Sea Salt and Chocolate covered Caramels

This year in all my Christmas baking I made caramels.  Everyone is always impressed with homemade caramels, and I don’t find it too hard to make them.  The only downside is wrapping all the little caramels once they are done. I usually end up doing this over a couple of days, which is how I came to this new small variation.

I had a bunch of caramels wrapped when O informed me that there was a baking competition at work the next day and he should take something.  I handed over my caramels (there were still lots left to be wrapped) and didn’t think anymore of it.  Turns out they were a big hit - they ran out of caramels during the eating/judging of the competition, oops.  What did come out of this though was the suggestion to coat the caramels in chocolate and sea salt.  I had some left and wasn’t excited about wrapping them, so why not play a little?

I am happy to say I did play with them and to my delight they were fantastic.  The bonus is that this doesn’t even take much more time than wrapping them, but really takes them to a whole special place on the dessert table!

I did some slight adaptations to the caramel recipe found on allrecipes.com.  I hope you enjoy these.

Sea Salt and Chocolate covered Caramels
Ingredients:
Caramels:
1 cup butter
1 pound brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light corn syrup (i used golden, as that is pretty much all you can find here)
1 ½ tsp vanilla paste (or 1 ½ vanilla beans - well the insides of the beans - would work)

Coating:
3 cups milk chocolate melting chips
Coarse sea salt

Directions:
1. Prepare a 9x13 pan by lining it with parchment paper (or you could just grease it - I like the parchment paper as you can just lift out the caramels to cut them)
3.In a saucepan (preferably with a heavy bottom) combine the caramel ingredients: butter, sugar, milk, and corn syrup.  
4 Heat the mixture until you reach 234F, then cook for 2 minutes at this temperature, while stirring.
    Note: this will make very soft caramels, if you would like them a little firmer, cook them at 240F (I like the really soft ones, so I left it at 234F).
5. Take the caramels off the heat and add in the vanilla paste/beans.  Pour the caramels into the prepared 9x13 pan, and allow to set.
6. Once the caramels are set, cut them into bite sized squares - I did about ½ inch x 1 inch rectangles.
7. In a double boiler melt some of the melting chocolate pieces.  Once they are melted remove from heat. (if the chocolate starts to harden on you, just put it back on the heat for a couple of min).
8. Dip the caramel squares in the chocolate, set to cool on some parchment paper.  While the chocolate is still soft, sprinkle with some sea salt.

Note:  I found it easiest to work in small batches of the caramels at the time.  It was also easier to have the caramels cool while dipping them, as they held their shape a little better in the warm chocolate, so I kept the other batches of caramels in the fridge while I was working.

Reviews:
These were fantastic.  I had to give most of them away as I found I couldn’t stop eating them!  One person O work with even asked for a bunch of them to give as a Christmas present to someone!  They were a big hit and will have to be something that I make again.

The caramels by themselves are also great, so don’t worry about covering them all in chocolate! 

St. Patty's Day Green Vodka

I know St. Patricks day is all about the beer, however I have never been a beer drinker. I wanted to get in the spirit this year, so I decided to do my own thing - in green.

I decided to make a green drink that I could actually drink - green skittles vodka and sprite. It was simple to make and tasted just like candy! I followed the directions for making skittles Vodka from Mix That Drink (I actually have all the colors of original skittles, but green seemed the most appropriate for the the holiday).

Ingredients:
Green skittles (you will need 6 skittles for every ounce of vodka)
Vodka
Sprite/Seven up

Directions:
1. In a bottle mix together the skittles and the vodka. Shake to dissolve the candy and leave sit overnight.
2. Run the vodka through a coffee filter to remove any undissolved candy.
3. Mix with sprite/ 7-up over ice and enjoy!

Review:
This tasted just like Skittles and I enjoyed it. It won't be my everyday drink, but it is fun once in a while. I love how bright the color is from the skittles.

Christmas Presents

This year I am making a few Christmas presents, some are for my own friends and family and some I am doing for a friend to give away.

