Christmas Treats

 

We did a cookie exchange for Christmas, but I also made these treats to give to people that I wasn't able to take cookies to. The problem was that we were going to deliver these on Christmas Eve, but everyone was riled up and crazy, so we didn't get a chance to deliver these on Christmas Eve. So, we were going to deliver these on Christmas Day after we visited family...and then my baby came down with the stomach flu and was throwing up all evening...and the next day. So, we ended up eating these all ourselves.

 

Pretzel M&M Peppermint Kisses

Ingredients:

70 square pretzels
70 Hershey's peppermint kisses, unwrapped
70 red and green M&Ms

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper or parchment paper. Place pretzels on the cookie sheet in a single layer and then top each pretzel with one Hershey's peppermint kiss. Bake in preheated oven for 4-5 minutes, or until the chocolate is shiny and soft, but holding its shape and not completely melted.

Remove from oven and carefully place on M&M in the center of each peppermint kiss and press down gently. Place in refrigerator to allow chocolate to set.

Source: I have gotten this from neighbors and friends for years now. It's pretty self-explanatory, but I found a recipe for it through Pinterest. You can find the recipe here.

Notes: Oh, these were good. I made more than 70. I just filled my jelly role pan as much as I could. I didn't keep track of the final count. You can make these at any time of the year. Use pink, red, and white M&Ms for Valentine's Day. Or use regular colors of M&Ms for any time of the year.

Pretzel M&M Rolo Treats

Ingredients:

70 circular or square pretzels
70 Rolos, unwrapped
70 red and green M&Ms

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper or parchment paper. Place pretzels on the cookie sheet in a single layer and then top each pretzel with a Rolo.

Bake in oven 1-2 minutes, or until Rolos are softened, but not completely melted.

Remove from oven and place one M&M in the center of each Rolo. Place in refrigerator until set.

Source: Again, this is one I have gotten from family and friends for ages, but I found some instructions on Allrecipes.com. You can find it here.

Holiday Goodies: Peppermint Swirl Fudge

I loved this recipe because it is so versatile...and because you can't screw it up. I am really good at screwing up fudge...but you can't screw up this fudge recipe. I promise. Be sure to check out the recipe notes to see how you can make other variations of this. Oh, and those are Sweetened Condensed Cookies in the background. If you want to try those out, check the recipe out here. I made one batch of those with mini M&Ms and one batch with red and green mini M&Ms.

Peppermint Swirl Fudge

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon butter
1 package (10-12 ounces) white baking chips
1 can (16 ounces) vanilla frosting
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
8 drops red food coloring
2 tablespoons crushed peppermint candies

Directions:

Line a 9-in.-square pan with foil and grease the foil with butter; set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt chips; stir until smooth. Remove from the heat. Stir in frosting and extract. Spread into prepared pan. Randomly place drops of food coloring over fudge; cut through fudge with a knife to swirl. Sprinkle with candies. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set.

Using foil, lift fudge out of pan. Gently peel off foil; cut fudge into 1-in. squares. Store in an airtight container.

Yield: about 1 1/2 pounds.

Source: Taste of Home. You can find it here.

Notes: I made this three separate ways. The white chocolate version as you see here, and a semi-sweet and milk chocolate version. For the semi-sweet, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and chocolate fudge frosting. I then did a milk chocolate version where I used milk chocolate chips and chocolate fudge frosting. For both of those versions, I skipped the red food coloring (because you wouldn't really be able to see it swirled anyway...and it wouldn't have been as pretty). I'll have to add pictures of those ones later.

This was to die for delicious all three ways. You can't go wrong with this easy recipe.

Christmas Candy: Part 2

 

If you can believe it, I had even more candy recipes that I wanted to make this year. However, I ran out of time, calories, and people to give candy to! Ah well, there is always next year.

 

Cream Cheese Mints

Ingredients:

4 ounces softened cream cheese
1 tablespoon softened butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
4 cups powdered sugar
Food coloring, optional
Granulated sugar or color sprinkles, optional

Directions:

Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil or waxed paper.

