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✨ Holiday Treat Trio (Plus Ensaymada!) — Recipes + This Week’s YouTube Premiere

  • Writer: Cayce Markham
    Cayce Markham
  • Dec 7, 2025
  • 4 min read

Today’s kitchen smelled like pure holiday magic — and after sharing our Holiday Premiere video on YouTube, so many Wanderers asked for the recipes that I’m wrapping them all together in one cozy post. 💛

We made four favorites this week:• Old-fashioned Hard Tack• Snowball Truffles• Soft Caramels• And our Global Holiday Bread Tour star: Ensaymada

If you want to see the full kitchen moment — all the bubbling, swirling, folding, rolling, and sugary goodness — watch the video here:



And now… let’s bake.


🗓️ NEW! Weekly Sunday Recipe Drops at 9 PM

Starting this week, I’ll be posting a new recipe on the blog every Sunday night at 9 PM — something warm, cozy, seasonal, or requested by you, my Wanderers.

This means you’ll always know when to check back for something new and delicious.

Your Recipes section will become the “Fan Favorites Library,” where our most-loved bakes, breads, and treats live permanently. Perfect for quick reference. Perfect for sharing. Perfect for you. 💛

🍬 HARD TACK CANDY

A nostalgic family favorite — colorful, crunchy, and perfect for gifting.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups granulated sugar

  • 1 cup light corn syrup

  • ½ cup water

  • 1 tsp flavored extract (cinnamon, peppermint, cherry, etc.)

  • Gel food coloring (optional)

  • Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Instructions

  1. Prep: Line a baking sheet with parchment. Lightly dust with powdered sugar if you want a frosted finish.

  2. Heat: In a heavy pot, combine sugar, corn syrup, and water.

  3. Boil: Bring to 300°F (hard crack stage) without stirring.

  4. Flavor + Color: Remove from heat. Wait 10 seconds. Add extract + 1–2 drops color. Stir gently.

  5. Pour: Immediately pour onto prepared tray. Don’t spread. Let it flow naturally.

  6. Cool: Allow to harden completely (20–30 minutes).

  7. Crack: Hit with a bench scraper or the back of a spoon.

  8. Dust: Toss pieces in powdered sugar to prevent sticking, or leave glossy.

Perfect for: stockings, teacher gifts, jars, and nostalgic holiday moments.

❄️ SNOWBALL TRUFFLES

Soft, chocolatey, and coated in powdered sugar that looks like fresh snow.

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups white chocolate chips

  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened

  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

  • Pinch of salt

  • 1–1½ cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

  • Optional: zest of ½ lemon or ¼ tsp almond extract for a flavor pop

Instructions

  1. Melt Chocolate: Microwave white chocolate in 20–25 sec bursts until smooth.

  2. Mix: In a bowl, combine melted chocolate, cream cheese, vanilla, and salt until smooth.

  3. Chill: Refrigerate 20–30 minutes until scoopable.

  4. Roll: Scoop 1 tbsp portions and roll into balls.

  5. Coat: Roll each ball in shredded coconut.

  6. Set: Chill again for 10–15 minutes.

  7. Package: Place in mini cupcake liners or little gift boxes. So cute.

Kid favorite. Adult favorite. Everyone’s favorite.

🍮 SOFT HOMEMADE CARAMELS

Mine came out extra soft today, but honestly? They were still unbelievably good. Sometimes the imperfect batches are the ones your family loves most.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup heavy cream

  • 5 tbsp salted butter

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1 cup granulated sugar

  • 1 cup light corn syrup

  • ¼ cup water

  • Flaky salt (optional for topping)

  • Parchment paper for wrapping

Instructions

  1. Warm: In a small saucepan, heat cream + butter until melted. Remove from heat.

  2. Boil Sugar: In a heavy pot, combine sugar, corn syrup, and water. Heat until sugar dissolves.

  3. Cook to Amber: Continue boiling until it reaches a light amber color.

  4. Add Cream Mix: Slowly whisk in the warm cream/butter mixture (it will bubble aggressively).

  5. Cook Again: Return to heat and cook to 245–248°F for soft chewy caramels.

  6. Finish: Remove from heat, stir in vanilla.

  7. Pour: Pour into a parchment-lined 8×8 pan.

  8. Set: Let cool 2–3 hours or speed up in fridge.

  9. Cut + Wrap: Slice into squares and wrap in parchment or wax paper.

Pro tip: Even the soft ones disappear first.

🧈 ENSAYMADA (Philippine Sweet Brioche Rolls)

Part of our Global Holiday Bread Tour — tender, buttery, lightly sweet, and topped with cheese and sugar.

Ingredients

📌 Dough Ingredients

  • 3 ¼ cups (390g) all-purpose flour

  • ½ cup (120ml) warm milk

  • ¼ cup (60ml) warm water

  • 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast

  • ⅓ cup (65g) sugar

  • 3 egg yolks

  • ⅓ cup (75g) softened butter

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp vanilla

  • Optional: 1 tbsp milk powder for richer crumb

📌 Butter Filling

  • ½ cup (113g) very soft butter

  • ¼ cup (50g) sugar

(This should be spreadable like cake frosting.)

📌 Topping

  • ½ cup softened butter

  • ½–¾ cup sugar

  • 1–1 ½ cups grated cheddar or queso de bola (trust me — it MAKES it)

🥣 Step-by-Step Method

Activate & Mix

  1. Whisk warm milk + warm water + yeast + pinch of sugar.

  2. Let it bloom for 5 minutes

Build the Dough

  1. Add yolks, sugar, vanilla, salt → whisk smooth.

  2. Add flour and knead until shaggy.

  3. Add softened butter one tablespoon at a time until the dough turns glossy and stretchy.

First Rise

  • 60 minutes in a warm spot.

Shape

  1. Divide into 12 pieces.

  2. Roll each into a long rope.

  3. Brush on butter-sugar filling.

  4. Coil like a cinnamon roll but looser and higher.

Second Rise

  • 30–40 minutes, until puffy.

Bake

  • 325°F (165°C) for 15–18 minutesYou want pale gold, not dark brown. Soft, fluffy, cloud texture.

Finish

While warm (not hot):

  1. Brush with butter

  2. Roll tops in sugar

  3. Finish with a generous snowfall of cheese

Tastes like a warm hug. Seriously.


🎁

These four treats made the sweetest little gifts today, and they were such a joy to share with you. Thank you for being part of my kitchen, my family traditions, and this growing Wanderer community. 💛


📅 What’s next?• Sunday at 6 PM: Small Gifts, Big Heart — Part 2• Saturday at 6 PM: Rosca de Reyes on the Global Holiday Bread Tour• Sundays at 8 PM: New recipes on the blog — every week!


If you make any of these, tag me — nothing makes my day like seeing your bakes in the wild.And if you haven’t joined the Wanderer family on YouTube, you can subscribe here:


Warmest holiday hugs,

Cayce 🤍


Updated with new video link, December 2025

 
 
 

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