As far back as I can remember, I’ve loved to make art. Painting, drawing, mixed media….I love it all. My mom was always good at recognizing mine and my brother’s unique talents/hobbies and encouraging us in them.
When I was in junior high, my mom clipped out a photo from a magazine of these santa nutter butter cookies and asked if I could make them. Art in the kitchen? That was new to me, but I was up for the challenge! Only having the photo and no instructions, I basically just mimicked the picture with similar ingredients we already had in the pantry.
Now I had my own recipe! I’ve made this as a cute little Christmas treat to share with friends and family most years since.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Nutter Butter Cookies
Red Hots
Mini Chocolate Chips
Red Crystal Sprinkles
Vanilla Almond Bark (or candy coating)
Marshmallows
Here’s how to make them:
I get all my ingredients out and ready before anything. I use a large cookie sheet with wax paper on top to set the santas on.
Then you’ll want to melt your almond bark. I just microwave mine for one minute, stir. If it’s not completely melted, microwave in 30 second increments (stirring in between) until it is.
I start with the beards. Dip one end of the nutter butter in the almond bark. Higher on the sides, like so…
Do this for all your nutter butters.
Next, I do the nose and eyes since you can do those without disturbing the beards as they harden.
When I tried to dip the red hots or mini M&M’s in the almond bark, I ended up with a very big mess. Almond bark all over my hands and Santa’s face. So, I started doing them this way instead…
Do the same for the eyes…
At this point, I’ll stick my bald santas in the freezer for a few minutes to make sure the almond bark is all hardened. You don’t want fingerprints in Santa’s beard!
Once they’re hardened, dip the heads in almond bark and then in red sprinkles.
I wipe off the excess almond bark before dipping in my sprinkles so it doesn’t leave drops in there.
Once you have sugar on all of them, stick them in the freezer for a few more minutes to harden the almond bark on the hats.
Now just add your marshmallows to top then off!
I freeze mine again real quick after all the marshmallows are done. Just to speed up the process and make sure they are stuck on there nice and good.
Aren’t they just so cute?
They are surprisingly tasty too. I knew the almond bark and nutter butter was a good combination, but I was surprised by how well the rest of it tastes together. Even the red hot! They probably aren’t that good for you, but hey…it’s Christmas!
