Apples & Caramel

This "recipe" is one that I learned in college.  Back then I was still Nutritionally Ignorant, and thought that when something was "fat free" it was better for me.  Therefore I would make this stuff all the time with fat free sweetened condensed milk and think I could eat all I wanted.  Now that I know better, I don't make it very often but it is oh-so-good when I do!

So what's the recipe?  Since there's only one ingredient, I guess there isn't one.  But here's how you do it...

Take a can of sweetened condensed milk (your favorite brand or type) and peel off the label.

Place it into a pan with enough water to cover it (or almost cover it).  Bring the water to a boil, and let it boil for about three hours.

Since you'll be boiling this for a while, there's two important things you must do:

1.  Add hot water from time to time.  The water levels will go down over time when you're boiling water, so you'll want to be sure and keep the water levels high enough to keep the can mostly immersed.

2.  Move the can around periodically.  You don't want the milk to burn on one side, and if the can is only mostly immersed, you'll need to make sure it rolls around to cook evenly.

After 3 hours, remove from heat.  Allow the can to cool before opening so you don't burn yourself.  And from experience I can tell you that if you open that can hot, there is some serious pressure built up inside.  Trust me and be patient.  Let the can cool.  When it's cool enough to touch, take off the top.

 Spoon caramel into a small dish and store in fridge.

Or, cut up some apples and enjoy yourself!

"Ritzy" Holiday Cookies

About 4 years ago my older sister and I took a day-after-Thanksgiving road trip to upstate NY to visit a younger sister and her family.  While we were there our younger sister was participating in a Christmas Bazaar and had a bunch of Christmas goodies for sale, including these.  I'm not sure who originally got the idea for them, but I know I can't take credit.  I just know I could gain ten pounds every Christmas just eating the things.  And since Horse Lover is also a peanut butter lover, they are her favorite that she requested this year.


"Ritzy" Christmas Cookies

2 sleeves Ritz crackers
Creamy peanut butter
24 oz. Almond Bark vanilla candy coating
Sprinkles (if desired)

Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on a Ritz cracker.  Top with another cracker to make a sandwich.

Do this for all the Ritz crackers you are using and line them up neatly on wax paper.

Now it's time to melt the almond bark for the coating.  Some brands of almond bark are sold in big bricks (as shown in yesterday's post) and need to be broken up before placed into a bowl for melting.  However, some brands are sold in cubes as shown in this picture:

These are nice if you can find them because it is a whole lot easier to work with - especially if you're not using the whole package. Either way, you're going to melt the almond bark the same way.  Start off by microwaving it for about 1 minute, then stir.  Keep microwaving in 30-second increments, stirring in between, until completely melted.

 Drop a Ritz sandwich into the bowl of melted candy coating.  Using a fork, flip it over and make sure it's coated well all around.

 

Then pick it up with the fork and give the fork a couple of taps on the side of the bowl.  This gives you a smoother coat on top, and also knocks off some of the extra almond bark that you really don't need.

Place cookie back on wax paper to set.  If using sprinkles, be sure to put them on when the coating is still melted to they'll stick.

As you can see, my kids love to help out with these by putting on the sprinkles.

If desired, leave a few cookies plain.  I prefer them without sprinkles, myself.  But then, they don't look quite as festive, do they?

Holiday Bark

My original plans for today's post was for a sumptuous crock pot beef stew that we had for dinner yesterday.  In fact, I was going to blog about this stew when we first had it two weeks ago.  So where is the post about this lovely stew?  Well... you see... you make it in the crock pot.  And when I start it I take some great pictures of how you want to slice the carrots, lightly brown the meat, layer it in the crock pot, that sort of thing.  And by the time we eat dinner I am so rushed I don't even think about snapping a picture of the finished product.  Shame on me.  So, instead, you'll have to suffer by looking at pictures of more sweets: Holiday Bark.

As I told you in my last post, I made my family choose one item they'd like me to make for Christmas treats this year.  And since we seem to be on a roll with these, I guess I'll have to keep it up and blog about Horse Lover's Christmas goody request tomorrow.  Trust me - be excited.

