Christmas Treats -$$

[Aliceacc]

Peppermint bark is very cheap and incredibly easy:

Get some white (or milk, if you prefer) chocolate chips. Melt them in a double boiler, and pour a thin layer onto wax paper on top of a cookie sheet. Cover with broken candy canes (we just put a bunch of candy canes into a baggie, and smash to bits with a soup can.) Let it set, then break into pieces.

When I'm incredibly creative, I do layers of milk and white chocolate.

 

[annsteere]

I spent a LOT on food and treats. Two things helped:

1) Only made treats I like. No "just OK" cookies or bars to make the plate look pretty. Every dime was spent on something I would enjoy putting in my own mouth if it was leftover.

2) Shop Thanksgiving sales for ingredients. I got pounds of butter when it was down to $1.88 and bags of chocolate and butterscotch chips at $1.29. These went into the freezer until I was ready to do Christmas baking.