Page 36 of Christmas Mittens Murder

Curious, Celeste and I followed her upstairs to Randy’s room, just in time to see a frantic Randy trying to crawl under his bed to hide and Mom lunging forward and grabbing his ankles, pulling a struggling Randy out from underneath the bed. She sat him down on the mattress and opened her mouth, ready to let loose with a monumental tirade, but before she had the chance, Randy burst into tears, wailing, “I’m so sorry, Mom!”

It did not take long for all the pieces of the puzzle to fall into place. Randy had snuck downstairs in the middle of the night and eaten five boxes of chocolate and was now sick with a tummy ache. This explained the five curious phone calls asking our mother why she had delivered empty boxes.

I knew this was my time to slip out of the room. Randy was going to be getting a really long lecture and I definitely did not want to be there for that, since I had already endured more than a few directed at me in my relatively short twelve years on this earth.

In the end, all turned out well. Our mother calmed down and made more Peppermint Bark for those that had been stiffed, and of course Randy was forbidden to eat any, but I’m sure he didn’t mind because it took a few days for his stomach to feel better. Still, that unfortunate episode did little to squelch his love for the stuff, and the following Christmas he was right there stuffing pieces in his mouth again at every opportunity. Except this time, our mother took extra measures to protect her candy by installing a lock on one of our kitchen cupboards and hiding the key.

Randy’s Favorite Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:

12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

½ teaspoon peppermint extract

12 ounces white chocolate, chopped

10 candy canes, crushed

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Fill the bottom of a large pot with 3 to 4 inches of water.

Bring the water to a simmer. Place a large heatproof bowl over the pot. Add your semisweet chocolate, stirring occasionally until melted.

Stir in the extract. Pour into your prepared baking sheet. Spread out the chocolate into an even layer. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

Over the same pot, place another bowl filled with the white chocolate. Stir until melted. Pour over the set chocolate, spreading evenly.

Sprinkle your crushed candy canes over the top. Place the sheet back into the refrigerator until fully set.

When set, remove the sheet and break apart the chocolate with your hands or with a rolling pin, depending on bark thickness.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Great for gift giving!

I know that we should be making homemade eggnog, but sometimes we all just need an easy shortcut, so in this recipe I like to use store-bought eggnog. However, feel free to use your own homemade recipe, because in the end it always turns out delicious either way!

Bruce’s Christmas Eggnog Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 ounce Amaretto

1 ounce vodka

2 ounces store-bought or homemade eggnog

Pinch cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

Caramel sauce to rim the glass (I use the squeeze bottle of

Ghirardelli caramel sauce)

Rim your cocktail glass with caramel sauce.