Among the things I have put together for my own friends and family is this lovely little tea wallet:




I used the pattern from Is It Naptime Yet?, which was great and really easy to follow, and came together very quickly.


A few people will be getting rice heating pads some packaged with baked goods, bath salts or creams. I created the pattern for this based off a heat pad I had picked up a few years ago from a craft sale.


It works fantastic for the upper back and shoulders. I love how it wraps around and the arms hold it in place.

My friend was lucky to be one of the recipients of the bag/neck rice heating pad earlier in the year and decided she wanted to do something for her friends. I had seen the Wellness bag and rice heating pads on Sew Mama Sew and decided to put together something similar for her.



She ended up with 2 sets of bags, each with their own coordinating drawstring bags to hold them. Each bag has card attached with instructions.



Each set included a neck/back bag, an eye pillow with removable cover, hand warmers and an all purpose bag (a mix between the Amy Buttler eye pillow scaled up and the Green Wife for the inside bag).



Hopefully the recipients get some good use out of these bags!

Happy Halloween!

I have been keeping busy in the kitchen this Halloween (and around the house - I finally have a yard to decorate!).

First up were my Tiger Tiger cupcakes - based of the classic ice cream flavour! They were a big hit (as long as you liked black licorice flavour).


To make them a little more in the spirit of things, I added little white chocolate skulls (made using a candy mold).



Then I had these cute cupcake holders around, and couldn't resist making some cupcake skulls with brains! I have a new favorite strawberry frosting recipe now as well, yum!



I also made some tombstones for front yard and carved a pumpkin:





And lastly here is a sneak peak for the Halloween graveyard cakes!


I had fun playing with the gumpaste for this cake - pictures to come tomorrow (trying to keep it a surprise for the folks at work!

Fattigman

My Grandparents have made these cookies every Christmas for as long as I can remember. They are nice addition to all the sweets, as they aren't a really sweet cookie, and I love the Cardamom flavor!

One key to getting a fantastic cookie is using whole fresh Cardamom, ground just before using. Cardamom is a spice that tastes best when fresh, you can tell the differences in the cookies from those that are made with the ground stuff in the store and the fresh stuff. (the ground is good as well, the fresh just takes it over the top!)

Below is the recipe my grandparents gave me, I have added a few pictures just to make a few steps a little more clear.

Fattigman
12 egg yolks OR eight yolks +2 eggs
1 cup whipping cream
*1/2 tsp. salt
*2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar (3/4s is better)
*approximately 4 cups flour
(* sift together)
2 tsps ground cardamom

METHOD:
Beat eggs till thick.
Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with the cream.
Roll out fairly thin (like sugar cookies)
Cut dough in long strips, then in diamond shapes. (a pizza cutter works well)
Put a little cut in the centre of each cookie. To shape cookie (if you want) pull one corner through the cut in the centre.


Deep fry until golden colour.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (before the holidays are over!).

I have been keeping myself busy the past week picking up last minute things, baking and getting ready to go to my parent's place for the holidays. I was put in charge of Christmas morning breakfast this year, and I have a feeling I went a little overboard. I swear there is enough food packed up to feed everyone for 2 days! I couldn't help taking a couple of special baking items. Hopefully I will get pictures and recipes up soon.

This year's holiday list:
Peppermint Candy Cane cookies (my new creation, will post soon!)
Gingerbread men
Fattigman (My Dad's favorite cookie)
Millionaire's Shortbread
Marshmallows
Flourless chocolate cake (for the celiacs)
Marshmallows
( I added some vanilla bean to these, soo yummy)
Breakfast
Extra gooey cinnamon buns (the extra gooey part is extra butter and sugar), served with cinnamon cream cheese icing.
Cheddar bacon scones (I subbed bacon for the sausage)
Cheddar bacon frittata (I am sure I will alter the recipe a bit, and will post a final version when I am done.)
Banana muffins
Bread and assorted Jams (the jams are the ones I made this summer, and whatever bread my Dad has at the house)
Turkey sausage patties (M&M)
Cloudy apple juice (We bought this, we didn't want to give up everything we had left from making juice this fall)

Gingerbread Take Two – Bulldogs

I am still on the hunt for a go to gingerbread recipe, so when I saw this recipe come up on My Kitchen Café, I decided it would be the next one to try. The bulldogs had a game coming up and I wanted to do something fun for them for the last game before Christmas, so I decided to dress up the cookies with the team colours.

