BEST Caramel Corn {without using popcorn}

This recipe is different from my other caramel popcorn recipe. Some of the ingredients are the same but the result is VERY different.  Don't try to questions it:) Trust me, just go and get the ingredients and make it tonight! I promise it won't disappoint. I made this for my son's preschool teachers as their  end of the year gift. They loved it! Thanks Aunt Diane, you are the best cook I know!


Caramel Corn

2 bags of white puffed corn (I used the $2/bag Chesters brand)
3 sticks of butter (3/4 pound) YIKES I know but trust me
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light Karo syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Cover a rimmed cookie sheet with wax paper. Set aside. Pour puffed corn into a large bowl. Set aside.  Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add sugar and syrup. Stirring constantly, boil for 5 min. Take off heat and add vanilla and baking soda. Pour caramel over puffed corn and mix until corn is fully covered. Pour covered puffed corn onto the wax papered pan. Spread evenly. Bake 40 minutes but be sure to stir the puffed corn around the pan every 10 minutes or it will burn. Allow to cool and enjoy. Store in air tight container.

Lemon Cookies

I must share this recipe I just tried this weekend. Here is the link to where I got it from. They are just what I mentioned earlier about what I love in a great cookie. Crunchy but chewy at the same time. Plus I love that they are lemon. They are light and refreshing. This recipe made only 2 dozen for me. I like to make them a little bigger than what she suggested though:)

Try this recipe. It's a keeper.

Lemon Cookies

½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes. **I had a light pan and mine took 10 minutes to cook.**

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pie

I was on a pie making mission yesterday. I love to make pies. There is something about the whole process that is very stress relieving for me. This one is different from your typical pie but very tasty. It has just enough chocolate to not make it too rich which I appreciate. Out of the pies I made yesterday it was the family favorite. You can serve it with some vanilla ice cream. YUM!

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pie

CRUST
1 unbaked pastry shell (recipe below) see my tutorial for pie crust here
1-1/4 cups flour 
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
4-5 tablespoons ice water


Chocolate Filling
1/2 cup water
1-1/2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla


In a saucepan, bring water, chocolate and butter to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat add sugar and vanilla. Set aside.


Filling
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk


In a mixing bowl, cream shortening with sugar until fluffy. Add egg; beat well. Combine flour, baking powder ans salt. add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Pour into unbaked pastry shell already formed in dish. Carefully pour chocolate mixture over filling. Cover pie crust edges with foil so they don't burn. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack and store in fridge.

Caramel Popcorn

This treat brings back a LOT of memories. I used to go to my friend Jenny's home every Sunday and we would make this caramel popcorn. **Warning** it's addicting!! I like to eat the whole thing right away but you can store it in an air tight container for a few days and munch on it whenever you get a craving.

Caramel Popcorn


3 envelopes of microwave popcorn, popped (hint: I like to use plain white because you don't need that extra butter flavoring)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 stick butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cook your popcorn in the microwave as directed. Pour popped corn on a cookie baking sheet. Shake the popcorn to separate the kernels. Using your hands, gently grab handfuls of popcorn and place in LARGE bowl this separates the kernels so you don't break a tooth while shoving caramel corn in your mouth. Set bowl of popcorn aside.

In med sized saucepan, combine sugar, syrup, butter and salt. Bring to boil over med-high heat. Stir often. Once it's boiling, stop stirring and let boil for 3 min. Take off heat and add baking soda and vanilla. Mix well. Pour over popcorn and gently mix to cover every piece.

Apple Pie

I really think that I could live off of apple pie. I don't make it very often and I am not sure why. It's SO good:) What better to make on 4th of July weekend.

You will need to use the Basic Pie Crust recipe from my blog. Chill in fridge while making filling.

Apple Pie filling


5 med to large sized granny smith apples
3/4 cup sugar plus about 2 tablespoons for apples
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon plus dash for apples
dash of nutmeg
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup apple juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Peel, core and slice apples to about 1/4 inch. Put in large bowl. Add lemon juice, 2 tablespoons sugar and dash of cinnamon to apples. Toss so all apples are well coated. Add more sugar or cinnamon if needed. Set aside.

In med saucepan NOT ON HEAT, add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cornstarch, water and apple juice. Stir well. Place on stove and heat on med-high heat until boils. Boil for about 2 min until it's really thick and bubbly. Pour over apples and mix.

