recipe

Best Caramel Corn Recipe Ever

February 3, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow 2 Comments

YOU GUYS! This is the BEST CARAMEL CORN RECIPE EVER! I don’t mean to yell. I just want to be clear. You haven’t lived until you’ve had this caramel corn. It is simple to make and is a show stopper. I have given this as teacher’s gifts, eaten it in place of birthday cake and have been accused of hoarding it for myself. If that is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

The ingredients are pretty standard. And I know there is a lot of negativity surrounding corn syrup and the like. If there is one place in the world they should be, it is dessert. Embrace it people! Then eat some carrots to balance it out.

The only thing hard about this recipe is remembering to watch the caramel so it doesn’t burn. I often try to do something else at the same time thinking I can multi-task. And sometimes I can. But it never works out when I am making caramel. I’m fine with burnt toast. I’m okay with burnt pizza. But there is no place in this world for burnt caramel. Super grody.

The corn syrup helps to make a nice candy coating on the outside of the popcorn. And a candy coating is never bad.

If your kids are old enough to be around hot molten caramel, have them help you with this. There is a fun chemical reaction when you add the baking soda to the caramel. It foams up and grows. So cool. I have no idea what the purpose really is but if it helps it come out yummy, I’m all for it.

You can use a roasting pan but I find it is easier to use a large disposable pan. The key to this caramel corn is the baking. It helps coat all of the popcorn and keeps the popcorn from becoming soggy. This is not a sticky caramel corn. It is crisp and buttery and perfect. I like using a larger pan to make sure that I don’t lose half of the batch in to the fiery depths of the oven when I stir it every 15 minutes. FYI, burnt caramel smells almost as bad as it tastes. And then clean up is a breeze because you don’t have to try to get hardened caramel off the pan.

There you have it. Best Caramel Corn Ever. SO easy. I know that some of you may have your own caramel corn recipe that you swear by. But yours is wrong. Mine is better. Sometimes I sprinkle a little Maldon Sea Salt on top as it is cooling down from its last spin in the oven. Oh yeah.

Best Caramel Corn Recipe Ever

Ingredients

2 cups brown sugar (packed)
1 cup butter (I've used both salted and unsalted - I don't taste a huge difference)
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
6 quarts popped popcorn (I use an air popper, but you can use plain microwave popcorn also)

Instructions

Pop all your popcorn (6 quarts) and place in disposable baking pan.
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
To a saucepan, add the brown sugar, butter, salt and corn syrup.
Melt together over medium heat, stirring almost constantly to keep it from burning.
Heat to boiling and let boil for 5 minutes, stirring almost constantly.
Remove from heat and add baking soda.
Stir well.
Pour over popped popcorn and stir well, taking care not to break the popcorn.
Bake at 250 degrees for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Stir the caramel corn as it cools to prevent it from sticking together in big clumps.
Store in an air tight container.

http://www.cupcakesandcutlery.com/best-caramel-corn-recipe-ever/

Filed Under: Recipes, Things I Love Tagged With: caramel corn, dessert, popcorn, recipe

Beer Chocolate and Chile Ice Cream

January 29, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow 2 Comments

Yup, I made beer ice cream. Well, it totally had chocolate and chile in it too. And it was good. And it is another great recipe for game day. People seem to get excited about game day. But I get excited about ice cream.

Beer Chocolate and Chile Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 large pasilla negro chile, stemmed, seeded, deveined (I found this is the International Foods Aisle at my grocery store. It was not called exactly as it is written above, but look for key words…)
1 1/3 cups half-and-half
2 ounces Mexican chocolate, chopped in to small pieces (I could not find Mexican chocolate so instead I used a bittersweet chocolate and added a touch of cinnamon to the recipe)
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4″ pieces
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla, preferably Mexican
1/4 cup Bohemia beer

Instructions

In a small skillet heated over medium, toast the chile, pressing it flat against the skillet with a metal spatula until it is very aromatic—about 10 seconds per side. Place in a small saucepan and add the half-and-half, Mexican chocolate and the semi-sweet chocolate; heat over medium until steaming (but not boiling). Remove from heat. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes, then pour into a blender jar and process until the chile is completely pureed.
Set up a 4-quart saucepan, filled halfway with water, into which you can nestle a 3-quart stainless steel bowl. Bring the pot of water to a boil over high heat while you’re preparing the custard base. Reduce the temperature under the pot of boiling water to maintain a gentle simmer.
In the 3-quart stainless steel bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thoroughly combined, then whisk in the chile-infused chocolate mixture. Set the bowl of custard base over the simmering water and whisk frequently, scraping down the sides of the bowl regularly with a rubber spatula, until the mixture thickens noticeably, about 5 minutes. The custard is sufficiently cooked when it reaches 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. (You can also test it by dipping a wooden spoon into the custard, then running your finger through the custard: if the line holds clearly, the custard has thickened sufficiently.) For the finest texture, strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean bowl.
Fill a large bowl halfway with ice. Nestle the bowl of strained custard in the ice bath. Whisk the mixture until it is completely cool. Refrigerate if not using immediately.
Stir the heavy cream, vanilla and Bohemia into the base. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer’s directions. Scrape into a freezer container and freeze for several hours to firm.
Recipe courtesy of Bohemia Beer