I followed the directions for the recipe exactly, and encountered a couple of problems. It is a little difficult to tell when the cookies are actually done, and I ended up overcooking the first batch.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1tbsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp salt
¾ cup butter (cut into 12 pieces)
¾ cup molasses
2 tbsp milk

How To:
1.Combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and sugar in a bowl of a mixer. Add the pieces of butter and mix until the mixture becomes “sandy” in texture.
2.Add in the molasses and milk and mix until well combined.
3.Place ½ the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and rollout to be 1/4” inch thick. Place in the freezer until firm (15 min).
4.Cut out the cookies.
5.Bake at 350F for 8-9 minutes ( no longer than 10 minutes, even if you don’t think they are done) until they are set in the center and barely retains an imprint when touched.
6.Let cool and decorate.


I used a royal icing recipe (1 egg white, 1/8tsp corn starch, 1 ½ cup powdered sugar) to decorate these cookies and wrote on the hard icing with Wilton Food Writers.


The cookie man is wearing a replica of the Bulldog's jersey. I am sorry I couldn't find a picture of anyone wearing their yellow jersey, but it is the same as these black ones, only yellow.



Reviews: These cookies were enjoyed (the ones that were soft and not overcooked) by everyone who tried them, although I am not sure if it was due to the cookie flavour or the more likely culprit of the decorating.

Bulldogs:
The boys loved the jerseys on the cookies ( I have seen a couple pics pop up on facebook already)!

They won their game this morning 5-4! Hopefully they can finish the year with a winning streak. The next game is Dec. 27th at 7 am, which may be a little rough after the indulging of Christmas!

Gingerbread 09 - Take 1

I love gingerbread men during the holidays, but have yet to find a “go to” gingerbread recipe. I have tried a couple in the past and have started my holiday baking with a couple new recipes. This one is a modified version from the King Arthur Flour recipe bank. I haven’t tried a recipe from them I didn’t like yet, so I thought I would give it a go. (I did change amounts to make the batch a little smaller and it is really dry were I live).

Gingerbread Cookies (makes about 3-4 doz, depending on cookie size)

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/3 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice or cloves
1 large egg
1 tbsp milk
2/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Directions

1. In a saucepan set over low heat, or in the microwave, melt butter, then stir in the brown sugar, molasses, salt, and spices.

2. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, let it cool to lukewarm, and mix in the egg.

3. Add the dry ingredients into the molasses mixture.

4. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for 1 hour or longer.

5. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) several baking sheets.

6. Remove the dough from fridge and place on a lightly floured surface. Press flat and roll out – I did them between ¼ and ½ inch thick and liked it, the thicker cookies will be soft and thin cookies will be a little crispy.

7. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, cutting them as close to one another as possible to minimize waste.

8. Transfer the cookies to ungreased cookie sheets (or, if you've rolled right onto the parchment, remove the dough scraps between the cookies). Bake the cookies 8 to 12 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes, or until they're set. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

To decorate I used a package of Old Fashion Candy Buttons I found at the candy store down the street, they worked really well.

Reviews:
I love these cookies, they are soft, chewy and flavorful. Delicious. However these weren’t O’s favorite gingerbread, he said there was a little too much molasses flavor in them. So if you like molasses this is the gingerbread for you, if you want more ginger flavor, I will be posting a new recipe in the coming days as I try more.

Its begining to look like Christmas

So it snowed today, and it has continued to snow all day. It is still snowing. Three hours after out sidewalk was shoveled you would never have known anyone had touched it with a shovel. The snow was at my ankle this afternoon and I can't imagine how high it is now.

