TWD: Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies & Caramel Corn

Whew! I'm a day late for Tuesday's with Dorie this week. I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off for the past week!

I collaborated with my brother-in-law on the mother-of-all-Halloween-costume-paper-mache-projects. (I'll give an atta-boy to anyone who can guess what this is supposed to be. I know, it's kind of obscure.)


Then there were two batches of caramel corn to make. (By the way, it's so good and completely addictive. I'll share the recipe below.)


Throw in a 3rd grade concert...


... and school Halloween parties,


... and last but not least, my 30-foot long former weed patch. This is the last chance I'll get to work some organic matter into our lovely clay soil before winter, so I've been digging, digging, digging.

Among other things, I need a home for my strawberry plants that I foolishly thought I could contain in pots. I started with two plants, which multiplied to at least twenty. (Any and all strawberry growing tips are welcome as I obviously don't know what I'm doing.)


So anyway, that's my big long list of excuses why I'm late getting my Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies posted. Thanks so much to Pamela of Cookies with Boys for picking an easy recipe. Also, thanks to Laurie for allowing the Tuesday's with Dorie bakers to bake the recipes out of order this month. Pamela's pick isn't until later in the month, but it was the easiest one for me.

In a word, these cookies were fantastic! If you like molasses and fall spices, that is.



I really liked the method for making them too. I've never turned out such a perfectly uniform batch of cookies!

First, we were to chill the dough. Then cut into uniform sized pieces and roll into balls. A bath in sugar prepped them for the pan, where a (go Bengals!) glass was used to smoosh them down.






And voila! perfect cookies!


I will definitely make these again (and again). If you'd like to see the recipe, please check out Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking, From my Home to Yours" or check out Pamela's site.

Caramel Corn

I would rate this at a medium difficulty recipe due to the hot caramel mixture.

3 quarts popped corn (I popped kernel corn on the stove. I'm not sure if this would work with microwave popcorn, but if you want to try, I wouldn't recommend a buttered version.)
1 C. brown sugar
1/4 C. dark or light corn syrup (I used dark)
1/2 C. margarine (I used 3 oz. butter and it was fine.)
1/2 tsp. salt
chopped nuts or peanuts (optional... quantity is to taste)
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Butter a 9" x 13" pan. (Note, I doubled the recipe and used a 12" x 18" pan.)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Pop your corn and spread evenly in the pan. Sprinkle nuts over top, if using. Have it nearby and ready when the sugar mixture is done boiling.

Bring the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the baking soda. Stir well as it froths up.

Pour sugar mixture evenly over the top of the popcorn. Stir the popcorn as best you can, but don't worry if the caramel mixture isn't evenly spread over all popcorn. It will distribute as you bake and stir later on.

Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Use a wide wooden spoon or spatula when you stir. Try to scrape up any fallen sugar from the bottom and turn over the popcorn. If some of the sugar sticks to the spoon, try to scrape it off and lay over any dry looking areas. Stir gently as the popcorn wants to spill out of the pan.

TWD: How about Peppermint Bark Instead?

Hey folks, I haven't gotten to this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe yet, but hopefully that will happen by the end of the week. In the meantime, please stop by Flavor of Vanilla and check out Garrett's pick for this week's TWD recipe.

Rather than offer up nothing, though, I'll post a quick little recipe for Peppermint Bark.

It may be quick, but that doesn't mean it's not fantastic. The addition of Rice Krispies kicks this standard Christmas treat up a notch.


It goes from standard to completely addictive.



The recipe comes from the December 2005 edition of Everyday Food magazine, which you can find HERE (if that link doesn't work, please let me know. I've been having trouble getting to Martha Stewart recipes lately.)

OK, folks, here's to another week of TWD and happy baking!

TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake (and Marshmallows)

Mm mm, yum! I really enjoyed this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, Blueberry Crumb Cake. Thanks so much to Sihan of Befuddlement for the great pick. Not only was it a winner in the taste department (the crumb topping was fantastic!), but it also gets credit for making my house smell wonderful for days after baking.

I halved the recipe and made it in a 6-inch round pan.


In retrospect, I wish I would have used a slightly larger pan as it ran over just a tad (this seems to be a recurring theme lately).

My only other change was to use egg yolks in place of the whole egg. I also made Dorie's marshmallows (still trying to catch up), so I had a shortage of whites and an excess of yolks. Not surprisingly, my cake looks a little extra yellow.

Here are my marshmallows. I made half plain and half with a swirl of raspberry sauce, although the swirl looks more like a schmear.


I don't know why, but I kept thinking the marshmallows would be similar to divinity (which I LOOOOVE). But they weren't really. They actually tasted a lot like... marshmallows! (Why was I surprised? I don't know.) They were good, but I prefer divinity. I guess I'm jaded as to what fluffy white homemade confections should taste like.

I'm sure these marshmallows would have been awesome dunked in a big mug of hot chocolate, though.

OK, on to next week, when we make coconut butter thins. Please see Sihan's site for the cake recipe, or check out Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking: From my Home to Yours". For the marshmallows, please visit Judy's blog at Judy's Gross Eats for the recipe.

Divinity

I haven't lived in my mother's house for a good, oh... (looking skyward, chin in palm), well, I guess it's been 25 years (wow!). Come to think of it, we haven't lived in the same town in as many years either.

One constant in the time since I've been on my own is that every time mom and I visit each other we say "oooh, we should make divinity!" It goes back to my childhood and all of those times we'd get a hankering for the utterly sweet, soft, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth candy. I'm pretty sure divinity is the primary reason my mom had a Kitchenaid mixer way back before it was trendy and cool and they came in a rainbow of colors.

But, alas, it seems that mom and I rarely get around to actually making divinity. We talk about it, allright. But doing it... just doesn't seem to happen. I'd say we finally get around to it, on average, every 10 years.


Welp, I guess it's been 10 years since the last time. We were due for the excited watching and waiting while the Kitchenaid whipped the bejeezus out of the egg whites and sugar syrup. We were due for the mad scramble to scoop the candy out of the bowl into neat little clouds before it started to get thick and uncooperative.

Due for a little taste of heaven in our mouths. Mmmmm... words can't describe how I feel about divinity. "Love" is not too strong a word.


We've always followed the basic Divinity recipe from my tattered and checkered Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. You can also find it online ---> here.

A few words of advice if you decide to give this a whirl: divinity is perfect when flavored with almond extract... if you're a fan of almond extract, that is. A few drops of food coloring give it a lovely pastel color. And when it comes time to scoop the candy out onto waxed paper... you need to get your groove on, people. No dallying allowed or you'll be left with crusty (although still delicious) blobs rather than smooth swirly divine-ness. Finally, be warned, it's quite sweet and probably best left to serious sweet tooths like me and mom.

As a side note, I plan to try a batch of home-made marshmallows, for comparison. I suspect the two candies are similar. In looking at the recipe, the major difference is the gelatin in the marshmallows. Maybe the marshmallows are more chewy? Worth a test batch, I'd say.

So anyway, if you try your hand at divinity, give me a holler. I'd love to hear if you adore it like I do.