by Caroline
It’s an in-between time right now. We have some Christmas decorations up (paper-glitter snowflakes, a wreath on the door) but not all (no tree, no stockings). The boys are opening up windows on the Advent calendar and counting down the days till Christmas, while I am counting down the (fewer) days till I can start some Christmas baking. I have past lists of cookies and treats to guide me, and some new recipes to try, and I will report back after the new year.
In the meantime, it’s time to stir up another batch of Wonderballs, originally published as Powerballs in Wondertime magazine. These are easy (the kids can make them!), keep in the freezer, and are a pretty healthy little burst of energy snack:
Makes 40-48
Mix together 1 cup peanut butter and 1 cup honey until smooth. Gradually add in 3 cups old fashioned oats and 1/2 cup ground flaxseed. Add 1 cup chocolate chips (I rarely reduce the chocolate in a recipe, but I do cut this by half, just to make it easier to form the balls; also, if you have mini chocolate chips, use those) and 1 cup any combination of chopped nuts and soft dried fruit (try 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts and 1/4 cup each of raisins and dried cranberries) and mix gently in your stand mixer or smush together by hand.
Roll into Ping-Pong-size balls and, for maximum presentation value, put in paper mini muffin cups. You can eat them right away, but they’ll be less sticky after a night in the fridge. They freeze well too, layered on wax paper in an airtight container.
Susan
December 8, 2008 @ 10:48 am
Caroline, what do you do with your Christmas baking? Give it away? Serve at an event? Eat it yourselves? We make candied pecans to give away but don’t do much else for holiday baking. When I was young, and single, I used to make mega-dozens of Christmas cookies to give away. The pecans are a lot easier.
Libby
December 8, 2008 @ 10:49 am
mmm, and they’re vegan and wheat-free! (OK,some vegans don’t eat honey, but M does…) Doing this tonight, if we have any peanut butter!
caroline
December 8, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Yes, Libby, I was going to point that out — a good snack for the whole family!
Susan, we give cookies to all the boys’ teachers, our babysitting co-op families, and then have a lot to serve at the New Year’s Day party, too. We eat plenty, of course, but mostly we give it away.
Aliki
December 8, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
I love these! I make a variation with powdered milk and my daughter loves them.
Eliz.
December 8, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
We used to make a confection out of peanut butter, honey, and powdered milk — my mom had us put them in little gift boxes (along with stuffed dates and apricot-lemon “sandwiches”) to give to my sister’s and my teachers.
Libby
December 9, 2008 @ 7:10 pm
I just made these–toasted the oats a bit (b/c I like them that way) and used mini-chips and dried cranberries. I think I made them a little smaller, so I got 50 of them–hurray! (Tasty even when still sticky…)