Roll out half of dough for bottom crust. Pour apples over crust in pie dish. Then roll out top crust. Sprinkle a little sugar over top crust. Bake in oven set to 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 35-40 more minutes. Let pie rest before serving.

Malted Brownies

Here is the dessert I made for my hubby for Father's Day. Let me just say that these brownies could stand alone as an amazing dessert. I have said it before but I really don't think I will ever make brownies from a box again. Seriously people! If you haven't tried one of the brownie recipes from this blog or ANY homemade recipe for that matter it's time to start. They are so much better. Here is the recipe for the malted brownies. The recipe for the whole dessert is under my recipe index under malted brownie sundae.

S'more Bits

You have got to try this recipe. My dad introduced me to it. I finally had an excuse to make lots of goodies and not have them sit on the counter so I tried these out. They are tasty! They are fairly simple to make and different from the normal boring cookie. Let me know if you try it! P.s. I wish I would have had a few more to myself before I brought them to a party:)

Finished Product!

I used my 1 tsp to press the graham crackers 

After the Marshmallows have been baked

I used a double boiler to melt the chocolate

S'more Bits yields 24 bits


9 whole graham crackers, crushed
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 stick butter, melted
8 oz. milk chocolate, melted
12 large Marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crush the graham crackers by putting them in a Ziploc bag and roll with rolling pin. In a bowl mix crushed crackers with the sugar and butter. Scoop cracker mixture into each well of a 24 count mini cupcake pan. See picture above. Press mixture down so that it holds firm. Bake in oven for 5 min. While that baking, cut each of the 12 marshmallows in half cross wise. You can dip kitchen shears in cold water first and the marshmallows won't stick. Remove the pan from the oven and place half a marshmallow on top of each crust. See photo above. Bake 2 minutes longer. Cool pan on a rack for 15 min. While that is cooling begin melting your chocolate in a double boiler. Stir continuously. Carefully remove each bit from the pan and dip marshmallow top in melted chocolate. Place on a plate or rack so chocolate can set. It will take 30-40 for the chocolate to harden. Your done!

recipe adapted from: Pampered Chef

Strawberry Shortcake

This is weird... my blog post has disappeared. All evidence that I posted my strawberry shortcake recipe is gone. What the heck?? I really don't want to have to post it again. UGH!

As I wrote before my husband challenged me to make strawberry shortcake like one we had at a restaurant a few weeks back. I accepted his challenge and here we are.

Strawberry Shortcake


Strawberry Topping:
1 lb. Strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice


Shortcakes:
2 1/4 cup flour
4 tsp. baking powder
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk (you may need a little more if dough is extra dry)


Whipped Topping


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix strawberry topping ingredients in bowl and set aside. In separate bowl mix all dry ingredients for shortcakes.  Using a pastry blender blend in shortening. Gently mix in beaten egg and milk until a dry dough is formed. For flakier cakes mix minimum. Roll into palm sized balls and shape into biscuits. Makes about 6 biscuits. Place on baking sheet and bake for 15min. or until golden brown. Cool on rack. I served them with vanilla ice cream, strawberry topping and whipped topping in the photos above.

Strawberry Delight

This recipe is from my childhood. My mom used to make this for my sisters and me. No special reason. Maybe because it's such a good treat. All ages will love this cool dish. Fresh strawberries are in season so take advantage! This can be served as a dessert or a side dish.

Strawberry Delight


16 oz fresh strawberries
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon Juice
3 Tablespoons sugar
32 oz. strawberry yogurt
8 oz. whipped cream
1 package miniature marshmallows

Wash and slice strawberries. Put in large bowl. Squeeze lemon juice over strawberries. Sprinkle with sugar and stir. Let sit 10 minutes. Add yogurt and refrigerate until ready to serve. Once ready to serve, whip your cream and fold in. Then add marshmallows and mix thoroughly. Serve immediately. This recipe won't last too long in the fridge because the marshmallows get soggy.

Apple Crisp

For some reason blogger is not letting me upload the other pictures I have of this apple crisp. Annoying. Anyway this is a yummy dessert for those like me that don't care too much for a chocolaty dessert. Served warm with vanilla ice cream it's delicious.I like to use granny smith apples because of their tartness. You can use any kind of baking apples you like.

