Taste Tested

I tried 2 new fall recipes today and thought I'd share.

And yes, Ed and my friend Sarah both told me that you can buy caramel popcorn at the store :), but I wanted to try "homemade" because it sounded so good with nuts in it. And I'm blaming it on the way the original recipe was written, because I totally burnt the caramel the first round (you know how bad burnt popcorn smells right? Well, black burnt caramel poured over popcorn smells much worse. especially at 8:30 am. ugh)

Anyway, we went to church and I came home and tried it again. Much better results!

Caramel Corn -
12 c. popped popcorn
1 1/2 c. Beer nuts or shelled salted peanuts (I used regular peanuts)
1 stick plus 2 T butter
1 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. light corn syrup
1/4 t. baking soda

Preheat oven to 250. Place popcorn and nuts in large bowl. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar, corn syrup, and 1/2 t. salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Raise heat to high; bring to boil without stirring. Cool until mixture reaches 248 and immediately remove. Stir in baking soda. Add to popcorn/nuts and stir to coat. Transfer mix to rimmed backing sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 1 t. salt. Let cool and break into clusters.

My mom brought me the Lebo Methodist Church's cookbook this afternoon and I was excited to see a recipe I could use with my "extra" bag of apples. I love to see what everyone submitted (they list names under each recipe) -this one came from Marilyn Combes, a good family friend. And I will be making it A LOT this fall/winter - great to eat alone, on top of pancakes, etc. I love these!

Country Store Apples -
5-6 c. apples (I peeled them)
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 t. cinammon
1/4 t. nutmeg-5
4 T. cornstarch
1/2 c. cider or apple juice

Cut apples in chunks. Place apples, sugar, cinammon, nutmeg in crock pot. Dissolve cornstarch in apple juice and blend well; pour over apples and stir to blend. Cover and cook on low 4-5 hours. Stir halfway through cooking.

Yum!