May Your Halloween Treats be Caramel Covered!
Here are some exciting caramel recipes to try out for this spooky time of year. They are great to serve at parties or package up and give as a gift to a special someone. They make great teacher’s gifts!
Caramel Almond Popcorn Balls
6 cups of popped corn
2 cups chopped almonds
1 (14 oz.) package caramels, about 48 pieces unwrapped
2 tbs water
2 tbs butter
ground cinnamon
wooden craft sticks
milk or dark chocolate chips
Pop popcrn and discard any unpopped kernals. Pour into a large bowl 6 cups of popcorn, 2 cups almonds. Lightly dust the top with cinnamon and mix well. Repeat until you have enough cinnamon on popcorn to see that it is all well covered.
In a saucepan, melt caramels, water and butter over low heat until all the bits are nice and smooth. Pour over the popcorn mixture and stir until evenly coated. Let cool for about 5 minutes.
With lightly buttered hans, shape the mixture into balls around each craft stick. Place on parchment to let cool. Melt chocolate chips according to package. Drizzel with melted chocolate and let set.
Caramel Apple Tips
Before dipping wash and dry apples thuroughly, put the sticks in and place in the fridge at least 30 minutes prior.
Melt one bag of caramels with 2 tbs water on low heat, stirring constatly.
Let the excess caramel drip off the apples, using a case knife cut off the caramel on the bottom of the apple for a cleaner look.
Place on parchment, after dipping, to cool.
Refridgerate caramel apples 15 minutes before dipping in chocolate.
When covering in nuts or sprinkles, place them in a bowl for easier covering.
Always keep refridgerated before eating or giving.
Lastly, always have fun and be creative!
Caramel Apple Cookies
one half cup sugar
one fourth cup butter, softened
one fourth cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 and one half cups all-purpose flour
one fourth tsp baking soda
one fourth tsp salt
1 (.14 oz) package strawberry unsweetened cool-aid
large craft sticks or small ones for smaller cookies
roughly 24 unwrapped caramels
2 tbs water
candy sprinkles (optional)
white chocolate for melting (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, and shortening with an electric mixer on medium speed. Mix in vanilla and eggs until nice and smooth. Mix in flour, baking soda, salt, and cool-aid. It will look a little like playdough!
Pop in the fridge for about 10 to 20 minutes coverd with a damp towel.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough about one fourth of an inch thick. Cut with apple shaped cookie cutter or use a heart shaped cookie cutter like I did. I just changed the shape of the point to look a little more like an apple. Place cutt outs 2 inches apart on parchment covered cookie sheets. Carefully insert the craft stick about an inch into the side of each cookie.
Bake one sheet at a time about 8 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Cool a few minutes then move to a cool rack to get completely cooled before doing anything else with them.
In a 2-quart sauce pan, het the caramels and water over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth.
Spread caramel on top half (opposite wooden stick) of each cookie. Hold cookie upright to allow glaze to drizzle down cookie. Place on parchment.
You can then top with sprinkles or let cool and sprean melted white chocolate on the top half of the caramel and top that with sprinkles. Follow the directions on the side of the bag to melt the chocolate. The microwave directions are just fine for this.