Holiday Treats

I spent the night making some last-minute gifts for friends...Haim has been happily taste testing as well!

Carmel Corn

Makes 8 cups

Ingredients
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 6 quarts popped corn (sift out unpopped kernels)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• your favorite nuts (pecans, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, cashews….)

Directions
1.In large saucepan, boil sugar, butter, syrup and salt for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

2.Add soda and stir well.

3.Pour over popcorn and nuts.

4.Spread on cookie sheet.

5.Bake 200 degrees for 1 hour, stirring at 15 minute intervals.

6.Remove from oven and cool until solid.

7.Store in covered container to keep crisp.

Carmel Pecan Clusters

Makes 12

Ingredients
• 1 cup pecan halves (3 1/4 ounces)
• 12 soft caramel-candy cubes
• 1 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into 12 pieces (1/2 inch each)

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange pecans in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet; toast in oven until fragrant, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven (leave oven on); set aside 36 pecans on baking sheet. Finely chop remaining pecans (for about 1/4 cup); set aside.

2.When pecans are cool enough to handle, make 12 clusters by arranging 2 pecans vertically, side by side, below 1 pecan placed horizontally. The clusters should be arranged on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or parchment. Gently flatten each caramel; place 1 on top of each cluster. Bake clusters 5 minutes. Remove from oven (leave oven on).

3.Place 1 piece of chocolate on top of each cluster. Return to oven; bake until chocolate begins to melt, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from oven. With the back of a spoon, gently spread chocolate over caramel without completely covering it.

4.Sprinkle clusters with reserved chopped pecans. Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Chocolate Apricots

Ingredients
• equal weight measure dried Turkish apricots and chopped dark chocolate
• foil candy wrappers


Directions
1.Microwave chocolate in a glass bowl in 15-second intervals, stirring vigorously with a rubber spatula and scraping down sides in between, until just melted (chocolate should be no warmer than 86 degrees).

2.Dip each apricot in chocolate, coating evenly. Transfer to wire racks set over parchment paper; let stand until set.

3.Transfer apricots to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, at least 25 minutes. Wrap in foil wrappers. Can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 3 days.
Turned out beautiful, but I might try this with tempered chocolate next time and see if it does any better...maybe I can leave it unrefrigerated then.

White Chocolate Clusters

Makes 20

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups assorted dried fruits and toasted nuts, (choose among raisins, cherries, cranberries, chopped apricots, almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, and macadamia nuts)
• 1 package (12 ounces) white-chocolate chips

Directions
1.Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. In a small bowl, combine dried fruits and nuts.

2.Heat white-chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring until just smooth. Do not overheat or the consistency of the "chocolate" will alter and be ruined.

3.Drop level tablespoons of melted chocolate onto prepared sheet, 2 inches apart. Mound fruit-nut mixture on top, pressing in gently. Refrigerate until set, 15 to 20 minutes.

English Toffee

Makes about 3 pounds

Ingredients
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pan and foil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 cups toasted (about 8 ounces) almonds, chopped
• 12oz good quality chocolate (milk or dark), tempered

Directions
1.Butter a 12-by-18-inch baking pan. Cover two large cutting boards or cardboard pieces with parchment paper. Set aside.

2.In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, corn syrup, and 3 tablespoons water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat, stir in 1 cup almonds, and pour out into prepared pan, spreading the mixture with the back of a spoon to fill the pan.

3.Before candy hardens, but when it is firm enough to handle, turn it out onto parchment-lined board. Allow to cool completely.

4.Wipe the surface of candy with a damp paper towel to remove excess butter, and allow to dry.

5. Temper the chocolate using a double boiler. Heat 5/6 of the chocolate to 118F, while stirring. Remove from heat and stir in remaining chocolate. Stir continuously until chocolate temperature drops to 84F, and then reheat to 90F and use immediately.