Place the softened cream cheese, butter, corn syrup, and mint extract in the large bowl of a stand mixer (alternately, a hand mixer can be used). Beat until the mixture is smooth and homogenous.

With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until the candy is well-combined. Taste the candy and adjust the flavoring to suit your taste. If you want to make different colors of mints, divide the candy into separate bowls and work the desired coloring into the portions of candy.

Using a spoon, scoop walnut-sized balls of candy and roll it between your palms into a ball. Roll the ball in granulated sugar or colored sprinkles. Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet, and use the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass to flatten the ball into a patty. If desired, you can instead press down on the mint with the tines of a fork to create a pretty cross-hatching pattern on the mint. Repeat with remaining candy until all the mints are formed.

Alternately, you can mold this candy by pressing small ball of the mint mixture into candy molds. After you have firmly pressed the candy into the mold, quickly pop it out and repeat with remaining candy.

Store mints in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. These mints are good straight from the refrigerator, or at room temperature.

Recipe notes: These candies make perfect favors for baby or bridal showers, weddings, and holiday parties. They can be decorated to suit any color scheme, and also work well as a molded candy. This recipe yields approximately 4 dozen 1" mint patties.

Source: I found these on the About.com website. You can find them here.

Chocolate Coconut Haystacks

Ingredients:

Sweetened flaked/shredded coconut
Chocolate (milk chocolate, semi-sweet, or dark--your preference)

Directions:

Toast the coconut. This can be done in the oven (at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes), a toaster oven, the stove-top (over medium heat, stirring frequently), or the microwave (cooked at 15 second intervals and stirred between each cooking time).

Melt the chocolate either in a double-boiler or in the microwave (at 30 second intervals, stirred between each cooking time).

Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, pour the coconut into the chocolate and stir until the coconut is coated completely. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper or aluminum foil. Refrigerate until the chocolate is completely set.

Source: This came from my wonderful chocolate loving grandpa! It was originally posted here.

Notes: I didn't offer ingredient amounts because it depends on how much you want to make. But it is about a 50/50 ratio. So, for example, 1/2 cup of toasted coconut and 1/2 cup of melted chocolate. Just enough for the coconut to become evenly coated.

Five Pounds of Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

2 (12-ounce) packages semisweet chocolate morsels
1 cup butter or margarine
1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow cream
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
Butter or margarine
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted, optional

Directions:

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large mixing bowl; set aside.

Combine sugar and evaporated milk in a buttered Dutch oven.

Cook sugar mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches soft ball stage, or candy thermometer registers 234°; pour over chocolate mixture. Beat at high speed with an electric mixer or with a wooden spoon until mixture thickens and begins to lose its gloss. Stir in vanilla and chopped pecans, if using.

Spread into a buttered 15x10-inch jelly roll pan. Cover and chill until firm. Cut into 1-inch squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Yield: Makes 96 pieces.

Source: Southern Living, June 2008. You can find it here.

Notes: This is just a good, classic chocolate fudge recipe. I made mine without nuts because of my son's allergies. It's a good way to make a lot of treats for a crowd!

Penuche Fudge (Mexican/Spanish Caramel Fudge)

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 can (5 oz) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
5 ounces (1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 ounces toasted walnuts, chopped (1 cup), optional

Directions:

Coat a 5x10-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line with plastic wrap, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides.

Bring evaporated milk, brown sugar, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture registers 236 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 25 minutes.

Transfer to a mixer bowl, and beat in confectioners' sugar on low speed. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Increase speed to medium, and beat until mixture is thickened and smooth, 2 to 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add vanilla and walnuts, if using.

Spread mixture in pan, smoothing top. Refrigerate, uncovered, until firm, about 25 minutes. Unmold fudge using plastic overhang, and discard plastic. Cut into 18 pieces.

Source: Martha Stewart Living, December 2008. You can find it here.

Notes: I made two changes to this recipe. First, I doubled it and poured it into an 8x8-inch square pan instead of a 5x10-inch loaf pan. Second, I skipped the nuts because of my son's nut allergy. If you follow the recipe as written below, you will get about 18 pieces of penuche (very generous-sized pieces of penuche. You can cut them into smaller pieces, and still have a good-sized piece of fudge).

