New Years Treats from Christmas Sweets - Kisses

This year, we ended up with quite the load of Christmas candy. We have 6 people in the family now which means 5 stockings since John and I share one. Add on to that the stockings full of sweets that were left by my parents and grandma (on purpose) and it all adds up pretty quickly!

Well, this year, I decided to use some of our candy in different ways. That way, we didn't get sick of it and we got to share other yummy treats too!

And the candy I focused on this time? Kisses!

1. Mint Brownies

The first thing I knew I wanted to make with our leftover kisses was mint frosted brownies!

I started by baking your typical fudgy brownie box mix in a 13x9 and when it cooled a little, I made the frosting.

To do this, I added to a sauce pan 2/3 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp milk, 3 Tbsp butter, and 3 oz of unwrapped mint truffle kisses (about 19 of them).

I heated and stirred this on medium high heat until it started boiling. Boil it for 30 seconds and then add the kisses. Once the kisses were melted completely, I poured this on top of the brownies. 

Here's a 6 year old's angle of it in case that helps at all. Lol.

This turned out so good! I brought them to our New Years party and they were on of the first things to be eaten up!

2. Candy Cane Popcorn

The second thing to be completely gone at that party was my candy cane kettle corn.

I made this by first making a batch of kettle corn. We used our Whirly Pop but microwave popcorn would work as well. 

I unwrapped 25 candy cane kisses (that was all we had but it probably could've taken 10 more) and melted them in a bowl in the microwave. Do this by heating them for 30 seconds and stirring them after. Repeat until they're completely melted.

I spread the popcorn on a cookie sheet and made sure there were no kernels before drizzling the melted kisses on the popcorn. 

Don't mind the quality control by Aaron...

I was going to add some crushed candy canes as well, but wasn't sure if I wanted the hard crunch that would add... I'll have to test that out next time and see what I think.

The popcorn can sit for a bit to solidify or you can eat it right away like my kiddo. Haha!

3. Black forest cookies

The third treat I decided to make with the leftover kisses was Black Forest Cookies. 

Although I like candy cane and mint kisses enough on their own, one type of chocolate I knew I wanted to jazz up was the cherry filled kisses. I bought these specifically for my mom who has said in the past that she loves cherry filled chocolates, but as I said before, they left most of their candy...

So... that left me with a lot of these things to use! To make these cookies, I followed a basic recipe to make cake mix cookies and then chilled the dough for about an hour. Then, I formed the dough into balls and rolled them in powdered sugar. 

After baking them and taking them out of the oven, I pressed an unwrapped chocolate kiss into the top of each cookie.

I actually made these cookies for a church activity instead of the New Years party and everyone loved them! Definitely the easiest way to use up leftover kisses!

Last but not least, I planned on making a Gooey Cookie Skillet... But seeing as it's already March, it probably can't count as a "New Years Treat" so it's going to have to wait for next year. Haha!