts from after Christmas Sales.










'True Love Kisses' and red M&M's for your sweetheart on Valentine's Day.

'Kiss-Me-I'm-Irish Kisses' and green M&M's for the leprechauns on St. Patrick's Day.

Peppermint Eggnog -- Candy Crushing it for Christmas

It's officially the Christmas Season -- time for fun and festive food and drink. 

I don't know about you, but I am just too busy to go out gathering eggs and nogs to make eggnog from scratch. We buy a jug of it at the supermarket  -- but just because it isn't home-made doesn't mean it can't look and taste like it is!

We topped it with a swirl of whipped cream and a bit of crushed candy cane -- then tossed in a whole candy cane as a festive swirly stick. 

It's not all about looks though, (♪♫ It's all about that bass, 'bout that bass, 'bout that bass, no treble ♫♪) we want it to taste great too! Adding a candy cane really adds a pop of peppermint that tastes, smells and looks like Christmastime. 

This same whipped cream and candy cane treatment is amaze-balls on hot coco as well. Go the extra step of adding some peppermint schnapps if you really want to be full of the holiday spirit -- and spirits.

If you are wondering how one might go about crushing the candy cane, I am sure there are lots of ways to do this -- none of which involve playing the insidiously addictive Facebook game Candy Crush. 

We used a mortar and pestle. It worked well and made me feel like I was concocting a magical holiday potion -- maybe one that cures mistle-toe in elves.

I am sure a hammer and a ziplock bag would work just as well though in a pinch (for crushing candy canes -- not treating elves with mistle-toe. That would be cruel).

Now when a candy cane breaks as I pull it out of the box I don't feel so bad  -- all the more for beverage garnish!

UPDATE! Some of you have written in sharing that you are crushing your candy canes in a food processor set to 'pulverize.' What a great idea, especially if you are making a lot of it for a holiday party! Thank you all for sharing your tips!

UPDATE AGAIN!: Some of you have asked where I got these gorgeous clear glass pedestal mugs. If you'd like some of these mugs to grace your holiday table, or a lovely mortar and pestle similar to the ones pictured above, I found some on Amazon. Links added below. Enjoy!