I saw this recipe last week and it’s been on my mind ever since. Yesterday, I bought lollipop sticks at Michael’s and today, I went to work. I’m not the biggest perfectionist out there, actually I’m not a perfectionist at all. So when I started making the lollipops, I ended up making a couple of huge ones that I had to separate manually.

See, what I mean? So, what did I do? While the caramels were still semi-soft, I rolled them. Yep, I picked up each stick, gently separated each caramel pop and rolled it.

These are pretty easy to make (as long as you don’t burn the sugar) and you can easily pour the caramel into molds and make lollipops of different shapes.

I took the recipes from a posting on the Working Class Magazine that also adds chocolate drizzled over the pops. I was too lazy and don’t care much about chocolate to begin with (if given a choice, I will almost always choose caramel over chocolate).

Yield: Approximately 20 lollipops, depending on size

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/8 cup water
2 tablespoons heavy cream, room temperature
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, tempered (optional)
lollipop sticks
vegetable oil

Directions:

Grease two metal baking sheets with oil. In a heavy bottom pan, combine sugar and water over medium high heat. Bring the sugar to a boil. As the sugar starts to cook, swirl the pan by the handle to help the sugar cook evenly. After 5-8 minutes the sugar will begin to color. When the caramel is a deep, amber color (be careful not to burn, sugar will quickly scorch) remove pan from heat and add cream. Swirl to mix cream with sugar to create a homogeneous caramel. Working quickly, carefully pour the hot caramel into small rounds on the greased baking sheets. After pouring, immediately place a lollipop stick in each. Let caramel cool completely, approximately 15 minutes.

(optional)

Over a double boiler, gently melt chocolate. When chocolate is smooth and shiny, remove from heat. Using a small teaspoon, decoratively drizzle the warm chocolate over the caramel lolliops. Let cool completely, approximately 30 minutes.

Store in airtight container.

Saturday, our friends Alex and Irina came over for dinner. Andy helped me make chili and I made Pecan Turtle Brownies….from scratch. I have never really been into baking, so when I “bake”, it usually comes from a box. Not this time. After I saw this recipe, I felt a momentary lapse of fear and decided to make these.

The brownies turned out extremely thick and really really chocolaty. Everyone loved the topping but for me, it was a little too many pecans. I’m a great fan of walnuts so I think, next time, I’ll be using walnuts instead.

This was my first time making caramel, of any sort. My friend Irina helped me and calmly talked me through proper cooking. Here’s the deal - be calm, keep “swishing”, and breathe. When the mixture starts to boil, lift the pot about an inch off the stove and swirl the mixture (not stir) clockwise or counter clockwise (or both!). When the mixture starts turning brownish color, be ready.

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After a successfull attempt at making caramel this past weekend (more on that later), I feel confident enough to try making these. Maybe this coming weekend?

fromme-toyou:

Chocolate-Caramel Lollipops

recipe by Molly Shuster, a shoot we did for the last issue of Working Class Magazine

I assure you, they are delicious!

My friend Patti wanted to share the following recipe for snickerdoodles. Honestly, if I ever make cookies, it’s usually from pre-packaged stuffs. Never from scratch. I hope to make these soon and let you know how they came out.

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening (I use crisco)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 3/4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp ground cinnamon 
2 tbsp white sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Mix shortening and white sugar until smooth
3. Add cream of tartar, salt and baking powder and blend eggs one at a time.
4. Stir in flour slowly until blended well.
5. Roll dough into walnut sized balls.
6. Mix 2 tbsp white sugar with 2 tbsp white cinnamon.
7. Roll dough balls around in sugar/cinnamon mixture.
8. Place dough balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes each until very lightly brown.
10. Let rest on elevated cooling racks until just above room temperature
11. Store cookies quickly, they will become stale quickly if left out.
12. Enjoy!

For Thanksgiving, I made exactly 1 contribution – Cranberry Sauce. To my taste, it was amazing. The recipe is simple and it can be whipped up very quickly.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 (12-ounce) package fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed, drained and sorted through, removing any stems or deflated ones (I used fresh, Ocean Spray cranberries)
Several strips of orange peel, or thick pieces of zest
A few squeezes of orange juice (I used the juice from a fresh orange)

Directions
Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries and zest, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10-14 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a few squeezes of fresh orange juice. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time.

Source (and other cranberry sauce recipes)