Caramel Puff Corn

This stuff is seriously addictive, and you'll either love me or hate me for sharing the recipe. Many batches were made over the holidays, and they disappeared so quickly there was barely time to take a photo. It's sweet, salty, buttery, crunchy, ridiculously easy to whip up and even easier to eat. And eat. And eat.

Did you notice that there are no popcorn hulls? No hard kernels or bits to get stuck in your teeth either. That's because it starts with a bag of butter flavored Puffcorn,  a ready made snack food you can buy in the potato chip aisle. I used Chester's Puffcorn, but there are are other brands available that come in different sized bags. Thank you Vicki Bensinger, for introducing me to this irresistible confection!

The caramel corn may be good, but it doesn't hold a candle to this sweet little bundle! I braved the cold of Chicago last week to snuggle with my brand new granddaughter. Isn't she precious? I hope one day she'll love to bake with me as much as my sweet grandson does. I miss them both!

Caramel Puff Corn
Recipe from here, here, and here!

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (no substitutes!)
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup light Karo syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
approx. 8 oz. BUTTER flavored Puff Corn (I could only find Puff Corn in 3.5 oz. bags. I used two bags of Chester's Puff Corn. You could use three bags to get a bigger batch with a lighter caramel coating.)
***If you have a hard time finding Butter flavored Puff Corn, you can use the Snack Finder here to find Chester's Puff Corn in your area. 


Directions
Empty puff corn from bags into large buttered roasting pan. Set aside.
In a 2 qt. saucepan stir together butter, sugar and syrup.
Using medium heat, bring to boil. Boil 2 minutes stirring constantly.
Add baking soda. Mixture will bubble up. Stir and remove from heat.
Pour caramel mixture over puff corn in roaster. Stir until puff corn is coated.
Bake in 250F oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to distribute caramel evenly over puff corn.
Working quickly, turn out onto parchment and separate puffs while they cool. Store in an airtight container. Try not to eat it all before it gets into the container! :)

The Best Carrot Cake

     Carrots are good for you, right? And pineapple, coconut and walnuts? The stuff dreams are made of. This cake is full of 'em. Topped right out of the oven with a dreamy hot buttermilk glaze (that's really more of a butterscotch caramel glaze) and then with a layer of cream cheese frosting, this is a cake I look forward to making again.

     I made this for Easter dinner at my Mom's house. It was good the first day, and even better the next. I recommend making this when there are people to help you eat it. Trust me, no one will complain.  Next time I'll make layers- I needed this one to travel so I opted for a sheet cake. More layers = more frosting per bite. That can't be a bad thing, can it? I followed the recipe as written, and wouldn't change a thing. You can find the recipe- from Southern Living-  here.
   

Happy Earth Day!

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

 I am not a bossy person by nature. I pretty much go with the flow- I'm a middle child for heaven's sake.  But I'm going to tell you to do something. Now. Make these cookies. Make a cup of tea. Perch one of these puppies over your steaming hot tea for just a minute. Then take a bite, close your eyes and swoon over the gooey caramel apple deliciousness that is this cookie.  I mean, it is fall. And what screams "Fall" more than caramel and apple cider?

 This is another awesome recipe from  Laura at The Cooking Photographer.  (If you don't' know her blog, you really should make a visit- she has so many lovely recipes and photos!) All you'll need- in addition to what you probably already have in your pantry- is a bag of Kraft Caramels and a box of Alpine Instant Spiced Cider. (Yep, those little packets of powder that you mix with hot water.) These two magical ingredients take an ordinary sugar cookie base and transform it into this perfect tea-time treat.

 These cookies are best enjoyed slightly warm, either from sitting atop your tea mug or microwaved for a few seconds. My favorite method? My tea mug of course. (I even used a pair of chopsticks this morning to suspend my cookie, since it was smaller than my big mug.) The warmth of the rising steam from the tea makes the caramel melt ever-so-slightly into a gooey center, surrounded by a crispy sweet-tart apple flavored cookie. Now tell me you can resist that!

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

recipe very slightly adapted from The Cooking Photographer

Ingredients

1 cup softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (I found this in my grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes.)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups all purpose flour

1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (You really need the parchment!)
• In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
• With your mixer (or an energetic spoon) cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well.
• Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
• Refrigerate for about an hour. (If you're really impatient you don't have to do this, but it makes it so much easier to work with.)
• When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels. 
• Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)
• Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
• Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Please don't over-bake! Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off.
• Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies (or how many caramels have been snitched out of your bag before you begin.) Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

Chocolate-peanut butter-graham cracker-caramel goodness sittin' on a Ritz cracker. Yep, a Ritz cracker. Who would have believed it? This crispy gooey delight is reminiscent of a Twix candy bar. Crispy layers sandwiched with a caramel filling and covered with chocolate. And easy? You don't even need your oven.  You'll need your stovetop and about 20 minutes to have these chilling inside your refrigerator, with you chilling outside of it peeking every 5 minutes to see if your bars are set and ready to eat.

I found this recipe on Buns in My Oven and they looked so deliciously tempting I had to try them. Another recipe in Taste of Home used Waverly Crackers, which I think would also be awesome, but you know that everything's better when it sits on a Ritz! (Andy Griffith said so.) You should try these. Really, you should. But don't hate me if you sit down with a cold glass of milk and eat way too many of them. Not that I'd know anything about that.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars (Printable Recipe here)

adapted from Buns in my Oven

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter (1 and 1/2 sticks)- melted

1/3 cup half and half or milk

Ritz Crackers- Enough to make 3 layers in your 9x13 pan. My pan used about 2 1/2 sleeves.

1 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions:

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine melted butter, sugars, milk and graham cracker crumbs. Bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, cook about 5 more minutes. Make sure to stir constantly- the sugar will burn. Don't even ask me how I know that.
• Grease a 9x13 pan. (To make the bars easier to lift out, you could line your pan with greased-or nonstick-foil or greased parchment.) Cover the bottom of your prepared pan with a layer of Ritz crackers.
• Spread half of the graham cracker-sugar mixture evenly over the layer of Ritz crackers. Repeat with another layer of Ritz crackers and the rest of your graham cracker-sugar mixture.
• Top with a third layer of Ritz crackers.
• In your microwave on low power, melt together the chocolate chips and peanut butter. (Don't overcook...Melt the chips part-way and stir to finish melting.)
• Spread the chocolate mixture over the top layer of Ritz crackers. Put in the refrigerator to set completely. Cut into bars and hide some away for yourself, because they'll disappear fast!