Paper Candy Cones & Cookie Recipe

Most of my spare time this month has been consumed with gifting: shopping, making, wrapping, and sending gifts to be more specific. During a quiet moment today, I wondered why I felt the need to so completely dive into gift giving the moment the Thanksgiving dishes were cleared– and, was it wrong to do that?

It dawned on me we all show love in different ways. One of the ways I show love is to give gifts. Even as a child I’d spend hours making gifts for people– teachers, friends, and even my little sister. As a shy child, it was my way to tell them I loved them without having to say the words.

Now I’m older, and I say ‘I Love You’ a lot. But the need to give gifts, and preferably handmade ones, still exists. Between mothering and housekeeping and working, there’s precious little time to do so. Which is why I’m drawn to easy ideas like baking cookies and making gifts– easy ideas that convey our love. After a shopping trip to Walmart to pick up some Jingles candy, we were ready to do both.

I’ve been in a holiday cookie baking rut so we tried out a new recipe from the Nestle Seasonal Recipes website: Jingle Sugar Cookies. My little helper was more than willing to assist with the unwrapping. Her first words upon seeing them:

“Woooowww. Mom, it’s CHOCOLATE. In the shape of BELLS. That is SO COOL.”

Making them was as easy as 1-2-3:

A few minutes later, ta-da!

{yup, I’ll use any chance I get to use my vintage Fenton cake stand. It always looks especially pretty at Christmas.}

While those baked, I made a few paper cones out of holiday scrapbook paper. You can find templates for the cones online (googling ‘paper cone template’ brought lots of results) but I made a rough version for myself that fit the size I needed. Then I cut out the paper and rolled it into a cone shape.

You can secure it several ways. Double sided tape would make it look very clean and neat, as would a heavy duty glue (use a small binder clip or clothespin to hold it together as it dries). I opted for washi tape, since I’m kind of obsessed with it right now.

I simply taped it up the side and folded it over– instant cone!

After punching holes in each side, I tied ribbon to use as a hanger. Then, I filled them with holiday Jingles candy.

Now these simple paper cones sit in our tree branches, ready to give to neighbors and friends that stop by. They’d make great teacher gifts, too– just cover the top with fabric, saran wrap, or parchment paper and secure with a rubber band. Wouldn’t they make fun party favors or class gifts, too? Just be sure to hand them out at the END of the day to avoid a rush of sugar-fueled kiddos.

Celebrating the season with candy. That’s pretty much a win-win in my book. Plus, don’t they make the tree look pretty?

I’d love to hear if candy makes an appearance in your holiday gift giving and decor. Am I a nut for putting candy in our tree, and can you guess what my kids think about it? 😉

For more fun ideas, follow the #HolidayCandy hashtag or @NestleUSA on Twitter.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Nestle #CBias #SocialFabric