http://www.cupcakesandcutlery.com/beer-chocolate-and-chile-ice-cream/

Filed Under: Food, Holidays, Party Planning, Recipes, Sip it Tagged With: Beer, dessert, game day, ice cream, recipe

Easy Microwave Applesauce

December 16, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow Leave a Comment

This is one of my favorite recipes. Ever. It is so easy and fresh and have I mentioned easy? I make extra of this Easy Microwave Applesauce so that I have more of it all to myself. The green apples make it a smidge more tart than normal applesauce which I love. I usually make it for Christmas dinner. Well, I make it a day or two ahead so that I don’t have to do anything on Christmas day. That is reserved for lounging, eating yummy foods and spending time with the family. I came across a recipe in Martha Stewart’s Every Day Food magazine (which I can’t find online to link to) years ago and have been making it ever since.

I know that Martha got some bloggers in an uproar recently. I was not one of them. I don’t totally disagree with some of the things she said. She is absolutely correct that I don’t test my recipes until within an inch of their life. If I had a million dollars, a test kitchen and support staff, then yes, I would test my recipes more. But she is wrong that I am not an expert. I am an expert in anything I do in my home. Because that is where I am free to make whatever I do completely my own and put my spin on it. I choose to share some of those things with my readers to give them inspiration. If they make one of the recipes that I share and then make their own changes to it, that is amazing. There is always room for improvement. Which is why I made Martha’s recipe better. OH SNAP!

So once you have all your ingredients out and are just about to really get going, you are going to need to stop and listen to a Lego set review. My oldest creates his own themed sets from the Legos he already has. And then, like his fave, The Brick Show, he goes on. And on. And on about the Legos. This is where you can feel free to make some changes. Maybe you don’t have someone to requesting your attention and that is ok. These are the types of things that happen in my “test kitchen.”

Peel and chop the apples. Don’t forget to cut two extra apples for your kids. If you don’t they will take the ones that are meant for your recipe whenever you turn your back. I’m sure Alexis did the same thing.

Here is where I go rogue on Martha’s recipe. I add a bunch of different spices that I love. Like ginger, and cloves. I’m sure Martha is clutching her pearls at the mere suggestion.

Once you mix everything together, you cover the dish and put it in the microwave. About halfway through you mush the apples with a fork. I like to leave it really chunky though, but this is totally personal preference.

And then you eat it. It is yummy warm but I think it is even better cold. I know sometimes tone doesn’t transfer well over this here internet and I want to make sure that you all know how much I respect Martha. She has built an empire, amassing the most talented people under one company. And you have to respect someone who is comfortable in her cold, sometimes harsh, persona. She makes no apologies for being who she is. And while not everyone will like her, and she may make lots of people angry, she is always herself. As we all should be.

Easy Microwave Applesauce

Ingredients

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cinnamon Applesauce Recipe
6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into roughly 1/2" chunks
1/8 cup sugar
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
1/16 tsp clove (use more if you like it, but it is a really strong flavor)
coarse salt

Instructions

In a 2-quart microwave safe dish with a lid, combine apples, sugar, lemon juice, spices and salt
Cover and microwave on high until very tender, 10-15 minutes, stirring halfway through
Mash apples with a fork (leave larger chunks for an overall chunkier texture)
Serve warm or cold
Store covered in refrigerator for up to a week.

http://www.cupcakesandcutlery.com/easy-microwave-applesauce/

Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Tutorials, Uncategorized Tagged With: Applesauce, holiday, recipe, side dish, tutorial

Orange Cardamom Hot Chocolate Recipe

December 1, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow 9 Comments

How fun is this?! I’m part of Sandy Toes and Popsicle‘s Hot Chocolate Recipe Party blog hop. What that means is that several other bloggers are sharing their favorite hot chocolate recipes too. After you check out my post I know you are going to want to go check all of them out. My contribution is this Orange Cardamom Hot Chocolate. I’ve been wanting to try this recipe out for a while so when Jill asked if I wanted to be part of this party I said YES! I’ve been super into cardamom lately. And orange just goes really well with chocolate so I figured they would all work really well together. As with most of my recipes, I ran it by Kristin to make sure that amounts of each thing and technique sounded right. And then I set to work to try it out.

