DIY last-minute Christmas treats

By Hien Bui & Britney Tran

It’s the last week of school before winter break.

Under the crushing weight of assignments and tests that make these final five days feel like an eternity, you come to a horrible realization:

You don’t have any Christmas gifts for your friends yet and you’re precariously low on time.

Don’t fret! It happens to the best of us. Here’s a list of simple Christmas treats that won’t take up too much of your precious downtime to make.

Peppermint Rice Krispies Treats

Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Crush up the peppermints until there’s a good amount to work with.
Melt the butter either using a saucepan over medium heat on a stove-top or in a microwavable dish in the microwave for about a minute on high heat.
Add in the marshmallows and continue heating. If using a saucepan, continually stir as it heats. If using a microwave, stop at 30-second intervals to stir. Stop when you have a good enough paste to stick together the Rice Krispies.
Add in Rice Krispies and crushed peppermint. Stir well.
Transfer to a container and pat down to give a more uniform shape.
(Optional) Add larger chunks of peppermint on top as a garnish.
(Optional) Pop in the refrigerator to cool to make slicing into squares easier.
Enjoy!

Christmas Chocolate Fudge

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Cover a pan that is at least 8″ x 8″ with aluminum foil.
Combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips, vanilla, and butter in a bowl and mix well. Melting the butter first helps if you’re hand-mixing.
If using walnuts, stir them in.
Spread mixture evenly into the man and cover with plastic wrap.
Chill in refrigerator until fudge is firm (2-4 hours).
(Optional) Garnish with red sprinkles for a Christmas feel.
Cut into squares and serve!

Snowman and Christmas Ornament Cake Pops

Difficulty: ★★★★☆

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Bake your cake flavor according to the cake mix instructions.
When the cake has cooled, cut off any crust that may have formed during baking.
Mix the cake with a dollop or two of frosting. Add more frosting if the cake isn’t reaching a doughy consistency, but remember that cakes are already moist and you don’t want to overdo it.
Roll the cake into balls, making sure they’re as smooth as possible.
If making a snowman, stack the cake balls on top of each other (starting with the largest) in two’s and using icing to connect the cake. If making a Christmas ornament, leave them as single balls.
Stick a cake pop stick through the cake balls gently. Iron out any splits that happen.
Refrigerate the cake balls for an hour or two and take out once thoroughly chilled.
Melt the candy melts either in a microwavable bowl or saucepan. If using a saucepan, stir continually on medium heat. If using a microwave, set the timer to one minute and then stir well. If the melts still aren’t properly melted, leave them in for 20-second intervals followed by stirring until they are.

If making snowman cake pops,

Holding the cake pop sideways, drizzle the candy melt over the balls, smoothing out the excess as you go with a spoon or another cake pop stick.
Set it aside to harden.
Use a tube of icing to create the eyes, mouth, buttons, and top hat.
Glue on an orange sprinkles perpendicular to the face with icing to act as the nose.
(Optional) You can further decorate the snowmen by making scarves out of bits of Froot Loops, earmuffs out of extra icing, or etc.

If making Christmas ornament cake pops,

Holding the cake pop sideways, drizzle the candy melt over the balls, smoothing out the excess as you go with a spoon or another cake pop stick.
Set it aside to harden.
Cover the cake pop with a dusting of glittery sprinkles until the candy melt color doesn’t show.
You can add an ornament decal with a tube of icing.

Happy Holidays!

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