pass the dip! dip.

Yeah, we can just ignore the strange title. I actually just wanted to post a little something fun and quick and kid-friendly!

This year, I decided to dip pretzels with my almost-3-year-old.

Now I do love working with her in the kitchen! But there are a few requirements that must be met if I want the time to be fun AND somewhat productive for both of us.

1) It can't be too hands-on, too many pieces to touch, etc. (I really don't want my friends and family saying "Oh, wow, you made this with your little girl? How precious! Yum!" but thinking, "Did she have to touch every single candy piece? Did she wash her hands? Did she pick her nose after? Or taste test anything during?")

2) It needs to be quick! (We're working with a short attention span, after all. Both her and me.)

3) It needs to be either pretty or nummy. Preferably both!

So dipped pretzels fit the bill!

All you need is a bag of pretzels, some sprinkles, and candy wafers or melting chocolate of some kind. You can even make your own from scratch!

Melt the chocolate. Dip the pretzel. Sprinkle said pretzel with Christmas-y sprinkles before the chocolate dries.

That's it! Usually we see the full pretzel dipped, but we just dipped half of it. Less mess for my pre-schooler. Less touching, etc. I let her dip, shake off the excess, then place it on the aluminum foil to dry.

She was a little unclear about the sprinkling process. She kept thinking that the sprinkles were to fill up the 3 holes in each pretzel. So I did most of the sprinkling. We liked the final taste of the white chocolate the best! The contrast of dark pretzel/light chocolate was pretty, too.

I never saw a child eat so many pretzels in one sitting.

Have you ever been freaked out to eat a homemade-with-love-by-toddlers food gift? What was it, so I don't ever do it? Haha! Did anyone else light on a great preschool kitchen creation this season? I'd love to hear about it.

a double feature

You may be thinking, "Nice work, promising 12 days of Christmas-ness and then only getting out, what?, two or three?" And 2 + 3 isn't even 12. If we were using an addition logic. Which would be crazy.

Well, don't worry. I'm really a pro at playing catch-up. And, besides, we've had Christmas with our little family unit, and we've done Christmas with my husband's side, but my dear parents, brothers, sister-in-law, nephews, and niece are all converging upon our little place for a belated (or rather drawn-out) Christmas celebration mid-January! So, you see, I'm not late. I still have a lot of Christmas-ing left in me! And even though your celebrations are taking on more of a New Year's nature by now, maybe you can still use an idea or two...even if just for next year! Pin it and hide it away til you need it.

My other awesome excuse is that my man and I were working feverishly on a special Christmas project which caused him to hog the computer every evening (read "every blogging opportunity") for the last 2 weeks or so. But it was worth it!

Now that I've explained away my somewhat-broken promise, let's move on, shall we?

Today I discovered that I was double-featured in a friend's blog! She had the fun idea of counting down her top 10 posts of 2011. Well, yours truly just happens to be mentioned in #9 {Christmas Tablescapes}, and the #2 most popular post on her blog for the year {Butterscotch Monkey Bread}.

I am planning to blog on the tablescapes soon, too. But here's a preview photo to wet your whistle.

I call the monkey bread "Sunday Morning Rolls." It's a family recipe that I used for a church event this last fall. Lauren shared my (family's) recipe on her blog and it has seemed to have garnered rave reviews! Or at least a lot of search engine hits.

Thanks, Lauren, for the mentions! Your post was a great idea.