Last Updated on October 20, 2022 by admin
Today I finally got around to doing something I’ve been wanting to do for a whole year: I put together Christmas Treat Boxes! I’ve wanted to make one since Amy’s from last year blew my mind. I’ve had this on my list for a while, and even made a post-it note in my planner with some thoughts for what I wanted to include, but now that Christmas Treat Boxes is almost here, I realize I need to get moving if I want to finish in time.
To make all the tiny things I wanted to add to the box, I spent all of yesterday baking my little heart out. (And since Rich tried one and couldn’t get enough, I threw in an extra batch of chocolate sugar Treats.) It all went off without a hitch, and I stayed up WAY too late last night tempering a huge bowl of chocolate, but today I did a little happy dance in the kitchen because it turned out better than I could have dreamed.
THE PREFERRED CHOCOLATE BOX FOR A HOLIDAY TREAT
I purchased this box from a hobby shop, sketched out a layout for the dividers, and had rich cut them out on a laser cutter. He then etched a cute design onto the lid. If I had thought of this sooner, I could have produced many to give as presents. I overbaked everything, and now our coffee table is groaning under the weight of sugary treats, but I’m taking them all to Jill’s for the holiday party, where they will hopefully be devoured.
DIRECTIONS FOR ASSEMBLY OF A CHRISTMAS TREAT BOX
I opted to use a few Treat recipes I already had and augmented them with a few of my favorites, including honey caramel corn (aka one of the most addictive things I have ever made), coconut ice (a coconut fudge made with condensed milk), and Rocky Road (marshmallows, other goodies (I used sugar Treats and cranberries), folded through tempered dark chocolate).
It was a lot of joy to make coconut Ice and Rocky Road again since they take me back to being a kid and being thrilled about Christmas Treat Boxes. One of my all-time favorite baking books, The Cook and Baker, served as inspiration for both the Caramel Corn and Rocky Road recipes. I made sugar Treats with vanilla bean marshmallows, sugar Treats with a roll-out design, and a do-it-yourself s’mores kit, and the assortment of sweets was just right. Finally, this is what the box of Christmas Treat Boxes held:
Treats made of coconut ice, marshmallow, and sugar Treat Cranberry Rocky Road.
Snack: Honey Caramel Corn
Marshmallows made from vanilla beans, sandwiched between chocolate and vanilla sugar biscuits.
Sugar Treats piped with icing and filled with jam are rolled out and baked.
Makings of a S’more: graham crackers, vanilla marshmallows, and bittersweet chocolate
There are two sections for the sprinkles.
CHRISTMAS TREAT BOX DIFFERENTIALS: HOW TO SPLIT THE LABOR
For the sake of convenience, I’ve adapted some of the Treat box recipes so that they may be used with multiple of the box’s parts. Marshmallow from the S’mores kit was used to fill the spaces between some of the sugar Treats and in the Rocky Road. Since the sugar Treats were so tasty and chewy, I decided to use them not just in the marshmallow Treat sandwiches but also in the Rocky Road. The cumulative effect of these incremental improvements was to reduce the number of necessary parts. I am so pleased with how the Custom Christmas Boxes turned out that I can hardly wait to make more of them. You can’t go wrong with any of these as holiday presents. I wish you the happiest of holidays!
I’ll be posting some brand-new recipes in the next few paragraphs, and some are classics from the archives. As a whole, I earned:
Sugar Treats, made in a single batch
A single batch of conventional sugar Treats, with half of the flour replaced by black cocoa and the other half by standard cocoa, yielding chocolate sugar Treats.
For the S’mores Kits and the Rocky Road, you’ll need one big batch of vanilla bean marshmallows (like this, but without the peppermint). I some of the sugar Treats I made into sandwiches by piping in between them. After using a piping bag to create sandwich Treats, I placed the remaining dough in a 9″ x 13″ pan.
I made one smaller batch (in these proportions) of vanilla bean marshmallows, which I colored with pink gel food coloring and then spread out in a 9″ × 9″ tin.
These Graham Crackers are part of the S’mores starter set.
Make only one batch of these sugar Treats to roll out. To decorate some, I used royal icing and a Wilton 2D tip, while I used to jam in the sandwiches of others. One Top Tip: Rocky Road (recipe to follow)
Frozen Coconut Water (recipe to follow)
Sweet and salty caramel corn drizzled in honey (Recipe to follow)
I hope you’ll try a few of these out and use them to make your own Christmas Treat Boxes! It’s a lot of fun to put together, and you can pick and choose which parts to use, construct just one or two, or even make your own! If you have any questions about the recipe, please let me know.
Tips for Putting Together the Perfect Christmas Treat Boxes:
Tempering the chocolate ensured that it would remain solid at room temperature while also enhancing its appearance and sheen in the Rocky Road. Regular chocolate can work just as well if you don’t want to go to the trouble of doing this; just keep it refrigerated.
Turkish delight is a typical ingredient in rocky road, but I decided to use 500 grams of chopped sugar Treat instead (I used a mix of chocolate and vanilla). They improved the chewy quality of the dish.
Dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate chips, the possibilities are unlimited.
You can make a lot of honey caramel corn using this recipe, but it will disappear in no time.
A FEW MORE IDEAS FOR TREAT BOXES:
Box of Vanilla Bean Christmas Treat Boxes Delights
This Is The Ultimate Easter Candy Gift Set
Box of Holiday Macarons Box of Easter Macarons
DID YOU MAKE THIS AND ENJOY IT?
Please let me know how the recipe turned out for you by leaving a comment below. If you do this, please post a picture and tag me on Instagram.
SALT AND OVEN TEMPERATURE: A REMARKS
Whenever following a recipe, make sure you pay attention to the specified salt. All of my recipes call for Diamond Crystal salt; if you use a different kosher salt or plain table salt, you may need to adjust the amount of salt called for. Because Morton’s salt has twice as much sodium, only half as much is required. The same holds with common salt. I still have a ways to go before all the salt in my recipes is measured in grams, but I’m getting there.
Unless specified, oven temperatures will be at room temperature. A different temperature setting is required when baking with a fan or convection. Investing in a thermometer to check the oven’s temperature is a smart idea.
Making Use of the Recipe Card’s Double/Triple Function
In my recipe card, there are options to multiply the ingredients by one, two, or three. You can multiply any recipe by two or three using this! Please note that this just doubles the amounts of the items shown in the ingredients list and does NOT affect the amounts listed in the procedure. You will need to do some hand-calculating if the recipe calls for a certain amount of something or a specific size of a certain pan. Furthermore, baking times in the recipe will not be affected. Before double a recipe, it’s a good idea to read it all the way through to make sure. Use my converter if you need to multiply or divide the ingredients for a different-sized pan.
HOW COME THIS RECIPE IS IN GRAMS?
For the sake of accuracy, I always provide my recipes in grams. Not only are cups an imperfect measure of capacity, but local customs can cause regional variations. I can’t give you a standardized cup measurement because there isn’t one. However, this problem is resolved when the weight is posted. Please don’t ask me to convert the recipe to cups; I don’t feel confident supplying one using a method I haven’t tried. Instead, I recommend utilizing Google to find a converter. Using a scale to measure ingredients is not only straightforward and accurate but also provides for easy baking and clean-up. If you want a recommendation, here is the scale I use. Honest baking here’s to you!
