Cinnamon Nuts

I Love candied nuts... almonds, pecans, peanuts you name it. My favorite Dairy Queen blizzard is the butterfinger blizzard and one time when I lived in Albuquerque I got one and they had candied peanuts in it... LOVED it. But since I have been unable to find a Dairy Queen that makes it like that. But that's beside the point. Don't you love walking in the mall during the Christmas season and you smell those cinnamon nuts cooking?? This recipe is like that. I always wondered how they did those and this recipe was it! I found it on You tube... you can watch the video Here and then I have written the recipe down for you. So easy and your home will smell YUMMO!

Cinnamon Nuts
2 cups raw nuts (almonds, pecans or peanuts are all good)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water

Vanilla extract
Cinnamon
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Place the nuts, sugar and water in a large heavy duty skillet. Heat over medium high heat and stir, bringing to a boil. Keep stirring and letting boil until it crystallizes. You want this to crystallize so keep stirring. Now you will think you are ruining the nuts, but keep stirring after about 5 or so minutes you will see the sugar start to melt again, this means it's caramelizing. Keep cooking and stirring, if you think the nuts are burning lift off the heat once in a while. After the nuts look glazed with the caramelized sugar, remove from heat. Add a couple of splashes of vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon or so cinnamon. Stir to coat. Pour the nuts out onto the prepare cookie sheet and separate with your wooden spoon or spoon you stirred the nuts with.
Let cool and enjoy! Can be stored in a zip lock baggie in a cool dry cupboard.

I did dry roasted peanuts with just vanilla and they were delicious just like the candied peanuts in that Dairy Queen blizzard.  My favorite nuts are a mix of almonds and pecans with the vanilla and cinnamon. These are better than the ones you get in the mall at Christmas time.

Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

Ok, if you like anything chocolate you have to try this recipe out. It's my niece's recipe, which you can find here. I tweaked a bit, I found I could make 14 cookies rather than 12 easy. I also added mini chocolate chips since I thought regular would be too bulky to wrap around the marshmallow. LOVE them. These are a rich dark chocolate cookie that is amazing. I think Santa would even enjoy these cookies. YUMMO!

Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
Adapted slightly from  Home Sweet Spice
~Ingredients~
Makes 12 to 14 Cookies 

1/2 cup softened butter
6 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup cocoa powder (I used a Dutch dark chocolate cocoa powder)

1 cup Mini chocolate chips
6 or 7  marshmallows (cut in half)

Pre-heat oven to 350 F (176 C)
Cream together the butter and sugars.
Add in the egg and vanilla. Mix well.

Mix together all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Add dry ingredients slowly to wet.
Add chips.

Once chips are mixed, make cookies balls about 2 tbsp in size.
Press 1/2 a marshmallow into the center and make sure to wrapped the dough all the way around. You don't want the marshmallow "leaking" out.
Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will crack open, but that's ok.
These things are amazing :) Enjoy!