There are tons of ways to make hot chocolate and it is pretty much a personal preference. So whatever way you like it, do it that way. The orange and cardamom will work with whatever base you decide to go with. I used 1% milk because that is what we had in the house. But whole milk would make it super creamy and delicious. And Pioneer Woman likes a mix of milk and cream, and has her own version of orange flavored as well. YUM! Grab an orange, about a cup (or more) of semi-sweet chocolate and set to work finding whole cardamom pods. They aren’t everywhere but I ended up finding them at World Market of all places. Powdered would work fine too I’m sure if you can’t find the pods.

These ingredients smell amazing. The cardamom pods were not as fragrant as I thought they would be when I cracked them. Cracking them was really easy. Place them, one at a time, on the cutting board. Lay a large chef’s knife (blade aiming away from you) on top of the cardamom pod. With the heal of your hand give it a quick whack. It will split the pod without breaking it in to tiny pieces. The orange flavor is so clean and bright and totally reminds me of Christmas thanks to my mom making me candied orange peel every year while growing up.

With Kristin‘s approval, I decided to steep the orange peel (being careful not to get the white bitter part when I peeled it with a vegetable peeler) and cracked cardamom pods in the milk.

When heating milk, you need to make sure that you stir often over a medium to low flame so you don’t scald it. It doesn’t smell good when it burns. So I’ve heard…

Once the milk has come to a boil, I skimmed out the orange peel and cardamom pods and threw them away. Then I added the roughly chopped chocolate to the pan. I continued stirring until I felt like it was really melted. I’m not a chocolate expert so I really don’t know why my chocolate stayed looking speckle-y instead of being really smooth. It didn’t stop me from drinking the end result though.

And doesn’t hot chocolate taste better in a special mug? This was one of my husband’s from when he was a kid. His mom gave it to use a few years ago when she was cleaning out her cupboard. He never uses it but I certainly do.

I ladled the hot chocolate in the mug and topped it with another piece of orange peel. I also sprinkled a little bit of powdered cardamom on top to make sure that when you go in for that first sip you know what you are getting. Overall the orange and cardamom flavor was subtle but delicious. This is definitely something I will be making again!

Jill created a download for the recipe card. Download it below:

Orange Cardamom Hot Chocolate Recipe Card

It prints two to a page so be sure to share it with someone! Huge thank you to Jill for creating the party and all the printables!

Don’t forget to go check out the other amazing hot chocolate recipes (each with their own printable recipe card! Collect them all!):

Caramel hot chocolate – Alma ( fieldtripmom.com )
Nutella hot chocolate – Tee ( thatsitmommy.com )
Mexican hot chocolate – Pattie ( livingmividaloca.com )
Peanut butter hot chocolate – Linsey ( lillepunkin.com )
Coffee with hot chocolate mix added – Kara ( smallthingsarebigthings.com )
Frozen Hot Chocolate – Jamie ( mngirlinla.com )
Peppermint Hot Chocolate Floats – Caryn ( rockinmama.net )
Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow cream topping – Jill ( sandytoesandpopsicles.com )

Filed Under: Recipes, Sip it Tagged With: Blog Hop, Holidays, Orange Cardamom Hot Chocolate, printable, recipe

Kitchen Sink OREO Cookie Balls Recipe with Dippers

November 20, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow 5 Comments

*This is a sponsored post on behalf of OREO. All opinions are my own.

My family goes through a bag of OREOs like nobodies business. They are a favorite of my kids, my husband and I have also been known to eat one or 30 of them for a snack. And even my son’s pickiest friends will indulge in a cookie snack while over for a play date. So while I like sharing the cookies as it is, I also like to use them in sweet treats (OREO stuffed chocolate chip cookies anyone???). OREO has a classic cookie ball recipe that they invited me to put my own spin on and share with my readers. So I reached out to my pal, Kristin of Meringue Bake Shop, to come and create with me. The holidays are all about sharing and spending time together. Kristin and I love to be creative together so I thought this would be a fun way to get to hang out and create something super yummy. Plus, she’s a pro in the sweets department.

The basic cookie ball recipe includes a whole package of OREOs, a block of cream cheese and some baking chocolate. Kristin and I are both really inspired by Christina Tossi of Momofuko Milk Bar and her ridonkulous Compost Cookies. So we decided to create our version in cookie ball form. But instead of creating a ball that you might eat like a truffle, we decided to make it a little bit larger (I LOVE me some sweets) and serve it with dippers as you might with a cheese ball.