Apple Crisp

Filling:
8 medium sized baking apples, peeled cored and sliced
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup sugar (you may need a little more. I like to get the apples coated with sugar)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon


Crumb Topping:
3/4 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
8 Tablespoons butter (one stick), softened

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel, core and slice your apples. Make sure they are all uniform in size so they cook evenly. Place your cut apples in an 8X10 baking dish. Squeeze your fresh lemon juice on the apples and mix. Pour sugar and cinnamon on the apples and mix again lightly coating each apple with sugar. In a separate bowl mix flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon together. Add softened butter and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle the crumb topping over your apple filling. Bake for 35-40 min or until apples are tender. Serve with ice cream.

Symphony Brownies

I found an amazing brownie recipe I must share. I got it from this blog. I made it slightly different. I didn't have 4 oz. of unsweetened chocolate so I used 2 oz. of unsweetened and 2 oz. of milk chocolate. These are the best brownies I have ever had and I will never go back to a boxed brownie again. How could you go wrong when there is huge chunks of Hershey's Symphony bars inside!!

This is foil on the bottom of the baking pan and then prayed with cooking spray

This is what the batter looks like

I already had this huge candy bar on hand. Yes, This is normal for me and no I don't weigh 500 pounds. I like the one with almonds and toffee. You can use regular.

Symphony Brownies
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
12 Tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 cup flour
Symphony chocolate bar(s) I used 3/4 of the huge size. You will want 2 small bars. Break into pieces.


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
Microwave chocolate and butter or margarine in large bowl at medium (50% power) for 3-4 minutes or until butter is melted.Whisk until chocolate is melted. Stir in sugar and add in eggs, extracts and salt. Gradually add in flour and stir until just combined. Spread ½ the batter into prepared pan. Add an even layer of Symphony Chocolate squares and cover with remaining ½ of brownie batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes; do not over bake. Mine took about 34 min. Remove to cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

TIP: If you have a plastic lettuce knife they work WONDERS when cutting brownies. If you don't have one, they are a few dollars at the store and are SO awesome. I would recommend them to anyone. Mine looks like this.

Heart Ice Cream Sandwich

I came up with this little or should I say HUGE dessert for my kiddos for Valentines Day. I am sorry the pictures aren't so great. My camera is on it's last leg. Plus I am SO late getting these out but I wanted to share.  Enjoy!

I baked the double chocolate chip cookies from my blog but I made them extra big! Then I used my cookie cutter to cut them into hearts. This was pretty hard. I consider myself strong but it took muscle!

I bought strawberry ice cream and made the sandwich. YUMMY

Sugar Cookies

This is the easiest sugar cookies recipe I have tried. They also don't need to refrigerate before you roll them out so they are much faster to prepare. Once again, the key it cooking them the right amount of time.

The dough should not be runny at all.

Use wax or parchment paper to roll them out on. Roll them to 1/4 inch thickness for about 5 1/2 minutes cooking and 1/2 inch for thicker cookies that take about 7 minutes to cook. I feel they roll just fine without being refrigerated however, if you pick an intricate cookie cutter they won't be too easy if you are having trouble put the dough in a sealed bag and refrigerate for an hour and try again.

I rolled these cookies to 1/4 inch. My cookie cutters were large enough so I figured I wasn't going for gigantic cookies.

Spread them out because they will get bigger as they bake:)

These cookies shouldn't get color in the oven. They will stay light. Once they start cracking on the surface they are DONE. Take them out and put them on a cooling rack immediately.

Those last two pics here my kids' creations. For these I made a quick glaze for them. I usually just frost them from store bought frosting which I LOVE!! I used to bring a can of funfetti frosting to school for lunch. No joke. But recently I have been trying to make things on my own. Your choice:) I'll include the glaze in case you want to try it out. P.S. I would take the canned stuff over homemade any day. But these cookies are better than store bought hands down.

Sugar Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix the first 3 ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Cream shortening with hand mixer or kitchen Aide. Gradually add sugar, eggs, vanilla and dry ingredients.  Bake at 375 degrees for 5 1/2 to 7 minutes depending on how thick you rolled them out. See picture above for more details about baking.

Glaze


2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 teaspoons milk
4 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoons vanilla ( didn't use this and flavored it with cherry flavoring but you can use whatever)
food coloring of your choice

Mix ingredients with hand mixture until fully mixed. Dip or paint on cookies.

O M G...Oreo, Minty, Goodness

 I made them again with white and milk chocolate. YUM!

