It's the Thought that Counts...

Every year I tell myself that I am going to send out Christmas cards, have my shopping finished and presents wrapped more than 3 days before Christmas, and make some sort of gift for my colleagues.

This year I have accomplished all three with almost a week to spare!

Sunday, I made candied walnuts to give to my friends at work. It was surprisingly easy and didn't take all that long. (Although the trip to the store to buy more vanilla was kind of a pain in the arse...)

Simple ingredients: Walnuts (obviously), sugar, cinnamon, ginger and vanilla extract. I made two double batches, so I would have enough for all 15 co-workers.

Throw everything except the nuts and vanilla in a pot and bring it to a boil. When it is at the soft ball stage, throw in the nuts and get them all good and coated.

Then, let them cool and dry on some wax paper. Voila!

The time consuming part was the presentation of the nuts. (Yeah, yeah, I know, I said "presentation of the nuts"... Grow up already!) I decided to handmake tags and cutting out all those goofy Christmas trees and then threading the ribbon through the tag and the jingle bell was a bit tedious...

But, damn they look good!