Joanna Gaines Has the Sweetest Family Christmas Tradition
Joanna Gaines and her family have the sweetest Christmas tradition — literally. The Gaines family all come together in the kitchen to make candy treats to give to others. Gaines said her typical candy-making lineup changes from year to year but there’s one favorite they always make.
Joanna Gaines shares her family Christmas tradition
Gaines has a special tradition with her family for the holidays that involves quality time in the kitchen making homemade sweets for their loved ones. In a blog post on the Magnolia website, Gaines shared how they spend a full day making candy.
“There’s something so nostalgic and joyful about baking during the holiday season,” Gaines wrote. “Every year, my girls and I camp out in the kitchen for a full day — blasting Christmas music — making and packaging homemade candy for our family and friends. Delivering that box of delight always makes those long hours in the kitchen time well spent.”
The Magnolia Table star continued, “For this year’s candy box, I’m making Salted Caramel Peanut Brittle, White Chocolate Peppermint Bark, Aunt Mary’s Cherry Mashers, crunchy Peanut Butter Balls, and chewy Old Fashioned Caramels.”
She added, “Making candy is one way to bring sweetness to your holiday season, but the memories made along the way with your family and friends — those are the sweetest of them all.”
Joanna Gaines and her family always make peanut butter balls
Gaines’ recipe for Jo’s peanut butter balls includes an introduction about how they make this candy every year for Christmas. “It’s a holiday tradition of our family’s to spend a full day making candy that we package up to share with family and friends,” Gaines explained. “I like to add sprinkles to the tops of these during the holidays.”
She continued, “Every few years I’ll switch up what we make, but I never can do without these peanut butter balls. The kids love to help roll out each one, and I swear half don’t even make it to the dipping bowl because the kids have already consumed the peanut butter filling.”
The ‘Magnolia Table’ star joked that one of her sweet treats looked kind of gross
Gaines explained that Jo’s peanut butter balls recipe is a perfect combination of sweet, creamy, and crunchy. “Cocoa Krispies folded into a creamy, peanut butter mixture and dipped in chocolate almond bark,” she noted in her blog post.
She took fans along for her family candy-making tradition in a series of 2018 Instagram story posts. Gaines started by explaining that they were off to a slow start with their plan for the day. “Was planning to make Christmas candy today and start at 9 am. It’s now 4 pm and not looking good for the home team,” she wrote.
When it came to showing off the peanut butter balls, Gaines fully owned one big flaw — they didn’t look all that appetizing. “Sometimes you gotta just let go of your expectations and embrace the fact that your candy looks like poop,” the Magnolia Table star noted on the photo of her lumpy candy.
She later showed off the final beautifully packed goodies that were ready to be delivered. “Until next year … because I’m gonna need a year to recover,” she wrote.
Jo’s peanut butter balls recipe is available on the Magnolia site.