I was asked to bring a dessert to a party last week. I wanted to try something new so as I was blog surfing when came across Bakerella which is one of my favorite sites. I got this idea from her and let me tell you. THESE ARE SO GOOD!! They are fairly easy (I am not the best when it comes to working with chocolate) plus I made it harder on myself by doing them heart shaped. I would recommend just doing balls because I think it would be much easier to dip. You can use regular or mint Oreos ( I used mint) and white, dark or milk chocolate (I used milk chocolate). TIP: Use baking (melting) chocolate. Chips will not work for this. 

Oreo Bites


One package of Oreo cookies, finely crushed
1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
one package of chocolate bark for melting

Using a food processor finely crush the Oreos. Mix with the cream cheese. From here you can shape the dough anyway you like. I used a tiny heart shaped cookie cutter to form the hearts but it took a LONG time and wasn't as easy to dip. Put your rolled balls on a pan lined with parchment paper. Put in freezer to firm them up.

Once your bites are nice and firm in the freezer begin to melt your chocolate. I love the melting chocolate because you can do it in the microwave without much worry.

I poked the bites with a skewer to dip in the chocolate. One at a time, I dipped them and raised them out and rotated them until the extra chocolate dripped off. Then hanging over the parchment paper I twisted the skewer until the bite fell off then I smoothed over the hole with chocolate. The chocolate will harden quickly because the bites are cold.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Icing

These recipes are very simple and yummy. I made them into mini cupcakes. You can flavor the icing anyway you wish. I picked lemon for some odd reason... just sounded good.

Vanilla Cake recipe


If you make this as a cake use a 9 x 9 baking dish:)It made about 50 mini cupcakes.


1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

Combine first 4 ingredients. Mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients. I sifted the dry ingredients. I am not sure it's needed but I wanted them to be light. Once dry are mixed with the first 4 ingredients, add milk. Mix. Bake in 350 degree oven. It took about 6-7 min for the mini cupcakes.

Lemon Icing


1 cup vegetable shortening
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 cup whipping cream (start with 1/4 and add more if needed)

Cream shortening. Add sugar and continue to blend. Add salt, flavoring and coloring* and whipping cream. Beat at high speed until fluffy!!

*if desire

perfect cookies

I thought long and hard about sharing this cookie recipe. The key is not only the recipe but how long to cook the cookies. I have been asked for this recipe SO many times and haven't given it out. I used to make this every Sunday for my family so I have had lots of practice. This recipe takes me 5 min to prepare and 10 min to cook. Whoever says you can't have fresh cookies for drop in guests?? You can now!!

Put dry ingredients into a separate bowl

Mix wet ingredients in mixer or by hand

This is the consistency once dry is mixed with wet.

This is the size ball of dough I like to form.

After the chips are mixed in.

This is after 10 min in 375 degree oven. They are a little doughy in the middle THAT'S OK!

Finished product

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in bowl, set aside.  Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl. Mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients slowly. Add chips at the end. Roll the dough in your palm to form ball. See picture for size. Put them on a baking sheet. Not too many. Make sure they have space. Put balls down a little with your fingers. Bake for 10-11 min. They shouldn't look done. You want the center to be a little doughy still. Take out of the oven and let them sit on the pan to finish cooking for 10 more min.

Milk Chocolate Souffles

I got this recipe from my good friend Martha. I changed her recipe a little though so here we go. P.S. This was my first time making a souffles so go easy on me. My daughter did say that it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted.

You will need 4 ramekins for this recipe. I got mine for a few dollars each at Walmart.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for the ramekins
3 large egg whites, room temp, plus 3 large egg yolks
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
5 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, melted (use quality stuff)
2/3 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
3 tablespoons sour cream

Garnish= confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the ramekins generously with butter; coat with sugar. Whisk whites with a mixer until frothy, ~2 min. Add cream of tartar; whisk until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 cup sugar; wisk until med. peaks form, ~5min.

Start your chocolate melting in a double broiler. Do the next steps while it's melting. KEEP AN EYE ON IT. In a saucepan, whisk milk into cornstarch and salt. Bring to a simmer. Stir until thick, ~ 2min. Whisk in chocolate once it's melted (mixture will separate). Whisk in yolks and sour cream. Gently fold in whites.

Fill ramekins evenly with batter. Bake on baking sheet, rotating halfway through, until souffles rise but centers are still liquid, ~15 min. Dust with confectioners' sugar.