Going, Going …
The fleeting pleasure of seasonal treats
By Timothy R. Schulte
CTW Features
Image courtesy Quaker Oats Co.
You know it’s the holidays when the stockings are hung by the chimney with care – and Cap’n Crunch trades in his blue sailing garb for a scarlet suit.
For some of us, it’s not really the holidays until short-run, seasonal versions of our year-round favorites hit the store shelves. Candy, cereal, cookies – even coffee comes specially flavored for the Yuletide.
Cap’n Crunch Christmas Crunch cereal has been a mainstay since its debut in the late ’80s. Trees, Santa hats and stars replace the usual berry spheres, with green berries joining their standard red counterparts. Seeing the cereal on grocery shelves at Christmastime brings a flood of nostalgia to young adults.
“I was 7 or 8 years old when they released Christmas Crunch for the first time,” says Thomas Ott of Omaha, Neb. “You wanted to be the first to try it.”
Some season cereals like Winter Fruity Pebbles and Holiday Rice Krispies have called it quits over the years. However, Kellogg’s offers a holiday version of its Rice Krispies Treats with red icing, and the Quaker Oats Co. expects Christmas Crunch to continue strong.
Holiday M&M’s, another brainchild of ’80s marketing, have become a staple during the holidays and a requisite ingredient for holiday baking.
After all, red and green only make up about a third of a regular bag of M&M’s (13 percent red, 16 percent green, according to the M&M Web site). Without the Holiday bags of red-only or green-only, that’s
Candy Cane Cupcakes
Prep time: 20 min.
Baking time: 22 min.
Decoration time: 25 min.
Difficulty: Easy
What you’ll need:
2 bags Holiday M&M’s
1 18.25-oz. box yellow cake mix
2 12-oz. cans whipped vanilla frosting
2 12-cup cupcake pans
24 paper cupcake liners
Spatula
1 large tray or piece of strong cardboard
What to do:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the cupcake pans with the paper cupcake liners.
Prepare the cake mix according to the package instructions. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake pans.
Bake for approximately 19-22 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
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