Well I went for a walk this afternoon, all the way to the Butterdome craft sale. I am pretty sure this is the largest craft sale in the city.


Anyways, I go every year, it is a great way to celebrate the end of classes and treat yourself to something nice. Oh and get some of that christmas shopping out of the way. I picked up a couple of beer bread mixes (Ultimate Gourmet) and Saskatoon Cider (Homestyle beverages) like I do every year. This year I treated myself to a package of delicious Hot Chocolate, picked up some whole cardamom for baking christmas cookies, and an almond butter crunch bar for O's gift exchange. I will be going back with a friend on mine and I will be lucky to resist the peppermint patties a second time! I also need to find a way to justify another apron, as these are ones are just to cute!

If you have some time this weekend in Edmonton and some Christmas shopping to get done, I highly suggest checking it out.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

A friend sent me the link to these buns and said they were great when I was looking for a good pumpkin cinnamon bun recipe. I decided to try it, but do to my family's dislike of fruit in their cinnamon buns I made a few alterations. I was pretty confident they would be good, as I have never had a problem with any recipe from King Arthur Flour!


Dough
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lukewarm water*
1/4 cup soft butter
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup skim dry milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, optional
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons yeast
*Adjust the amount of water by the time of year or your climate. For summer, or in a humid environment, use the lesser amount of water. In winter, or in a dry climate, use the greater amount. It's always best to start with the lesser amount; you can add more as needed.
Filling
1.4 cup butter, melted
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions
1. Mix all of the dough ingredients together and knead into a soft, smooth dough.
2. Let rise for 1 ½ hours (almost doubled) in a greased, covered bowl.
3. Place the dough an a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a rectangle (about 14” by 22”)
4. Spread the melted butter on the rectangle, leaving one edge free for sealing.
5. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, and spread over the melted butter.
6. Roll the dough so that it forms a log that is about 22” long.
7. Slice the roll into 12 equal pieces and set each piece swirl up in a greased baking dish.
8. Cover the dish and let the rolls rise in a warm area for about an hour, until the rolls are puffy.
9. Bake the rolls at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes.

Reviews:
These smelled fantastic, and they must have been good, as the all seemed to disappear. The should be stored in an airtight container if you want them to keep very long, as I was told they were a little dry the second day. This could also be easily remedied (and make the buns a little more decadent) by adding some cream cheese icing as well.

Turkey Tips

So this thanksgiving I cooked my first turkey - completely by myself. I have never cooked a turkey before, I much prefer to leave it in the hands of the more experienced. Despite that however, my Mother left me on thanksgiving with a raw turkey and instructions to have dinner ready by 7. I came across the Food Networks top 10 Turkey tips and decided to give them a try along with a few tricks I wanted to try. It was an adventure all right.

How I made my turkey:
1. Make sure the turkey is cleaned out (remove the neck and don't forget the packet of gizzards - I unfortunately couldn't find this in my turkey turns out it was just in the other end).
2. I gently separated the skin from the breast with my hand and rubbed some corse salt, italian seasoning, and pepper under the skin.
3. Then I put the skin back down and rubbed the top of the skin with butter - I buttered the entire turkey. (oh it was delicious skin).
4. Cut an apple and an onion in half and stuffed them into the chicken.
5. Now seal up the turkey, I used a "lacer" which was basically a spiral of wire to close one end and then as there was a gap were a wing had gone missing I used a few needles.
6. Then as I am terrified of dry breasts, I covered them with tinfoil.
7. I put the turkey in the oven at 350 and left it for just under 3 hours, removed the tinfoil and left for another 45 minutes (It was a 14lb turkey and took just over 3.5 hours to cook).

Oh was this good. The meat was cooked and still utterly moist and juicy. Oh how I loved my turkey, and I was very excited that I didn't end up with an almost burnt or raw bird. I am no longer scared of the turkey (which is good, as I have a 16 lb one sitting in my freezer - thanks mom), and I hope that I will be able to repeat the juicy meat on my next try! The next challenge is to figure out how to carve the turkey, hmmm.

