Caramel Apple Cupcakes

These have been on my Baking Bucket list and on my mind for a long time. Apparently I'm not the only one! My friend Tera had Caramel Apple cupcakes as one of her flavors at her wedding a year and a half ago, ever since her mother has been thinking about them and wanting them again. So I got a special request for them, along with 3 other flavors for Tera's sister's graduation celebration.  

Caramel Apple and Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I, of course made extra to test out for my husband and I. Dave gets to be my guinea pig a lot, lucky him! He got to be the first to try the Caramel Apple Cupcakes out. He was such a fan that after his first bite he actually cussed! I won't repeat what he said but it was his way of saying "These are awesome!" ;)

They are made with a fresh apple cake that is so moist and flavorful then topped with a caramel buttercream (made with homemade caramel sauce) and garnished with an apple slice dipped in caramel sauce.

I think these are one of my new favorites!!

Candy Bar Caramel Corn

I know I've said before how I love homemade caramel corn. This time around it's been taken to a whole new level! Caramel corn with candy bar chunks then drizzled with white and semi sweet chocolate...addicting! My dad can atest to that, he LOVED it!

Crunchy Candy Bar Caramel Corn www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com Time: 30 minutes + 15 minutes to set up Yield: One large jelly roll pan full Recipe adapted from Your Homebased Mom 16 C popped popcorn (1/2 C unpopped) 1 C brown sugar 1/4 C corn syrup 1/2 C butter 1/2 t baking soda 1 t vanilla 15 fun sized candy bars (I used twix, milky way and 1000 Grands) 1 C white chocolate chips 1/2 C semi sweet chocolate chips 1 t shortening 1. Pop 6 cups of popcorn. 2. In a medium sized glass bowl, or large glass measuring cup, place the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Heat it in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Repeat this step four more times. Heat and stir... Heat and stir... Heat and stir... and a final "heat and stir". It should be very bubbly and hot at this point. 3. Add the baking soda, vanilla and a dash of salt. 4. Pour the popcorn into a large brown paper grocery sack. 5. Pour the caramel right into the bag on top of the popcorn. Stir it around with a wooden spoon. 6. Fold the bag over and place it in the microwave, heat for 1 minute. Take the bag out of the microwave and shake it....shake it.....shake it. 7. Return the bag to the microwave and heat it for an additional 30 second, then shake it again. 8. Pour the caramel corn out onto a large jelly roll pan, lined with parchment paper. 9. Chop up the candy bars and lay them out over the caramel corn. 10. Heat the white chocolate chips in the microwave, for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating interval. Don't let the chocolate get too hot. Add 1/2 t shortening to the melted chocolate and stir to combine. 11. Drizzle the white chocolate over the top of the caramel corn and candy bars. 12. Melt the semi sweet chocolate just like you melted the white chocolate. Drizzle it over the caramel corn. 13. Let the chocolate set up (you can pop it into the fridge for 10 minutes to hurry along the process). Break it up into chunks and serve. Store any leftovers in an air tight container. Enjoy! Comments _displayNameOrEmail_ - _time_ - Remove _text_

Turtle Mania

I love making homemade treats especially during the Holiday season. Last year I didn't have a recipe for making my own turtles so I just winged it and they turned out great! This year I made them again but came across a recipe for them in one of the cookbooks I have from my mom's hometown. I have included both recipes, the recipe from the cookbook is Option A and the one I made up is Option B.

Option A:

Ingredients

• 1 lb caramels
• 2 Tbsp water
• 3/4 lb pecans
• 1 (16 oz) pkg chocolate chips

Unwrap all those caramels from the wrappers. Melt caramels in water. I melted mine over the stove, you could also use the microwave.

Arrange pecans in 36 groups of 4 about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.

Put 1 teaspoon caramel mixture on each group of caramels.

Melt chocolate in microwave or in double broiler on stove. Place 1 teaspoon melted chocolate on each turtle.

And you have turtles!


Option B: My Own Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 bag caramels
• 1 bag pecans
• 1 pkg Chocolate Almond Bark Preheat oven to about 300 degrees. Unwrap caramels, place on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake until caramels are just melted but not bubbly. Be careful not to melt too much or they will expand too much and be too thin.
  
  
  Take out of oven and place 4 pecans in each caramel piece while hot. Cool until caramels have firmed up.
  
  Melt 3-4 squares of chocolate almond bark in microwave for 30 second intervals until almost all the melted then keep stirring chocolate until fully melted and smooth. Either dip tops of caramels/pecans in the chocolate or spoon chocolate over each piece; let cool and harden.

**I prefer Option B as I think by adding the water to the caramel makes them a little more sticky and harder to handle but both ways are delicious!

Caramel Corn Time

It's been many many years since I've made caramel corn and I'm 98% sure this was my first time making it all by myself. Every year my father-in-law plants sweat corn in our enormous garden. This past year along with the sweat corn, he planted popcorn! I've actually had a few people quite surprised by the fact that we actually plant and grow popcorn, I had "I didn't know you actually grow popcorn like regular corn" (it just doesn't appear in bags at the grocery store people! haha). It takes extra time and care to get it from the field to popcorn kernels. Luckily I have an awesome father-in-law who did all the dirty work for me and gave me the end product, a huge bag of popcorn kernels AND an old fashion popcorn popper...


Get a load of this beauty!! A hand crank (yes you actually have to do some manual labor). As a child anytime we made our own popcorn on the stove it was usually just in a pot on the stove which easily burned if you weren't careful. This was my first time using this baby. I was told to just throw a handful of kernels in there, apparently my first idea of a handful was extremely overdone. Take One: I put a cup of kernels (a cups a handful right?!) and as popcorn started popping through the top, it was still popping! Only about half actually got a chance to pop before I had to start dumping it out. Take Two: Let's try a 1/2 cup....success! Hardly any left over kernels! Yeah me!


For those of you who are completely oblivious to making popcorn other than opening a box and throwing a bag in the microwave, it's really quite simple. All you have to do is add a little oil to the pan to coat the bottom, add the kernels but not to much, and heat on med-low until the oil starts boiling and the kernels begin to pop. But remember to constantly move the pot so it doesn't stick to the bottom and burn and DO NOT open the lid to that a peek!! You will no doubt get splattered by hot oil or get hit my a flying popcorn kernel, trust me :) Then pour the popped corn into a bowl and all I do is sprinkle with kosher salt, that's really all it needs and it is amazingly good! You should try it!


Now on to this sweet snack food called caramel corn...

My Amish Friend's Caramel Corn
Source: Allrecipes.com

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups dry roasted peanuts, optional
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow grease baking pans. You can use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans ans stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans from the oven and giving each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, the store in airtight containers or resealable bags.
   

This stuff is good ad definitely lives up to it's over 600 reviews!