Easy Chocolate Fudge with Pretzels

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (16 ounces)
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 1/2 cups roughly chopped miniature pretzels

Directions:

Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

Place butter, chocolate chips, condensed milk, vanilla, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pot of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until chocolate just melts and mixture is combined and warm, but not hot, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 2 cups pretzels. Transfer mixture to pan and smooth top; press 1/2 cup pretzels on top. Refrigerate until set, 2 hours (or up to overnight, wrapped). Using parchment, lift fudge from pan and cut into 36 squares.

Recipe notes: You can use nuts, trail mix, your favorite chopped candy, or crushed cookies in place of the pretzels.

Source: Everyday Food, July/August 2011. You can find it here.

Notes: The only thing I would change is that I would use 2 cups of pretzels instead of 2 1/2 cups. I would mix in 1 1/2 cups into the fudge and top the fudge with the remaining half cup. Also, just a word of warning, this fudge needs longer than 2 hours to set up before cutting into squares (at least my batch did). I would say to refrigerate it for 4 hours (or up to overnight, wrapped). This was good stuff! The pretzels were a nice way to add crunch to the fudge without using nuts.

Christmas Candy: Part 1

 

 

Not only did I get the Christmas baking spirit this year, but I got the Christmas candy making spirit this year too.

Peppermint bark is pretty much a yearly tradition for me. My husband loves it--it is his favorite Christmas treat--and nothing beats the homemade variety. I decided to try a couple of different ways of doing it this year though.

Classic Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (about 2 cups), or chocolate candy coating
1 (12 oz) bag white chocolate chips (about 2 cups), or vanilla candy coating
1-2 cups crushed peppermint (to your taste)

Directions:

Line a jelly roll pan with heavy duty aluminum foil.

Melt semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips. I prefer to do this in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave at 30 second intervals (stirring between each interval). It takes about a minute to a minute and a half to melt the chocolate.

Spread melted semi-sweet chocolate onto the jelly roll pan covered in foil. Spread chocolate over the pan to create an even layer. Place pan into a refrigerator or freezer to allow the chocolate to set.

Melt white chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Remove hardened semi-sweet chocolate and spread the melted white chocolate chips over the first layer. Be careful when you spread the white chocolate. The warm white chocolate can melt the semi-sweet chocolate and can create swirls (instead of a pristine white layer). Once the white chocolate has been spread in an even layer over the semi-sweet chocolate, sprinkle immediately with crushed peppermint. Press the peppermint into the white chocolate layer (this just helps make sure that the peppermint sticks to the bark once it is set).

Put the pan back into the refrigerator or freezer until the bark is completely set.

Once the bark is set, use a sharp knife to crack the bark. Using the point of the knife, apply pressure to the bark. The knife creates pressure points and the bark will crack on its own. Continue to crack the bark by using a knife. You can make the pieces as big or as small as you like.

If you make this with chocolate chips, you will need to store this in the refrigerator (otherwise, it will become soft and melty).

Source: You can find recipes for peppermint bark just about everywhere. But I really like the step-by-step instructions found on About.com. You can find it here. She also includes instructions for how to temper your chocolate, which you can find here.

Notes: The process of tempering chocolate is a pretty lengthy one (one which I don't currently have time for). If you don't have time to temper your chocolate, here are your two options: first, melt chocolate chips in the microwave and store the finished candy product in the refrigerator to avoid melting or; second, use candy coating instead. Candy coating is formulated to stay hard at room temperature after being melted, so you don't have to temper it and you don't have to keep it in the refrigerator either.

I originally posted this recipe here.

Red, White, and Green Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:

2 packages vanilla candy coating, divided
1-2 cups crushed peppermint candies (to your taste)

Directions:

Line a jelly roll pan with foil.

Melt first package of vanilla candy coating according to package instructions.

Spread vanilla candy coating on the foil-lined pan (the thickness of your candy depends on how you spread your candy coating). Place in a refrigerator or freezer to set up.

