Cad Makes Christmas. Part 2: Cherry Chocolate Almond Butter and Wrapping Paper

If you missed Part 1 of Cad Makes Christmas you can click here.  In addition to the coconut chocolate truffles we decided to make our own almond butter.  When we used to eat peanuts we made our own peanut butter.  This recipe calls for homemade almond butter (you could also use store bought, or sunflower seed butter).  To make your own just follow this post and replace the peanuts with almonds (raw, honey roasted, whatever floats your boat).

Cad's Christmas Cherry Choctastic Almond Butter (makes 9 4 ounce jars)
Ingredients and Materials:
32 ounces of prepared almond butter
1 and 1/3 cups of dark chocolate chips (I like 70% cacao)
1.5 cups of dried cherries
9 four ounce Ball jars
Blender or food processor

The honey and almonds in this picture were used to make the almond butter.

I made this in two batches, so I split all the ingredients in half, just so it would fit in the smaller carafe of my blender (the big carafe was in the dishwasher).
First, measure out the cherries and chocolate.  Pulverize the cherries in the blender until they start to stick to the sides.  The pieces don't have to be teeny tiny because they will be processed again.

Remove the pulverized cherries and then do the same with the chocolate.  If you are using mini chocolate chips you could skip this part.  I like there to be all different size pieces of chocolate so I did it this way.

Remove the chopped up chocolate and then add your almond butter to the bottom of the blender carafe.  Then put the pulverized cherries and chopped chocolate on top.

Give it a whirl in the blender.  We put it on the highest speed for maybe 2 minutes.  Watch it as closely as you like...

When the almond butter has reached the consistency you like then give it a taste.  You may want to add more of one ingredient.  Then it's time to jar them up.
Wash the ball jars thoroughly with hot soapy water before using them.  Make sure they are totally dry before adding the almond butter.  In this particular recipe we will not be preserving the almond butter, just using the jars as a container.  Since it's only 4 ounces we think it will be used fast and there won't be a need to go through the canning and preserving methods needed for long term storage.
Fill each jar to the top and add the lid and screw top.

We got some snowman stickers to decorate the jars and we also filled out the labels that come with the jars with the name of this creation and a reminder to keep it in the fridge.

We think that this almond butter would be awesome as a dip for apples and celery sticks or heated up a bit and poured over coconut milk ice cream.  When I was a kid I was a big fan of a dollop of peanut butter in my hot cocoa, and I think this would be a delicious replacement for that!

To wrap up all this homemade goodness I thought it would be fun for Cad to make his own wrapping paper.  This is an easy project that works for any type of gift and makes it really special for the gift giver and the receiver.

Homemade Wrapping Paper
Materials needed:
1 lawn bag (the kind you put lawn clippings and raked leaves in)
Whatever art supplies your little heart desires.  We bought some Christmas-y stamps at the dollar store, and a silver stamp pad.  We also used red, green, gold, and silver markers, crayons, and pens.  This would be fun with glitter glue or watercolor paints too!

Instructions:
Cut open the lawn bag.  Most lawn bags have a double layer the inner layer is a little better for wrapping because it's more pliable and there's not writing on it.  Either way you want to decorate the side with no writing on it.
Lay the paper bag out on a flat surface and let your kid go to town with the stamps and other art supplies.  Encourage them to fill as much space as they can.

Cad was content to make giant scribbles among the silver stamps.  This was a quick project for him, but some kids, especially older ones, might like to really spend time on this (while you get other holiday stuff done).  The best part is that you can always add more decorations like stickers or more colors once the gift is wrapped.  Tie it all up with ribbon and you have a really special gift inside and outside.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.  Enjoy every special moment!