HOMEMADE SOFT CARAMELS!!!

If I'm in the mood, I like it, and I will devour it...
But typically I choose chewy candy, caramels or salt snacks over chocolate.

In High School my best friend's family made the best caramels in the world. I loved going to her house and eating till my stomach hurt. I loved getting the "neighborhood gifts" from them and taking the stash to my room. I STILL love going home over christmas and hoping the Walkers gave us a neighborhood gift so I can eat their caramels.

They make reg, cinnamon and licorice caramels. all of them to die for.
I however- do not have enough time or energy to make ALL of them. (I have made them all) so I just make regular. but I will provide you with the recipe so you can. It's not the cooking that is hard- its the rolling. holy rolling. Maybe when I have a few hand (older kids) I will make them all and we will have family night watching a movie and rolling caramels.
perfect.

READ the TIPS below BEFORE you make the caramels....

(this is stirring before it has started to change color)

cooling in the pan

cut small squares. a little goes a long way.

Rolling the candy:
I have used both wax and parchment paper. either works. Wax paper is nice when you have the three different caramels because you see the caramels through the paper, whereas the parchment paper is white and caramels are only slightly visible.

I cut a bunch of 3-4 inch strips from the paper roll, then cut the strips into thirds.

Its a nice addition to treat plates for neighbors

SOFT CARAMELS

Ingredients

candy thermometer
wax or parchment paper
1 can sweet condensed milk
2 C sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup white Karo Syrup

Directions

1.Cook on med heat and stir constantly. (CONSTANTLY) cook in heavy pan until it reaches 240 degrees. Take off stove and add... for licorice caramel: 3/4 t anise oil and 3/4 t black food coloring for cinnamon caramel: 1t cinnamon oil 3/4 t red food coloring (make sure it is no taste) pour into a 9x13 buttered pan. cool completely before cutting. TIPS: A.Make sure you stir caramels with either a wooden spoon or a spatula that can stand high temps. like papered chef. B.Try not to splash on the sides because when you are stirring don't scrape the sides back in there, scrape only the bottom of the pan. If you bring the sugar crystals from the sides of the pan back into your candy it will sugar it and be all crunchy instead of smooth when it is all done. C. Put your candy thermometer into the candy after it has boiled for a bit and started to change colors don't drag it around because scraping the metal to metal together can also sugar your candy. ALSO once you put the thermometer in you have to keep it in until it is done, don't take it out and put it back in unless you clean it. D. Keep the heat on a med heat and if you start seeing little brown specks in your candy take it off the heat mediately and turn it down. that is the candy scorching.

VANILLA PEACH COFFEE CAKE!!

Did you know that the fruit this summer is supposed to be the best it has been in years? Apparently, fruit loves hot weather. I personally have eaten more peaches and cherries this summer than I have in about five years just for that reason. As I have been a little overzealous lately buying peaches and cherries I found myself with a few peaches that were going to be too ripe for me to eat on the same day. That is unless I wanted to have them for every meal plus a few snacks. So I decided to make this recipe for Vanilla Peach Coffee Cake. Vanilla Peach Coffee Cake Adapted from Allrecipes.com Batter: 2 eggs 1 C milk 1/2 C oil 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 C sour cream 3 C flour 1 C sugar 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. baking soda Topping: 5 or 6 large peaches, diced. 3 Tbsp. butter, melted 11/4 C brown sugar 1Tbsp. cinnamon 2 tsp. nutmeg 4 Tbsp. flour Vanilla Icing: 1 Tbsp. butter 1 tsp

PRESENT TOPIARY TO DECORATE YOUR PORCH AND FRONT DOOR!

This comes from www.thatvillagehouse.blogspot.com . I made something similar a couple years ago, without the pots. It was about 6 feet high. I got the inspiration from a Chirstmas dectoration that we bought at Target. This is a very good idea and make a great enterance to your home. So here's a little something to thing about for next year. Before you know it December will be here again. You could also do something like this for an Easter theme. Enjoy! A Merry Welcome! So here is my first Christmas project for the year!! I saw something similar at our church's Advent celebration & pretty much straight up copied it. I couldn't help it. It was love at first sight! I plan to make a 2nd stack to go on the other side of my door, so I'm not completely done, but I thought I would share it with you anyway. I started with 3 different sized boxes...9, 12 & 14 inch cubes. I used an ice pick to punch holes in each of them so that I could run

SAPPORO SNOW FESTIVAL FROM JAPAN!!!

The Sapporo Snow Festival is a famous festival held annually in Sapporo, Japan, over 7 days in February. Currently, Odori Park, Susukino, and Tsudome are the main sites of the festival. The 2011 Yuki-matsuri dates are February 7th to the 13th. The festival is one of Japan's largest and most distinctive winter events. In 2007, about 2 million people visited Sapporo to see the hundreds of snow statues and ice sculptures at the Odori Park and Suskino sites, in central Sapporo, and the Satoland site. The festival is thought to be an opportunity for promoting international relations. The International Snow Sculpture Contest has been held at the Odori Park sit since 1974, and teams from various regions of the world participate. The subject of the statues varies and often features as event, famous building or person from the previous yer. For example, in 2004, there were statues of Hideki Matsui, the famous baseball player who at that time pl

DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

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