I've been making this Holiday Bark for almost 10 years now.  Do you remember the old commercials for (I think) Rice Krispie treats where the mom stirs up this easy recipe, hangs out in the kitchen for a while, then pats some flour on her face and walks out with the plate of treats into the other room where her family is waiting?  Then they'd all think she slaved over this super-easy dessert and shower her with gratitude and affection.  That's kind of how I feel when I make these.  They are SO easy.

The original recipe I had for this came from a church activity where I received a printed booklet with favorite holiday recipes in it.  The ratio of pretzels to Almond Bark was a little low for me - I like more pretzel and less candy coating.  If you are one of those that prefer the sickeningly sweet variety, however, feel free to use less pretzels in the recipe.




Holiday Bark

24 oz. Almond Bark vanilla candy coating
12 oz. small pretzel twists
1 c. red & green M&M's

Break up Almond Bark and put in microwavable bowl.  Microwave for about 1 minute and stir.  Microwave for about another 90 seconds or until almond bark is completely melted, stirring every 30 seconds to check on it and prevent overcooking.

Once almond bark is melted, pour in pretzels.  Stir until evenly coated.

Add 1 c. M&M's and stir just until mixed evenly.  Do not  over-stir once you've added the M&M's or the colors will start to run.

Spread mixture out on wax paper to cool.

Once the candy coating has set (for me this it usually done after an hour) break into smaller pieces for serving.

Chocolate Crinkles

Lately I feel more like a chaotic cook than a "candid cook".  Maybe it's just that time of year, but I feel like I am hanging on by the skin of my teeth and everyone else is about 3 steps ahead.  Argh!

On the up side, I am cooking more than I have been.  I just updated my family budget and realized that we spent $6.41 on "dining out" in the first half of December.  And that $6.41 was for one large pizza from Little Caesar's one Friday night to placate the daughter who was very disappointed because she was NOT going to the slumber party.  A very worthy cause, in my humble opinion.  Otherwise, I've been cooking or we've been scrounging up what's in the kitchen.  However, because I feel like I'm doing a lot of "cooking in a hurry" these days, almost all of my meals have fallen into one of three categories:

1.  Tried something new, took a few pics, not worth your time or mine to post here
2.  Fabulous, but I didn't keep track and I'm not quite sure what I put in there
3.  Same old, same old stuff

Isn't that just the way it goes some times?

Christmas is now fast approaching,  and earlier in the month when I decided not to do as much baking this year I gave each of my family members the choice of what Christmas "goody" they'd like me to make.  The Monkey chose my chocolate crinkle cookies.  Although, really, it's not my recipe.  It's Better Homes and Gardens' recipe, though I did modify it to use unsweetened baking cocoa instead of baking chocolate squares.  But they are still so, so yummy.  Like brownies dipped in powdered sugar.  Since today was her school Christmas party, I decided to make these for her school festivities.  And as has been typical for me this month, I remembered that I needed to bake them about 10:30 this morning for a 1:30 party.

Chocolate Crinkles
(Original recipe in the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 11th edition.  Printed here with minor modifications.) 

3 eggs
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 c. cooking oil
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except for the flour and powdered sugar.

Beat until well combined and smooth.

 

Mix in as much of the flour as you can.  Because I am using powdered cocoa instead of the baking squares, I have reduced the amount of flour from the original recipe.  If you find that the dough is getting too thick before it's all mixed in, feel free to leave the rest out.  Or, if you feel like your dough isn't thick enough, add a little extra flour.  The dough needs to be firm enough that it can be rolled into balls.

 

Shape dough into small balls and roll in powdered sugar to coat.

 

Place balls on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

 

Bake at 375 for about 8 minutes.  See why they're called chocolate "crinkles"?

 

Remove from oven and let sit for about 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  In this picture, you can see why I am a huge fan of parchment paper.  I removed these cookies with my fingers, and look - no sticky sugar baked on the cookie sheet!

Mint Hot Cocoa Mix

Hot cocoa is one of the few things that I will never, ever be able to give up.  Ever.  I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't gamble.  I don't drink coffee or tea, and I don't even really drink caffeinated soda.  A girl's gotta have some sort of vice, right?  And hot cocoa fits right in with my healthy lifestyle as long as I realize it's not a beverage - it's a dessert!

