LISA'S PEPPERMINT CRUNCH MIX

It's holiday hostess gift making time--the parties are piling up, and I've been busy as a little Bee, cooking and crafting and such. My best gal pal Lisa in California kindly gave me this wonderful recipe for her Peppermint Crunch Mix (recipe at bottom of post), which is a absolutely delicious concoction of popcorn, marshmallow cream, crushed peppermints and honey nut Chex mix, of all things! Fun to make, and fun to put in pretty Ball canning jars, all dressed up for the holidays.

So girls, take off those wedding bands, because it's gonna get messy around here:

Get out that old glue gun and some glue sticks, and maybe some pretty fabric and ribbon, too. Don't you just love this older than dirt tin I've been storing my glue gun in for years?:

After you've gotten your hands really sticky, the mixture, before baking, will come out lookings something like this:

After washing out a dozen canning jars, I filled each one with the mixture, and topped each jar with squares of burlap and the prettiest red calico with little cream colored stars:

And they came out looking just like this:

Pretty cute, doncha think? If I'm coming to your party, this is what I'm bringing!

LISA'S PEPPERMINT CRUNCH MIX

Makes 20, 1/2 cup servings

6 cups popped popcorn (Lisa suggests using bagged; fewer kernels)

4 cups Honey Nut Chex cereal

1 7oz. jar marshallow fluff

20 red peppermint candies, crushed

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheets with Pam. Mix popcorn and cereal in a large bowl. Put marshallow cream in a bowl and microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute.Pour marshallow cream over popcorn/cereal mixture and stir with hands. Sprinkle in crushed candies. Spread mixture on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Stir and bake another 5 minutes or until light golden brown. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Stores in sealed containers for up to 2 weeks.