Semi-Homemade Holiday Teacher Gifts

Merry, merry Christmas to everyone from the Semi-Homemades! We hope you enjoyed the holidays as much as we did! We've done it all.... left TX in a rush to beat a blizzard, got snowed-in in Oklahoma, and even experienced life with no water and very little heat. But you know what? It was one of the best ever! Pics and stories later....

So, I realize I didn't get around to this til AFTER Christmas... but I know there are those of you (like me!) who start thinking of NEXT year/holiday/birthday/etc, the day after the other is over, so... this is for you. ;)

For the teachers, I wanted to put together some semi-homemade sweets with some custom touches, so our teachers would know how much they mean to us! I started with some Peppermint Bark (got the recipe from one of my faves - The Idea Room!)

I have the recipe at the bottom, but basically, you melt some choc.... then put it in the fridge to firm up!


And then melt some white choc (I kinda put together a semi-homemade double boiler... but next time, I'll just do it in the microwave, I think!)


It's a tricky recipe only in that you have cooled the chocolate bottom layer... so you've got to cool the white choc enough that it won't melt the bottom layer.... but not so much that you can't spread it. Well, I'm impatient. And I guess I didn't wait long enough for the white choc to cool.... and the milk choc started bleeding thru. So, my tip for all the impatient gals like me:

Drip a few drops of red food coloring onto the white choc as you're spreading it.... swirl it around. It hides the bleed thru and looks really pretty & festive!


You'll put crushed candy canes on top and throw it back in the fridge to harden.... then break it up into pieces (and honestly, you just don't want the pieces very big - it's rich!)



I used the leftover take-out boxes from Big Sis's Nutcracker Birthday party..... added the Peppermint Bark.....

and a gift card to Sonic (a little Sonic happy hour, anyone?)....

Then for the cusotmized part - I tied on a couple tags with some red & green tulle!

I loved this pic so much, I decided to use it for our teacher gifts! And I love this verse and thought it fit the picture and was a good thought, as we go into a new year. The front tag looked like this:

And on the back tag I listed the recipe, in case they wanted to make more! (And it was good, if I don't say so myself! A coworker who is addicted to the Williams Sonoma version said this semi-homemade recipe was just as good. Wow!)

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend! I'm on vacation all week (and home with the kids!) so I'm hoping to catch up on a few blog posts that are half written.... but for now, I've got to go! We're still in OK and about to take Big Sis to see the Chipmunk movie for her birthday!