Christmas is right around the corner, and I love baking for the holiday season. It’s so much fun and it makes you feel more in the Christmas spirit. I waited until yesterday to make all of the goodies for our Christmas festivities. I wanted to have vegan treats for Josh and I, and to have everyone else enjoy. These were easy to make things that would be perfect to share. They’re so good and I made all 3 things within 2 hours. I made Christmas Crack, so the only substitutions I had to make were using vegan butter and vegan chocolate. It’s a classic that everyone enjoys! I also made dark chocolate bark with pistachios, craisins, and sea salt which was a big hit last year. I made it a little too thin this year, so the pistachios keep falling off, so make sure you don’t overspread. It’s only a few ingredients and only takes a couple of minutes and it’s the perfect salty sweet treat. Finally I made some classic sugar cookies with frosting. I made a recipe I found on Pinterest and they turned out great! I was lazy and used store bought frosting, just check the ingredients. Not saying cream cheese frosting that has no dairy at all isn’t strange… but I used it for timing sake. I brought them over to decorate with my sister and her family. My two year old nephew had a blast! Here’s the recipes for all of these treats-

Christmas Crack

2 sleeves of Saltines

1. 5 bags of semi sweet chocolate chips from TJ’s (already vegan)

1 cup vegan butter, I use Earth Balance.

1 cup brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400* and lay the saltines salt side down on two lined baking sheets.
2. In a saucepan, heat butter and sugar to make the caramel and bring to a boil for 3 minutes then turn off.
3. Using a spatula, spread caramel on top of the saltines. Bake for 5 minutes and remove.
4. Pour chocolate chips on carameled saltines and bake another 2-3 minutes. Remove and spread melted chocolate around until smooth.
5. Cool and then let them set in the fridge. Easy!

Dark Chocolate Pistachio Craisin Bark

9 bars of 72% Dark Chocolate bars from TJ’s, check out section

1/4 cup pistachio pieces

1/4 cup craisins,

sprinkle of sea salt

1. Start boiling water in a small saucepan and place a metal bowl sitting in the sauce pan.
2. Break up all of the bars into the bowl and keep stirring while it melts.
3. Spread melted chocolate on a large piece of parchment and quickly sprinkle the nuts, craisins, and salt.
4. Let cool and then break it up into pieces.
5. Refrigerate to let it harden.

Classic Frosted Sugar Cookies

My Grandma, cousin Allison, and I used to bake Christmas cookies at my Grandma’s house every year. The past few years have been so busy we haven’t had a time to do it but it’s always one of my favorite holiday activities. It’s a memory I love! We had so much fun making about 6 kinds of Christmas cookies using old family recipes that have been passed down.

I used this recipe from It Doesn’t Taste like Chicken- https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/perfect-vegan-sugar-cookies/

I didn’t add the almond extract because I don’t really like it and I used store bought icing.

I rolled out the dough and used cookie cutters, then baked on 350* and decorated once completely cool.