Meanwhile, melt second package of vanilla candy coating according to package instructions. When melted and smooth, stir in green food coloring to achieve your desired shade of green.

Remove set up layer of candy coating from the freezer and spread green layer of candy coating on top. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint and gently press peppermint candies into the green layer of candy coating.

Return to refrigerator or freezer until set.

Once the bark has set up, remove from the freezer and break into pieces using your hands or the sharp point of a knife.

Source: I got the inspiration for this from Taste of Home. You can find that recipe here.

Notes: I thought this looked really pretty and festive. You could skip the green food dye and use red instead and do this recipe with a white layer, a red layer, and then the red and white crushed peppermint on top. That would look really pretty too.

 

 

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:

1 package vanilla candy coating or white chocolate chips
1-2 cups crushed peppermint candies (to your taste)

Directions:

Line a jelly roll pan with foil.

Melt vanilla candy coating according to package instructions (or melt white chocolate chips in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl).

Once melted and smooth, stir in desired amount of crushed peppermint candies.

Spread vanilla candy coating or melted white chocolate and peppermint mixture onto foil-lined pan.

Sprinkle generously with additional crushed peppermint candies.

Place in refrigerator or freezer until set.

Once the bark is set, break into pieces with your hands, or with the sharp point of a knife.

Source: I didn't really have a source for this version of peppermint bark. It simply sounded like a good idea, so I tried it.

Notes: Oh, and it was a good idea. A very good idea. Yum!

Oh, Fudge!

If you haven't seen A Christmas Story, you have to...but since it is April, wait until Christmas (or if you want to follow our family tradition, watch it while you are eating pie on Thanksgiving in the evening to welcome in the Christmas season).

One scene features Ralphie saying, "Ooooh, fuuuuudge...," and then going on to explain, the narrator (grown up Ralphie) says, "Only I didn't say 'fudge.' I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the 'F-dash-dash-dash' word."

In honor of that scene, I will be sharing some delicious and easy fudge recipes today (no candy thermometer required).

Bavarian Mint Fudge

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon butter, divided
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 package (11 1/2 ounces) milk chocolate chips
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Line an 11-in. x 7-in. pan with foil and grease the foil with 1 1/2 teaspoons butter; set aside.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and remaining butter; stir until smooth. Stir in milk and extracts until well blended. Spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate until set.

Using the foil, life fudge out of the pan. Discard foil; cut fudge into 1-in. squares. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: about 2 1/2 pounds, or 77 pieces.

Nutrition information: 1 serving (1 piece) equals 62 calories, 3 g fat, 3 mg cholesterol, 13 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 1 g protein.

Source: Taste of Home. You can find the recipe here.

Notes: The mint taste of this fudge is so subtle...kind of like a mint truffle. Delicious. My only advice? This doesn't take long to make, but it seems like my kids will completely ignore me while I am cooking--unless it is one of those cooking moments that require my full attention...such as sauteeing onions and spices just before adding the broth or tomatoes...or when you are stirring sweetened condensed milk into melted chocolate and trying to get it smooth and not overworked. Well, both of my boys had meltdowns and immediately needed me right when I was mixing the condensed milk into the melted chocolate. As a result, my fudge didn't turn out quite as smooth as it would have. However, it tasted fantastic.

Strawberry Shortcake Fudge (with variations)

Ingredients:

1 can Duncan Hines starter icing
1 packet Duncan Hines Frosting Creations (any flavor you like--in this case, strawberry shortcake)
1 bag white chocolate chips
Sprinkles or other toppings or mix-ins (optional)

Directions:

Line an 8x8-inch pan with aluminum foil.

Mix frosting creations packet into icing starter.

Melt white chocolate chips in microwave. Melt in 30 second increments, stirring during each interval until smooth.

Mix icing into melted chocolate chips (if using mix-ins, stir these in now).

Pour into foil lined pan. Sprinkle toppings on top if you would like.

Chill for 2 hours.

Makes 64 1x1 inch pieces.

Source: We found this on a blog called Make-Bake-Celebrate. You can find the recipe here.