If you are trying to skip a lot of the Christmas baking this year (like me) yet love to give out goodies to friends and neighbors without spending a bundle (also like me) then you may be very interested in this tasty concoction.  It's also super easy to make with your kids, and the only clean-up it wiping the dusty residue off your counter tops.  It's a no-brainer, right?

But really.  Whose kidding who?  Although I will give this stuff out for Christmas this year, I'm not making it for "them".  I'm making it for *me*.


Mint Hot Cocoa Mix
(Makes about 40 1/4-cup servings of 110 calories each.)

4 c. instant non-fat dry milk
2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/4 c. unsweetened baking cocoa
1 1/2 c. non-dairy creamer
1/4 tsp. salt
1 10-oz. bag of Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips

It's important that you are using instant dry milk for this mix.  You want this stuff to dissolve easily in hot water without having to whisk it!  Start off by putting your dry milk in a large, gallon-size ziplock bag.

Add all remaining powdered ingredients: powdered sugar, cocoa, creamer, and salt.

Put your kids to work shaking the bag to mix up the ingredients.  Horsie Lover figured it out without much help.

 

I thought The Monkey was going to rip a hole in bag the way she was squeezing it with her hands, so I showed her how to turn the bag upside down and right-side up over and over again to mix.  Much better...

Once you get it good and mixed, open the bag and dump in the Andes baking chips.  Snitch a couple.  Eat them slowly and savor the moment.  Then give the bag to your kids to shake up again.

 

And in case you need help finding them in the store, they should be in the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips in a green bag, like this one:

 

This makes about 10 cups of mix.  If you're giving some out as gifts, you can buy a pack of 30 cellophane bags at Hobby Lobby for about $2-$3.  Since I'm not crafty, I just hopped onto the computer and downloaded a Christmas clipart background for our bag topper.

 Be sure to put mixing instructions on the bag: 1/4 c. per mug of hot water.  And trust me, this stuff is creamy enough without having to add milk!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

There it is: the ultimate dessert muffin. I actually cut into this one when it was still hot so the chocolate chips were melted and they and smeared a little bit for the picture. Yum!

This time of year I get regular requests for my pumpkin chocolate chip muffins from the Peanut Gallery. They are extremely popular with everyone, even The Monkey who is my most picky eater of all. Yet I have a love/hate relationship with muffins and sweetbreads in general. They are so good, yet usually so loaded with fat and sugars that I feel guilty letting my kids have too many. Not to mention the fact that I will eat too many. They are quick and easy snack that I am more likely to reach for over a piece of fruit or something else that would be better for my waistline.

So in an attempt to reconcile my guilty pleasures with my calorie conscience, I have modified my pumpkin muffin recipe to make it better for me. The chocolate chips also add a good bit of fat and calories, so you can actually leave those out and end up with a muffin that has only about 100 calories each. If you know your muffins, that's actually really good. And they don't taste or feel like cardboard - imagine that!

This recipe also makes a large batch of muffins - about three dozen. That's because it calls for a full can of pumpkin puree. It really bugs me when a recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin and then then I'm left with this partial can of pumpkin in my fridge - not even quite enough for a second batch! Grrr... I'd rather make a large batch and live on 'em for a few days. Or better yet, just share with someone you love. Or someone you even like just a little bit. Or maybe even someone you are trying to get favors from. They will all thank you.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
(Makes 36 muffins, about 150 calories each)

1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. honey
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk
3 eggs
1/2 c. nonfat plain yogurt
2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

In a bowl combine canned pumpkin, spices, brown sugar, honey, and butter.

Beat until combined. Butter will still be chunky-looking in the batter.

Add 1 1/2 c. flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Beat an additional 1-2 minutes on medium speed.

Add milk, eggs, and yogurt. Mix yet again.

And finally, add the other 2 cups of flour. Beat well.

With a spoon or a spatula, mix in the chocolate chips by hand. You'll still have about 1/2 c. of chocolate chips left in the bag, but you notice I'm not complaining about having that left over. This is good for snacking while you're making the muffins, baking the muffins, or my favorite - stick them in the freezer and grab a few when you need a chocolate fix in the middle of the day.

Fill muffin cups about half full and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.