Nestle Holiday Candy Review and Recipes

It is no big surprise that I love sweets.  When my mom gave me the nickname Sheilacakes when I was an infant, little did she know that the cakes would become more than just a nickname?  I also love my family’s tradition of holiday baking each year. It is probably my favorite thing about preparing for the holidays. I used to bake with my mom and my sister when I was younger. Now I bake with my mom and my son.  We always make a bunch of delicious treats and enjoy giving them to friends and family. I had a chance to receive some holiday candy from Nestle and some new recipes to try out.  I am a huge Nestle fan. They have great products and great recipes. I have one of their recipes that I have made every year for the last seven plus years. I can’t wait to sink my teeth in to it and these new recipes I received.

First let’s talk about the candy I received. Nestle has a big holiday candy line.  Here is all the goodies I was able to try out.

• Nerds Rope
• Paul Frank Crunch Bar
• Butter Finger Jingles
• Crunch Jingles
• Frosty Nerds
• Nerds Fantastical Fun Book
• Fun Dip Fantastical Fun Book
• Butterfinger Fantastical Fun Book
• Crunch Heritage Tin
• SweeTart Gummies
• SweeTart Merry Mix
• SweeTart Candy Canes
  
  
  
  
  
  

There are other delicious treats as well.  My favorites are the Butterfingers and the SweeTart Gummies, although I love them all. I used to eat Butterfingers when I was younger all the time. I remember when I was at camp my mom sent me a card with a coupon for a free Butterfinger in it for when I got home. I don’t know why I thought that was so cool, but I did.  I am addicted to SweeTarts. I prefer the Chewy and Gummy kinds over the traditional ones.  Did I mention they are only red and green ones?  Cherry and Apple are my favorite ones. I don’t have to pawn the yellow and orange ones off on Noah.  I haven’t had Fun Dip in years! My favorite part of Fun Dip was the stick. I think my sister and I had an arrangement, that she would eat the powder and I would eat the stick.  My sister and I would make weird agreements like that, she would “make” me eat the pimentos out of olives.

Here are a couple of the delicious Holiday recipes you can make this weekend in anticipation of Santa.

These recipes are from the Nestle Website:

Cakey Chocolate Jingle Bars

Ingredients:

30 NESTLÉ BUTTERFINGER Jingles, unwrapped
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

BEAT granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until combined. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in Nestlé Jingles. Press into 9-inch-square baking pan.

BAKE for 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

NOTE: Try substituting NESTLÉ Milk Chocolate Jingles. 

 

Santa’s Thumbprint Cookies

1 package (13 oz.) NESTLÉ BUTTERFINGER Jingles, unwrapped
3/4 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar (optional)

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

BEAT peanut butter, brown sugar, butter and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour and baking soda.

SHAPE dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in 1 cup granulated sugar; place on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 7 to 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press 1 Nestlé Jingle into center of each cookie (cookie will crack around edges). Cool cookies on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

To find the candy I wrote about please visit your local store’s holiday section. For more recipes please visit Nestle’s website.

Thank you to Nestle for providing me with complimentary candy samples and sharing these recipes with me. The recipes are Nestle’s but the thoughts and opinions are my own.

We Went to The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social

We had the opportunity to take a part in The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social yesterday. We were really excited to be able to sample the Lil Drums Drumsticks from Nestlé. They had two kinds of treats, Cookie Dough and Chocolate Brownie. I am a huge cookie dough fan so I went with Cookie Dough, I brought my mom with us and she tried the Chocolate Brownie. Noah had trouble deciding which one he wanted. So I told him to pick yellow or purple, however he would have preferred both, but we didn’t want to be little piggies. The man giving out the samples was really nice too. After a few minutes of deciding, he chose cookie dough or yellow as he called it. I had to wait a couple minutes to eat mine, I had to take some pictures of Noah enjoying his treat. It was pure torture. As soon as I tasted the cookie dough Lil’ Drum, I was so happy. It has chunks of cookie dough on the top and I walked around Walmart saying yum and oh yum. I know what I am buying when we go to Walmart again.

I saw so many people walking around with Lil’ Drums and everyone had smiles on their faces. I could tell that everyone really enjoyed it. It was fun. I think they should have them every time I go to Walmart. It was so incredibly hot yesterday. I felt like I was in a sauna every time I went outside. It was so nice to have a delicious ice cream treat to enjoy while we shopped. We didn’t buy much yesterday, just a couple things. We didn’t end up purchasing any ice cream this time because we going to be very busy the next week. I love looking at all the different types of ice cream and ice cream treats. Every time I see a carton of ice cream I think of the trip my cousins and I took to the Edy’s Factory, my cousin’s ex-wife worked there as an ice cream taster, she had a more professional title but I forgot what exactly it was. It was really cool to see how they test the products and to make sure everything is distributed properly they cut the carton long ways to take a look inside. I felt really cool because I was able to try some ice cream just off the line. If I were to create an ice cream flavor it would probably be some kind of peppermint since peppermint is my current favorite flavor. There used to be Starburst Ice Cream and it was the best ice cream. I wish they would bring it back. I miss it. It was an orange and cherry sherbet with soft chunks of starburst. It was the absolute best.

The highlight of our shopping trip to Walmart was definitely The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social. Sometimes as a mom, shopping can be stressful, especially when you have someone asking for everything he sees. This was really a great trip and I am so glad I was able to participate. Let me know if you were able to attend and what your opinions of the Lil Drums and The Walmart Ice Cream Social are. If you missed it, I am hoping they do it again next year!

This shop/project has been compensated as part of a campaign for Nestlé. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social

One of my grandma Rose’s favorite sayings was When the weather’s hot and you sweat a lot and you can’t get ice cream cones it taint no sin to take off your skin and dance around in your bones. Well, it sure is hot, but don’t take your skin off yet because I have some exciting news to share with you. This Saturday July, 2, 2011 is The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social at Super Walmarts all over the country. The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social is a fun event that Walmart holds every year.

We happened to be at Super Walmart last year when they were doing The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social last year and it was a lot of fun. It is sponsored by Nestlé, Edy’s and Dreyers ice cream brands. This year’s star is the Nestlé Lil Drums, which are small snack sized Drumsticks, which are the perfect size for Noah. I am really excited to take part in it this year. I hope you can make it out to The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social at Walmart and tell me how much fun you have. I will be doing a post about it, so make sure you check back, and I can’t wait to sample some ice cream. It’s the perfect summer treat.

Check out if The Walmart Great Ice Cream Social will be at your local Super Walmart HERE.

This shop/project has been compensated as part of a campaign for Nestlé. All thoughts and opinions are my own.