The box was packed so nicely!  I received two jars of applesauce, one jar of cinnamon, a bunny cookie cutter, a couple of recipes and instructions.*  We decided to make the bunny place holder.  You know those ornaments you make at Christmas using applesauce and cinnamon?  These are one and the same.

You mix 1/2 cup of applesauce with one jar of cinnamon.  This was the beginning of the end for my bunnies.  I put a little too much applesauce in the bowl and never quite recovered from that.  I thought I could make up the difference with flour…which you can, for small amounts.  Let’s just say, you should measure.

The instructions say to mix it up with your hands.  Enter: kids.  My son tried it.  It was really mushy.  *remember to measure*  He didn’t last very long.  But, he did hang around with me and told me I was doing a good job.  I love that kid.

Next you’ll want to roll it out on wax paper.  I took this picture before I added more flour.  It was still too wet.

Cut out your bunnies.  This cookie cutter is really cute.  You can make them any shape you want.  I had some dough leftover and made an egg.  Okay, it looked more like an oval and less like an egg.  I tried.

The instructions clearly say to mix in all the flour so no white is visible.  The instructions mock me as I don’t heed them.  I did follow the instructions and put some cinnamon on the wax paper.

Bake them at 200 degrees for 2 hours.

Once they are cool you can decorate them with glitter, ribbons, etc… and make them super cute.  They are meant to be place card holders but mine are destined for the blog and the blog alone.  They do smell really great.  Maybe I’ll wrap them up like a sachet and put them in my underwear drawer.  Or not.

I hope you all enjoyed this craft adventure.  I’m sure you can learn from my mistakes and put me to shame on this project.  The kids like them and had fun.  But, they like the applesauce even more.  Yum.

We’re going to dye Easter eggs this afternoon.  I hope I can end my string of horrible Easter craft luck.

*I received this product for free from Musselman’s. All content provided in this post is my own opinion.

You’ll want a big bowl full of snow!  The rest of the recipe is pretty simple.

SNOW ICE CREAM RECIPE

1 big bowl of fresh snow

1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

Mix everything together.

Serve and enjoy!

It doesn’t look that great, but it tastes good!  I never realized how hard it is to photograph snow (and snow ice cream).

Any particular things you do on snow days?

This project is so easy, I had my husband make them. Things were getting a little hectic before Christmas and I really needed help finishing up some gifts. This was the perfect thing for him to work on.

The recipes listed below made enough rub mix to fill up 6 tins each. We filled the Beef Rib Rub and the Pork Rub tins a little more because the recipe made a little more than the Steak Seasoning.

Pork Rub Recipe

• 1/4 cup black pepper
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 2 teaspoons chili powder

Beef Rib Rub Recipe

• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1/4 cup mild or medium chili powder
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon salt

Steak Seasoning

• 4 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon black pepper, coarsely ground
• 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

The favor tins are available at almost any craft store or Wal-mart. They are also available online here. We used 6 tins for each recipe. I was going to make my own printables for the top and some nice paper along the sides but time just wasn’t on my side. Now that they are done simply (using the printable stickers that come with the tins), I’m glad they ended up like that. The recipients of these gifts could care less about having decorated spice tins.

One thing we added was a magnet on the back (the tape was so I could transport them and not worry about spilling). This allows for easy storage in a number of areas. Alton Brown, my hero, stores his spices on magnetic strips on the inside of his cupboard cabinets.

If you make this project, I’d love to see how it turns out. Please share it at my flickr group.

I’m trying really hard to have a handmade holiday this year. I decided to go with edibles for teacher/bus driver/neighbors this year. Almond Roca was my candy of choice.

Almond Roca Recipe

1 lb. butter
2 cups sugar
2 tbsp. corn syrup
6 tbsp. water
1 cup almonds (chopped finely)
1 bag milk chocolate chips

Using a large pot, melt butter. Add in sugar, corn syrup and water. Stir continuously for approximately 10-15 minutes. In this time the mixture will start to bubble and expand. This is why you want a large pot. When the mixture is at 290 degrees F (or is a caramel brown color and starting to thicken), take off the burner and mix in 1/2 cup of the almonds. Pour into a cookie sheet (lined with wax paper is best) and allow to cool for a few minutes. In the meantime, melt bag of chocolate chips. Pour melted chocolate on top of the butter/sugar mixture and sprinkle with remaining almonds. Allow to cool in refrigerator for an hour before attempting to break into small pieces.

I don’t have a picture of any of the Almond Roca outside of the boxes. I thought it best to package it right away to keep me from wanting to eat it all! We did “test” it and it definitely has my seal of approval.

I compromised on the packaging. I could have made the boxes but I didn’t. I know my limits. The boxes were purchased at Hobby Lobby (50% off this week, by the way). They are a piece of cake to assemble (just pop them open) and saved me a lot of time and money. I did punch out a scallop tag to place on the top. That’s why this project gets the “semi-homemade” seal of approval.