Variations: The flavors, mix-ins, and toppings are only limited to your own imagination. You can use any kind of frosting you like (Duncan Hines Frosting Creations...or any other kind of canned frosting). How about normal white vanilla frosting with crushed Oreo cookies mixed in?With the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations flavors and your own imagination, just think of the possibilities!

 

Above: We made caramel fudge too (using the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations)

Above: Classic chocolate fudge.

Below is a list of all of Duncan Hines Frosting Creations flavors:

Key Lime Pie
Peaches and Creme
Pink Lemonade
Fruit Punch
Bubble Gum
Caramel
Cherry Vanilla
Chocolate Almond
Chocolate Marshmallow
Cinnamon Roll
Cotton Candy
Mint Chocolate
Mocha
Orange Creme
Strawberry Shortcake
White Chocolate Raspberry

Birthday Cake Fudge aka Cake Batter Fudge

Ingredients:

2 cups and 2 tbsp white or yellow cake mix
2 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter, cut into four pieces
1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup white chocolate chips
Sprinkles, optional
1 can of icing, optional

Directions:

Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with foil. Lightly grease foil.

In a large microwave safe bowl, mix together cake mix and powdered sugar until completely blended. Add in milk and butter.

Microwave for 2 minutes. Your butter should be almost completely melted. If not, microwave it for a little longer.

Stir together until blended. It will be a thick consistency. Then, fold in your white chocolate chips. The hot batter will melt them as you stir. Be sure to keep stirring and folding until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate chips are melted.

Pour your fudge batter into your foiled lined baking dish and smooth out with a spatula. You can use a piece of wax paper and an icing smoother to get your fudge nicely smoothed and leveled.

Add sprinkles on top, if using (unless you are using a can of icing to frost your fudge, in which case, you would wait to add your sprinkles).

Let chill in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. Then lift the fudge out of the pan using the foil.

If you want to frost your fudge, pull the foil back and add icing and sprinkles.

Cut into 1 inch squares.

The chill time will depend on how stiff you like your fudge.

Source:  This also came from the blog Make-Bake-Celebrate. You can find it here. She was inspired by a blog called Sally's Baking Addiction. You can find it here.

Notes: These were delicious. We opted not to frost ours. Personally, topping fudge with frosting seems like a good way to die from a sugar overdose, you know? There can be too much of a good thing!

Goody, Goody Gumdrops!

This is a recipe that I found before Christmas and I knew I just had to try it. They were fun to make, delicious, and my boys loved them!

Homemade Gumdrops

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 1/3 cups applesauce
2 packages (3 oz. each) red, or green gelatin
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine 2 cups sugar, applesauce, red or green gelatin, unflavored gelatin, and lemon juice; let stand for one minute. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Immediately pour into cold 11x7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.

With a spatula, loosen gelatin from sides of pan. To remove, invert onto waxed paper. Using kitchen shears or small cookie cutters dipped in hot water, cut into 1-inch squares or shapes.

Place on waxed paper. Dry at room temperature for about 8 hours or until slightly sticky. Roll in remaining sugar. Store in an airtight container.

Yield: About 1 3/4 pounds. Makes 70 servings.

Nutrition information: 1 piece (out of 70) is 35 calories, trace fat, 0 cholesterol, 3 mg sodium, 9 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, trace protein.

Source: I found this on the Taste of Home website. You can find it here.

Notes: It was a lot of fun to make (my older son loved dipping the gummies into the sugar). I would definitely suggest NOT using cookie cutters for these. First of all, you would need really little cookie cutters, and if you had them, it would take approximately 12 billion years to cut out the shapes--and then you would have leftover pieces that would just go to waste. The squares were a lot easier to cut with kitchen shears--though these would look cute in heart shapes for Valentine's day. Since I cut these into squares, I ended up with a LOT more than just 70 pieces. My boys were also impatient and wanted to dip the pieces in sugar right after I cut them--instead of waiting 8 hours for them to dry. So, we dipped some in sugar right away and waited on the rest. Honestly, I didn't see the difference. If anything, they were a little more sticky (and therefore the sugar stuck to them easier) right after I had cut them. If you are impatient, just go ahead and dip them in sugar right after you cut them up.

