December Gramma In A Box!

I didn't tell my kids that we were going to be getting the December Gramma In A Box, instead I waiting until it arrived and put it on the counter until my kids arrived home from school. They were so excited when they came home and seen the box sitting on the counter! Sadly we weren't able to get to it right away, my son wasn't feeling the best so we waited several days before we did our treat decorating. This month's theme is something I am sure you can guess, Christmas! As with all of the Gramma In A Box this box came with three different treats to decorate and create.

The box comes with everything you need for the three treats, you will just need a bowl and a fork to heat up the melting chocolate. I love that she also includes wax paper to lay the treats on after they are decorated so the chocolate can re-harden and the treats won't get stuck when you go to take them off. The first treat in the box is Hot coco buddies!

For the hot coco buddies you will need the marshmallows, candy canes, melting chocolate and sprinkles of your choice. After you've melted the chocolate you will need to dip the end of a candy cane in, then gently push it into a marshmallow. Allow the chocolate to harden just enough that you can hold the candy cane by the hook end so that you can dip the marshmallow into the chocolate covering the lower half, before it dies you can add the sprinkles of your choice. We found it was easiest to gently roll the marshmallow in the sprinkles to make sure it was even.

Next up are some pretzel peppermint bites! You'll need the remaining melted chocolate, crushed peppermint and the small chocolate decorating balls. Mix the crushed peppermint in with the remaining chocolate, you can add as much or as little as you want. We added about half of the container to make the peppermint not overwhelming. I really enjoyed these and think they would make a great snack for any holiday party!

Last but not least are the sugar cookies which are included in every box! This is always our favorite part because it is a lot of fun expressing yourself with the decorations provided and the cookies are delicious. The box includes three different frosting colors, the frosting works best if you message the frosting for a few minutes before cutting the tip off to use and you can use any left over sprinkles or decorations in the box.

Want to subscribe and decorate cookies and treats with your own children? You can order a single box or you can pre-order several months at a time, if you subscribe in the auto-debit program which is $20 a month for a box your first box will automatically be discounted to $10. Past treat projects can be seen in the gallery on their website. Your order must be placed by the 3rd of the month in order to receive that month's box.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Gramma In A Box for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Decorate goodies with Gramma In A Box!

Some of my favorite memories with my great-grandmother are of us in the kitchen baking and cooking. Every winter during the holidays her kitchen turned into a bakery filled with tins and tins of cookies that we baked for family members and friends, it always smelled so good in her house during the holidays. I am very thankful that we live close to my mother so that my children can create their own memories with their grandmother. However not everyone is fortunate to live as close to their families so their children might not get to spend as much time with their grandparents as they'd like. One grandmother named Terry came up with a way to still spend quality time with her grandchildren even though they moved away.

What was her solution? She still wanted to be able to create these memories with her grandchildren so she would come up with fun cookie/treat ideas she could do with them. She would pack up a box filled with plain sugar cookies, frosting, decorations and more to send her her grandchildren then she would chat with them via Skype while they worked on their cookies. After telling some friends about it, it has now become a full time business called Gramma In A Box!

I recently received their August box which featured Beach party treats, each box comes with three fun projects to do with your children or grandchildren and all of the supplies you need are included in the box. There are enough supplies in the box for several children and an adult to participate with easy to follow instructions. Our box included projects to do Goldfish Bowls, Seashell Pretzels and Sea Life cookies. I like how everything was packaged and made to be as easy to do as possible.

The first project we worked on was the Goldfish bowls shown above. This project required; Melting chocolate, goldfish, marshmallows and graham cracker dust. The melting chocolate does require an adult to melt in the microwave otherwise everything is ready to go, you dip the marshmallow in the chocolate to make it look like the water in the bowl, then roll it in the graham cracker crust to look like the sand, add a goldfish and let set. After the chocolate has set you can eat your fishbowls.

The second project used the second half of the melting chocolate to create chocolate dipped seashell pretzels. After dipping each pretzel into the chocolate, you get to add a chocolate seashell and some pearl sprinkles that look like bubbles. Both of these projects were fun to create, however we didn't quite like the taste of the melting chocolate itself but that is due to the company who makes the chocolate not Gramma in a box. Otherwise we enjoyed both of these projects, and thought they turned out pretty cute. You can do all three projects at once or you can space them out a bit to make the fun of the box last a bit longer. My children had a blast with this box, they love baking and cooking so this box was right up their alley, after we were finished they asked if we were going to get another box like this.

Last but not least was the Sea Life Cookies which we all had a blast with. The box included three colors frostings plus several decorating supplies that the kids really enjoyed using. I like that the decorating frosting was already in easy to use decorating bags, you just needed to cut a bit of the tip off before using it. The box came with eight sugar cookies to decorate, four of them were fish, two were seashells and two were starfish. I decided to decorate one with the kids as well and decorated the fish with the heart shaped eye above for my husband to eat. The sugar cookies were so good, and the decorations were not overly full of sugar which was nice.

You can purchase a singular box to try out or you can purchase a 3,6,or 12 month subscription and automatically at the start of each month your box will be shipped out. In total there are enough goodies in the box to create 15 to 20 finished items (each cookie counts as a finished item). A single box is $20 or if you buy a subscription the price lowers a bit depending on which subscription you purchase. If you are a new subscriber you need to place an order before the 3rd of each month in order to receive that month's box. This subscription service is only available in the US. During the holidays there are holiday themed items in the box which adds to the fun of the box.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Gramma In A Box for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Sisters Gourmet Review & Giveaway

I can't personally think of anyone I know who doesn't like sweets in some way or another so I was very happy to get to try out two cookie batches by a company called Sisters Gourmet. Want to know a little bit about the two sisters behind Sisters Gourmet? Here is a little information about them from their About Us section. "From the beginning, when we first prepared our mixes in our home kitchen, to now, over fifteen years later, our goal has been to make baking easy and convenient, with simple to prepare, one-bowl recipes, leaving you less time in the kitchen and more time with your family and friends. Our commitment has also been to offer you the highest quality ingredients available, many of which are all-natural, made without artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Mom used to always tell us that, "Good things come to those who bake." We like to think she was right."

 

I was recently sent two cookie mixes from their Crisp & Colorful mixes line which were the Traditional Chocolate chip & the Hopscotch cookie. The way the mixes came packaged looked great I enjoy the fact they come in a glass mason jar because it can be resused after you use the cookie/baking mix. They finish the look of the mixes by putting decorating wrapping on the top with a bow & the instructions which are easy to follow. My daughter loved being able to help in the process of making these cookies it took about two minutes to mix everything properly & get them onto the pan. The cookies were very moist & delicious it is amazing the difference fresh ingredients make vs Ready made or ready mixed cookie dough. I think that these mixes would make great presents for any occasion,there are quite a few flavors to choose from & they also offer Cake & Brownie mixes. Shipping was fast the jars were properly packaged & their customer service is beyond friendly. ****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.Products were Provided by Sisters Gourmet for the Review & Giveaway free of charge****

PRIZE ALERT: 
One lucky winner will receive Two mixes of their choice from the Crisp and Colorful, Oprah's Favorites, or Special Occasion lines.

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