6.Using a small offset spatula, quickly spread half the tempered chocolate over candy. Scatter 1/2 cup of the remaining almonds over chocolate. Cover with parchment paper, and place second cutting board on paper. Turn candy over onto second surface. Remove top board and paper, quickly spread candy with remaining chocolate, and scatter with the remaining 1/2 cup almonds. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set chocolate.

7.Break candy into 2-inch pieces. The candy may be stored in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to 1 week; use parchment paper to separate layers.

ENJOY!

ps: all of these treats can be given in inexpensive reusable glass jars or tins.

Hanukkah

This was Maya's first real Hanukkah, and I wanted to make it special for her. Last year we were traveling and it was barely marked, and the prior years she was really too young to remember it. Each day I tried to have a special Hanukkah book, activity or craft for her, and the holiday was a lot of fun for everyone. We had several special dinners with friends, small gifts of books, stickers and puppets (plus gifts from grandma and grandpa), a holiday party with the homeschool group, and a Hanukkah party in the house for a couple of friends.

Janice gave Maya a kit for making her own menorah candles, a lovely and fun craft, and we also had a lot of success at the party with decorating construction paper cones and filling the finished result with chocolate "gelt." It made me realize that I need to incorporate more craft and art opportunities into Maya's activities.

We also made latkes and sufganiyot a couple of times...the latke recipe is an old family recipe, that I brought back to it's original form with hand grated potatoes, rather than the food processed ones that my grandma has been doing for the last 30 or so years. (Much better texture!)

POTATO LATKES
(1 potato makes about 4 playing card size latkes)
For every 4 medium sized idaho potatoes add 2 Tbs all purpose flour and 2 eggs

Wash (you do not need to peel) and grate your potatoes, and squeeze out liquid. Add appropriate amount of eggs and flour, as well as salt and white pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly, but do not over-mix.

Heat a generous amount of crisco in a (preferably non-stick) pan to a medium-high heat. If the fat is smoking, the heat is too high.

Once hot, spoon pancakes into your pan...I prefer silver dollar sized ones, though my family has always made them playing card sized.

When they are crispy golden brown flip them. When the second side is cooked drain on paper towel and serve immediately with apple sauce and sour cream.

SUFGANIOT

Ingredients

• 1 package(s) active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon(s) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 3 3/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup(s) whole milk
• 6 tablespoon(s) margarine, melted and cooled, substitute butter
• 1 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground nutmeg
• 2 large eggs
• 4 cup(s) vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 cup(s) seedless red raspberry jelly, substitute other favorite jelly
• Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

In large bowl, mix yeast, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F); let stand until yeast mixture foams, about 5 minutes.

With wooden spoon, stir flour, milk, margarine, salt, nutmeg, eggs, and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar into yeast mixture until evenly blended (dough will be very sticky). Cover bowl with clean cloth towel, and let dough rise in warm place (80 to 85 degrees F) until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

With floured hands, punch down dough. Turn dough onto heavily floured surface; let rest 10 minutes. With floured hands, pat dough 1/2-inch thick. With floured 3-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out as many rounds as possible. Place rounds, about 2 inches apart, on lightly floured cookie sheets. Gently press trimmings together; press and cut as above. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat until temperature reaches 375 degrees F on deep-fry thermometer. With wide metal spatula, carefully place 2 or 3 doughnuts in hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes, turning over once. With large slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to wire racks lined with paper towels to drain; repeat with remaining dough.

When doughnuts are cool enough to handle, with small sharp knife, pierce doughnuts from 1 side almost to opposite side. Place jelly in decorating bag fitted with 1/4-inch round tip. Squeeze small amount of jelly into each doughnut through slit. Cool doughnuts completely on wire rack. Sprinkle doughnuts with confectioners' sugar to serve.

Morning smiles

Breakfast on the deck is a lovely way to start the day

Finally...a family pic

We snapped this when dropping the kids off with my mom on the way to Nat's wedding

Pancake Breakfast

We've really been enjoying these pancakes from scratch. I found the recipe on-line and am in love! these are also great with berries or chocolate chips mixed in.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.