Seasoned Crackers

Seventeen years ago my daughter's preschool class had a Christmas party and this was one of the snacks served.  I have saved the recipe all these years and thought it would be a nice treat to put out for New Years Eve.  It's very tasty and very simple to make.

What you need is:
1 box of oyster crackers (approx. 14oz)
1 pkg of dry ranch dressing
1 tablespoon dill weed (I did not have any and it still tasted fine)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup oil (I used canola)

What you do:
Mix well.  Store in an air tight container

Peppermint Patties

So, sorry I didn't get a chance to post this recipe before Christmas.  We enjoyed these cookies so much we made them a few times.  My cravings are returning this very moment just thinking about them!  Thanks to my friend who gave some to me for a Christmas treat, so I can now pass the recipe on to you.  Enjoy!

The ingredients are pretty simple:

1 cup milk chocolate morsels
1 sleeve of Ritz (or Ritz type) crackers
1/2 teaspoon peppermint oil
parchment paper

I should mention that all these ingredients are approximate.  When we made them we kept melting more chocolate and adding more oil to use up all the crackers we had.  I should mention that a mini crock pot is a very handy appliance to have when melting chocolate for something like this.

Begin by melting the chocolate with peppermint oil.  Dip one cracker at a time in the chocolate.  I found these small tongs worked great for dripping the excess chocolate off.

After you dip the cracker, place it on a parchment lined cooking sheet.  When the sheet is full, place in the freezer for about 10 minutes.  The cookies will pop right off when they are done.

Homemade Fruit Snacks

"A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul..."-Proverbs 13:19

Ever since the whole licorice endeavor I have been on a candy making kick.  I don't even like candy so much.  Don't get me wrong, I have a taste for sugar- just in other forms, like chocolate or other desserts.  I have a son and daughter who love fruit snacks though and when I saw how seemingly easy they were to make I decided to give it a try.  Most importantly this recipe tastes every bit as good as what you would buy in the store.  Now if I could only figure out how to make them with juice I would be a little happier!

Here is what you need:

2 packages of unflavored gelatin
1 3 oz package of flavored gelatin
1/3 cup of water
molds-helpful, but not necessary

Here are a couple of different mold I used.  In pictures further down I will show you another technique I used not using any molds.  Another mold you could use is any empty styrofoam egg carton.  I had many trial and errors concerning the molds.  I found the smaller you make them the better.  The red mold you see pictured worked best by only filling it until the bottom was covered.  Making them too big was too sweet for my liking.  I got the clear mold from a cake decorating store and the red one from Walmart.  It's hard to tell from the picture but the clear mold are the shape of jewels.  The good news is whatever you choose to use the candy peels out with ease.

In a small saucepan combine the 1/3 cup of water, 2 packages of unflavored gelatin, and 1 3oz package of flavored gelatin.  Stir slightly and let sit for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, put the pan on medium heat and stir until all the gelatin is dissolved.  This only takes a couple of minutes

Start pouring the liquid into the molds.  You have to work quickly because it turns into gel rather quickly.  I made quite a few batches which is why my liquid is a different color in this picture.

Here is what I started doing just to see what would happen if I made little blobs on a parchment paper.  They lack a fun shape, but it still worked.

This was my experiment using the top of my egg carton.

After you have your molds filled, put them in the freezer for no more than 5 minutes.  After you take them out of the freezer just peel them out of the molds.  If it seems a little sticky put some corn starch on your fingers.

Now they're ready to eat!

Chewy Candy

                                                                                                             

"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth"-Psam 119:103

I had a request from my daughter to make homemade licorice.  This is something I had never done before, but the challenge was out there and I was determined to do it.  Since then I am convinced that you need a factory to make the kind you buy at the store.  However, my failed attempts tasted pretty good, hence, a new post!

What you need:
1/4 cup flour
pinch of salt (1/8 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon corn starch
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 cup light corn syrup
1 6 oz. package of gelatin (your choice of flavor)
a candy thermometer (helpful but not necessary)

In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup flour, pinch of salt, 1/4 teaspoon corn starch, 1/8 cup vegetable oil.  Mix until smooth.

In a small sauce pan heat 1 cup corn syrup until it is at the soft ball stage on a candy thermometer, stirring constantly.

Now, if you are like me, and do not own a candy thermometer you can still do this.  I remembered from my Home Economics class back in high school (thank you Mrs. Schley) that to test to make sure you are at the soft ball temperature you spoon a small amount of the hot liquid into very cold water.  When it is at the right temperature the liquid will be able to be formed into a soft ball that can be squished down  (I'm guessing that's where the name came from!)  As I mentioned earlier, I had a few trials of this and it seems to work best if the ball is slightly firm.  It changes very quickly so play close attention. If you wait to long it goes into the hard ball phase and then it will be too hard to work with.

Remove pan from heat and stir in 1 6 oz. box of flavored gelatin.

Stir in the flour/oil mixture.

Pour the hot liquid onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

It cools very quickly.  1-2 minutes is all you need to be able to start forming it.

This is how much the dough made.  You need to work quickly before the dough gets too hard.  It remains "chewy", but gets harder to work with the cooler it gets. For some of the dough we used mini cookie cutters to make some mittens and snow flakes.  My kids also made their initials.

The first batch I had little hands helping me.  The second batch I only had myself so I shaped them mostly into balls. This, by the way, seems to be the best shape for them to not stick together.  Toward the end the dough was getting harder to work with so I rolled it out and made a spiral shape out of it. The benefit of letting it get slightly firmer in the soft ball state is that when the candy is completely cooled they do not stick so much together, or at least you can separate them if they do.  I think I am going to make more colors and package them up for some gifts.
*An important side note I just discovered today (two days after I originally posted this) is that coating the candy in powdered sugar so that it doesn't stick together is a very good idea.  I had mine in a jar and they all stuck together.  It was a hassle getting it all out of the jar but after I got them out and coated them in the powdered sugar, it was fine.

Baked Oatmeal

Here is a great way to pull tired bodies out of their warm beds on chilly winter mornings.  The warmth and aromas of baked oatmeal can really get your day off to a great start.  I love this recipe because it is so versatile.  Different nuts, fruit, and extracts allow you to custom make it for the taste your family loves.  The recipe calls for dried fruit, but I have found that a fresh apple works great.  Some other ingredients I have added in the past are using maple extract instead of vanilla and adding nuts of all different sorts.  This morning I went less gourmet and used up the last honey crisp apple in my fruit bowl and didn't bother with any nuts.

Here is what you need:

3 cups rolled oats (instant or old fashioned)
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup dried fruit (or 1 apple)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl mix together 3 cups oats, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt.

Add in 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup melted butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 3/4 cup dried fruit (in my case 1 apple).

Spread into a 9X13 baking dish.

Bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes.  Serve warm.  YUMMY!