There is no better combination than chocolate and mint, except of course chocolate and peanut butter but for some reason (maybe the body needing it) winter and peppermint go together perfectly.  Big woman and I have been mixing up many different chocolate mint recipes I would like to share with you this month.  First, my newest favorite candy and one we can't seem to get enough of around here, Peppermint Patties.  

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw honey
3/4 tsp. peppermint extract (or 5 drops Young Living peppermint essential oil)

Blend the coconut oil, honey and peppermint inBlendtec Twister Jar or food processor.  Spoon into a mini muffin tin, filling cups half full or use a mold of your choice.  Place in freezer while preparing the chocolate dip.

Chocolate Dip
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or 70% Lindt Chocolate Bar, my favorite
1 Tbsp. cocoa butter (or 4 wafers)
Melt the chocolate and cocoa butter over very low heat.

Prepare a plate, pan or dish by placing parchment paper over it and get ready to do some dipping.  Remove the muffin tin from the freezer and pop out the patties.  Submerge each patty in the chocolate dip and transfer to the parchment pan with a fork, after tapping to remove excess chocolate.  Refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened.  Peel off the patties and place in an airtight container and keep them stored in the fridge.

This recipe is adapted from The DIY Pantry by Kresha Faber of Nourishing Joy.  This book is so awesome and filled with healthy, from scratch pantry staples as well as drinks, desserts and breads.  I would highly recommend this book for every whole foods kitchen or standard American kitchen for that matter.

After making someelderberry syrup (with the addition of Crio Bru and rosehips) I couldn't bear to just compost the pulp after straining off the herbs.  I decided to just throw them in some muffins which we turned into donuts just by baking them in the donut pan.  

2 cups multi-grain flour
1 Tbsp. breakfast sprinkle
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. Real salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
pulp left from elderberry syrup gone wild (or you could use 1 cup fresh elderberries if you have them)

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Blend the oil, applesauce, honey, eggs and vanilla in another bowl until creamy.  Pour the creamy mixture into the dry ingredients and stir together until moistened.  Add the elderberry pulp (or fresh elderberries) and stir in until combined.  Fill the donut pan or muffin pan 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let the donuts sit in the pan for about 5 minutes and then turn over and shake them out.  

For some reason the children would only eat the doughnut version of these and wouldn't touch the muffins. Maybe the donuts looked more appetizing, who knows?

I know this is a few days late but still wanted to share the advent countdowns we are using this year.  I have collected several advents over the years and each year we use an old favorite and usually start a new one so we end up having two or three going at a time.  This just adds to our spirit of Christ during the season, so for this year we are doing the "Light of the World", which is on old favorite and a Scripture Service Chain which is new. Both of these come from the Friend Magazine we subscribe to through our church.

Each day there is a scripture to look up referencing a name of Christ.  The names are written on little flames that we tape to the tree with the dates and scriptures.  We love to study each name and what that name means to us, it has broadened our understanding of our Savior and His mission.  If you would like to make your own you can find the print out at this link.  For my own personal study I am using the Names of Christ study guide from the Red Headed Hostess  along with reading the book, Jesus the Christ.  

In this month's Friend there are instructions for making a scripture service chain, the girls worked on putting this together and presented it to the family.  Each link on the chain has a scripture about service on it and then we are to do a service that day, it can be individually or we may do a service project as a family.  At the end of the day we write down on the back of the link what our service was and we put it into a gift box under the tree as our gift to Christ.  

We are also continuing the 25 Days of Christ tradition we first started last year and our Advent Candle each Sunday until Christmas.   Using advents not only add to the excitement of the season but when using Christ centered ones, adds to the true spirit of Christmas.