Baking on a Budget: The holiday project I filmed for Walmart

I get these Happiness Project quotes emailed to me each morning, which when combined with the Zen-y thought printed on my morning Yogi tea bag, usually get my day off to a good start. (Liz, maybe these nuggets are why I am able to stay sane this week, ha!) Anyway, today's quote was:

"The man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest."— Henry David Thoreau

which fits nicely with this morning's post. We all know tis better to give than to receive, but what do you do when your list is long and your wallet is thin? Instead of giving less, why not figure out a recipe that will thrill the recipients but is also reasonable. You may remember that last month, I was hired by Walmart* to come up with a homemade holiday gift idea that was under $5. I normally shop for ingredients at my local market, or Trader Joe's and Whole Foods so this was a fun challenge: to peruse their holiday offerings, think about some of my go-to recipes, and meld the two together. I ended up making my wildly popular cinnamon-chocolate brownies with chocolate ganache, which a month later is not what I ended up making for our teachers (since they had already gotten to enjoy a test run on these treats back in November!). But this is a fabulous recipe (no matter what time of year) to whip up if you have a cookie exchange, holiday party, or need for a reasonably priced hostess or holiday gift!! Here's that video, which is currently showing on Yahoo Shine:

*as in paid, which was nice! (But rest assured, I'll only take on paid gigs if they truly fit with what I am sharing with you all, and I'll always tell you.)