I thought I had two 3 oz boxes of strawberry gelatin...but it turned out I didn't. One of the strawberry gelatin boxes was only .3 oz. I happened to have a 3 oz box of cherry...so I mixed cherry and strawberry and it still tasted great. You don't have to limit this to just red or green gelatin. Any kind would work.

 

  

 

  

It Can't Be True

 When considering titles for this blog post, the following options came to mind:

1. Too Good To Be True
2. No Way!
3. I Can't Believe It
4. Dangerous Knowledge
5. Uh-Oh
6. Using a Microwave?
7. I'm In Trouble

The reason for this is because when you see this recipe, you will think to yourself, "No way. This is too good to be true. I can't believe it and I won't believe it."

Then, after you have tried this recipe, you will think to yourself, "Uh-oh. This is dangerous knowledge to have. I can't believe you can make this with a microwave. If I don't find someone to share this with, I am going to be in trouble."

The recipe I am going to share is for homemade microwave caramels. These are unbelievably just as good as the homemade caramels that you make using a pot and a candy thermometer. Only this time, no pot or candy thermometer is necessary.

The one and only time I tried to make caramel before this was a failure. I watched that candy thermometer like a hawk and I stuck to that recipe like glue (two cliches in one sentence. Are you proud of me?). It looked good...but then it hardened...and hardened. It wasn't delicious, soft, melt-in-your mouth caramel. It still turned out to be delicious (after all, it had cream, sugar, and butter in it...how can you go wrong?). However, it turned out to be hard candy. So, I ended up melting the whole thing in the microwave so that it was pourable again, and I poured it into sucker molds and made caramel suckers. Still lovely and deliciously edible, but not what I had been hoping for. I have been reluctant to try my hand at candy-making ever since (candy making definitely doesn't come naturally to me).

I think it is impossible to fail with this recipe, if you follow it. This caramel was soft, chewy, and delicious. Find someone that you need to give a thank you gift to, because otherwise you will gain 5 pounds eating this stuff in two or three days! I gave a third to a next-door neighbor, a third of it I sent to work with my husband to share with his co-workers, and we kept a third of it to eat at home. Delicious!

Microwave Caramels

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (such as Karo Syrup)
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

Spray an 8x8-inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cook in 2 minute increments, stirring after each, for a total of 12 minutes.

Pour caramel into 8x8-inch baking dish and allow to cool completely. Cut caramels into desired sized pieces and wrap each individual caramel in waxed paper.

Store in an airtight container, or in the refrigerator.

Source: I originally found the idea on Pinterest. It can be found on at least a dozen different blogs and websites. Here are the two sites that I got the recipe from (the first site includes a halved version of the recipe--I think it is the original source. The second site includes the recipe as shared above.) Halved version from Food.com found here. Recipe as shown above found here.

Notes: I kept a tally on a piece of paper as to how many minutes the caramel had been in the microwave because I knew that I would lose track of it otherwise. One of the versions of the recipe that I found off of Pinterest also included 1 teaspoon of vanilla. If you decide to add this, I would suggest adding it in while you are stirring the caramel mixture before you cook it for the last two minutes. I originally cut my caramel into 40 pieces (ten cuts across and four cuts down). However, I realized that because this made for pretty thick caramels that I could cut each of those pieces into three or four pieces each. So, I would say that, depending on how small or big you want your caramels to be, you could get anywhere from 40 large to 120 smaller pieces of caramel out of one batch.

 

 

 

Above: I started out with the plan to cut 40 pieces of caramel.

   

Above: After awhile, I started cutting the original pieces of caramel into thirds. They were still good-sized pieces of caramel. If I had started doing it that way, I would have ended up with 120 pieces total. If you want them in-between these two sizes, I would suggest cutting them into 80 pieces (7 cuts down the pan, 10 cuts across the pan).

Yum! I could have eaten them all! (Don't worry...I didn't eat them all...but I ate way more than I should have!)