Suggestions needed for holiday goodie bags and trays -- how much? how big?

[CatIsHungry]

@kayb and @blue_dolphin thank you so much! These amounts help me tremendously - you have no idea! 

 

@kayb when you try the Peanut Butter cups let me know how they turn out! I may want that recipe! Trying to find a good one on the internet is like trying to find that ‘one cat video you saw a month ago on YouTube’ 🤦🏻‍♀️

 

I found some treat bags at Hobby Lobby yesterday - they have a pull / peel / stick top - and I discovered a I can fit about a dozen truffles in there if full - or fold it down further and fit 6 😁 ... also small pound cake cookies, etc will fit nicely as will some spiced nuts, maybe. 

 

I did discover yesterday the coconut cream truffles went over very well - i thought they looked a tad dry inside, but Mr Cat and Cat Son and Cat Neighbor all said No! They are very creamy inside ... I will have to quad the recipe to make enough - it’s a small recipe ... super quick to make, though. 

 

Samoa Truffles are also a go - apparently they are a new menu item for Cat Son’s Birthday menu (no one else tried them, yet - he is my best taste tester - gives best reviews) ... easy recipe - quick to make, but mercy what a sticky mess - I didn’t roll after the first few - i opted to use a 2tsp scoop instead ... I’m not even sorry. 

 

Cat Son still has to taste Spiced Cookie Butter Truffles tonight to see if they are a go tonight. 

 

And I think I might add Flourless Chocolate Cookies to the baskets or more than likely the ‘big tray’ ... 

 

The items I am testing, btw - are new recipes for *me* - I test them ahead of time to see if they’re good enough for Christmas giveaway 😂 ... the stuff I don’t test I have made before many times. 

 

Okay - well the Spiced cookie. Utter truffles didn’t even make it to the neighbors’ 🙃 - yeah - they were that bad 🤢 ... so they are OFF the list! 

 

Oh - and I needed to add about another half cup of cookie crumbs to the Samoa’s Truffles but still super tasty. Easy to do also. 

 

I think I might take a break from the truffles for a day or two and try some bat something - I don’t know. 

Edited November 1, 2019 by CatIsHungry
More info - spiced cookie butter truffles were no good (log)

[Shelby]

On 10/30/2019 at 5:54 PM, kayb said:

how can you NOT be able to make Rice Krispy treats???

*raises hand*

 

Mine always end up heavy as door stops and tough as bricks.

[patris]

58 minutes ago, Shelby said:

*raises hand*

 

Mine always end up heavy as door stops and tough as bricks.

 

The secret is twice the butter (browned!) and half the cereal: https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/11/salted-brown-butter-crispy-treats/

[Shelby]

4 hours ago, patris said:

 

The secret is twice the butter (browned!) and half the cereal: https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/11/salted-brown-butter-crispy-treats/

Thank you so much!!!!!

 

No one has ever shared this with me........I feel as if I've been inducted into a secret club 😁

[CatIsHungry]

On 10/30/2019 at 5:54 PM, kayb said:

 

Yes, I err on the side of excess. It's hereditary.

 

and a container of pimiento cheese 

 

(how can you NOT be able to make Rice Krispy treats???).

 

 

Ha! Are you Korean, by chance? I thought only we did that 😂😂 (the horror of not having enough of any one food for anyone 😱 ) 

 

I would LOVE to gift my pimiento cheese - but 😕 ... I am staying away from stuff that requires refrigeration (it has some cream cheese in it) - so 😔

 

The people we are gifting to have had my Rice Krispy Treats before and they love them and I would love to gift them (I make them thick’ish and extra ‘gooey’ and they’re so soft for days after) but I feel like I’d have to make several pans of it and I worry I won’t be up to doing it (it was one of the first things on - then off my list LOL) 

[kayb]

17 hours ago, CatIsHungry said:

 

Ha! Are you Korean, by chance? I thought only we did that 😂😂 (the horror of not having enough of any one food for anyone 😱 ) 

 

I would LOVE to gift my pimiento cheese - but 😕 ... I am staying away from stuff that requires refrigeration (it has some cream cheese in it) - so 😔

 

The people we are gifting to have had my Rice Krispy Treats before and they love them and I would love to gift them (I make them thick’ish and extra ‘gooey’ and they’re so soft for days after) but I feel like I’d have to make several pans of it and I worry I won’t be up to doing it (it was one of the first things on - then off my list LOL) 

 

Nope. Plain vanilla Scots-Irish and Western European, with some Balkan Peninsula thrown in and, according to Ancestry.com, 1.5 percent Nigerian, which set me to wondering which of my slave-holding forebears had a liaison in the slave quarters...

 

After I discovered that, I went out and hunted down a Nigerian cookbook, because, well, that's what you do, right? And soon decided that was NOT the branch of the family from whence my cooking gene sprang. The "excess" gene is American South, and being raised to be prepared to whip out a full company dinner whenever anyone dropped by.

 

When I had my foster son, I used to impress him into kitchen service to stir up heavy, thick things, like fudge and so on. Maybe Cat Son can become your designated RK Treat blender?

 

[CatIsHungry]

@kayb Incredibly interesting ancestry! Were you surprised at any of your heritage or did you know, already? 

 

Ha! At the Nigerian cookbook! of course that’s what you do! I’d be stunned if you didn’t! And LOL 😂 at the results (I’m sorry - I am not laughing to be mean - please forgive me ) ... I guess this this excess thing is not strictly an oriental thing (I’m still claiming it as a Korean thing, though - don’t tell anyone 😉) 

 

I was really hoping to avoid pressing Cat Son into service - he has been such a tremendous help these past few years and had to put his life on hold for a while due to me so - I was hoping I would be able to pull this off alone - BUT - I may have to re-think that ...

 

When I have done these in the past I would be able to whip it all out in a day and a half ... now - ehhh ... 👀 ... 👀 ... 🤷🏻‍♀️ 😂  ... I already know I will have to freeze some things soon (starting this weekend) etc blah blah blah if I want to have it all done like I want. 

[kayb]

I was completely surprised at the Nigerian component; there is certainly no hint of it in my appearance. I was kinda excited about it, too. Always nice to find a dimension to yourself you didn't know you had! I pretty much knew the rest of it from having done a fair amount of genealogy.

[heidih]

Fabulous responses above. I will only add that in my experience stressing on enough for everyone may be overthinking. I gift to the businesses I deal with. always compli,ents. But they get so much stuff from ther vendors that it becomes more of "its the the thought that counts". I did cookies for the local fire station recenty when they were not allowed to go home cuz of our wildfires. I have no idea if there were enough but when I called to see how they were doing weeks later they clearly remembered the gesture.  Breathe