Pumpkin Carving

On our way home for thanksgiving, my brother and I made a pit stop at the grocery store and picked up a pumpkin. We hadn't carved a pumpkin together in years and thought it would be fun. I know it is a little early, but as we were at home together finally, it was really the last chance we would get to do it together before halloween. Who cares if my parents will have to another one before the holiday.

My little bro picked out the pattern (fitting for my parent's place as they raise dogs) and we got to work. It was so much fun, I hadn't carved a pumpkin in years. The true beauty is when the lights are out and the pumpkin has a flickering candle in it.


I love how it turned out! I am tempted to go and get some to try for my apartment, I could just set them outside my window right?

Thanksgiving Dinner

I love turkey dinners – complete with all the fixings, and I love not cooking them. However, as a surprise this year, I was asked to cook dinner – all alone. My mother was not near a phone to answer questions, Owen had disappeared to work on his truck. I was in the house staring at a raw turkey on the counter and trying to figure out what on earth I was doing.
When in doubt – turn on the food network, luckily airing thanksgiving specials all day. So after putting a pie in the oven (I already knew what to do for that!), watching food network for a couple hours and googling turkey tips, I got to work and got that bird in the oven. I opted for a stovetop stuffing (from scratch), and just filled the turkey with some apples (yes there are still apples around) and onions.
Three and a half hours later I had a great dinner just finishing as everyone returned from their adventures.
Our menu consisted of: (recipes to be posted in the next few days)
Roasted turkey

Stuffing

Mashed potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Steamed Carrots
Gravy
Flaky Butter Buns (these were from Mom’s Pantry line of frozen foods)
Maple Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pie
Key Lime Pie

Oh, and for snacking: pumpkin cinnamon rolls and pumpkin n’ cream cookies

The missing Cookie Cutter

So, I decided to make some heart shaped sugar cookies for Valentines day. I had everything ready to go and I couldn't find my heart shaped cookie cutter. So thinking that because it is Valentines day and everyone should have lots of heart shaped cookie cutters, off I go in search of one. Turns out not a single store within walking distance from my house has heart shaped cookie cutters and so, I returned home without a cookie cutter and not sure what I was going to do.

Then in a moment of brilliance I decided to make my own cookie cutter - How hard could it be right? Well about an hour or so later and after experimenting with different types of matterials, I managed to come up with a pretty decent heart shaped cookie cutter. I was really impressed that I had managed to bend a coat hanger into such a decent looking heart! Well when Hubby got home, he was not all that impressed and just headed straight for the cookies. However, everyone else has loved my cookie cutter so I thought I would share!

So here it is:

Valentines Cookies

So, as my husband was working evenings all last week, I had some time to kill and decided to make some valentines day cookies. I was craving chocolate chip cookies so I decided to try and make them look a little more festive. So, I made small cookies and then pressed chocolate hearts into them when they came out of the oven. These cookies were delicious and totally satisfied my chocolate chip cookie cravings.

I love this recipe and haven't found one much better yet, even though it comes from the back of my Chipits.

Ingredients
1 cup shortening or softened margerine/butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Chocolate chips
Chocolate hearts

Method:
1. Cream together the shortening and the sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the sugar mixture.
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 375.

I baked the cookies in a mini muffin tin to get the round shape and then pressed the chocolate hearts into the top of the cookies as soon as they came out of the oven.

These were delicious!

I also wanted some festive sugar cookies and was excited to try April's recipe she got from a friend. The cookies turned out great, and my husband's hockey team loved them.

Lollipop Flower Valentines

I decided to make my own Valentines this year and found a picture of these on the internet. They looked easy enough, so I tried.


Materials:
Lollipop
Coloured paper
Glue Stick
Whole punch.

How to:
Cut out hearts, Glue to hearts together by the tips.

Punch a hole in the center of where the hearts are glued together. Push the stick of the lollipop through the whole.

Repeat for the next set of heart petals.

Note: On the red flower I folded the petals in to make a more "closed" flower.

The leaves will have each persons name on them and will be a heart taped/glued around the stick/stem.