There's Always Room for Cookies: Idaho Candy Making Party

I decided to kick off my holiday vacation (Yippee!!) with a trip to Idaho. Fritz and his family had a few traditions they invited me to join. I've not been in Idaho since October. Since then, it had become winter! Not as much snow as Utah but it is just as cold.

One of the gatherings I was invited too was the Candy Making Party. We went to Fritz's sister's house. She had her house decorated so cute and festive. Every room had a special touch which was really fun. Everyone brought the makings for whatever candy they were wanting to make. I'm not a big candy maker but Fritz requested Peanut Brittle and Chocolate Covered Pretzels. So I let my fingers do the walking and found some recipes online.

I started with the Peanut Brittle. The recipe I found was for microwave preparation. Weirdest recipe I've encountered but it did its thing. The problem was getting it spread in the pan before it started to set. And it was like hot molten lava! So we ended up with very thick globby Peanut Brittle. I decided to press it down with wax paper and a pot holder. Not a good plan. The wax melted slightly and stuck to the peanut brittle. Fritz's Mom, Betty suggested I put it in the freezer and see if I could peel it off after it cooled. That helped some but I offered it as "buyer beware". Haha. The chocolate covered pretzels were much easier and came out just fine. The only thing is they take awhile to set so they were a little messy before we cleaned up. We also had frosted ginger bread cookies, peppermint bark, peanut butter balls, and fudge.

What was really nice and fun was spending some time with Fritz and his people. His family is fun to be around. You can tell there is tons of love between them and they really value their time together. I feel pretty lucky to be included in such a fun tradition.