Here are the Christmas Gifts for my Girl's teacher's.
Christmas Colored Carmel PopCorn- This tasted so good that my family begged me to make some more to leave at home.
3 bags butters and salted popcorn, popped (remove any kernels) unpopped
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 + 1/8 cup light corn syrup
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
red and green food coloring
Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
In
a medium saucepan, melt together the butter, brown sugar, and corn
syrup. Bring to a boil, sitting frequently. Boil over low heat for
five minutes. Remove from heat and add the baking soda and vanilla
Place
each bag of popcorn in a 9x13 pan coated with cooking spray. Pour
approximately 1/3 the caramel over one pan of popcorn. Toss to coat.
Place
half of remaining carmel in medium bowl and add red food coloring until
you reach the desired shade of red. Immediately pour over second pan
of popcorn. Toss to coat.
Add
green food coloring to the remaining caramel until you reach desired
shade of green. Immediately pour over third pan of popcorn. Toss to
coat.
Bake
for 45 minutes, rotating pans and stirring each pan with a spatula
coated with cooking spray every 15 minutes. Cool completely before
serving.
Cute Christmas Mug filled with my absolute favorite- Lindt Chocolates!
And something else to go in the mug- Hot Chocolate on a stick!!! With cute red and green straws too!
Aren't these super cute!!??
These are very yummy. I never want hot chocolate from a package again. Simply drop them in your hot milk and stir until there melted. And I love marshmallows so I like to put a extra one on top. And homemade marshmallows taste so much better than store bought ones. And they are so very easy to make. I promise you, once you make them, you will never want them from a bag again!
Hot Chocolate Blocks:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- One 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 3 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped or in chips (Jane
note: I actually used 1 cup 60% cacao chips, 1 cup semi-sweet chips,
and 1 cup milk chocolate chips)
- One 4-oz bar unsweetened chocolate (broken or chopped into smaller pieces)
- Wooden or cookie/lollipop sticks
- 8″x8″ pan, lined with parchment paper
Heat the cream and sweetened condensed milk over medium-low heat
until it starts steaming, stirring periodically. Remove from heat and
add chocolate. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes, then put back on
medium-low heat and stir with a whisk until chocolate is completely
melted and shiny. (At this point you could add some flavoring…vanilla,
hazelnut, peppermint, whatever fits your fancy!)
Pour chocolate into prepared pan and spread chocolate as level as you possibly can. Let sit overnight (12 hours or so).
Remove chocolate from pan and cut, top side face down, into squares.
Divide the block into sixths each direction, so your squares will be a
bit larger than 1″ x 1″. Use a long, thin knife. Heat the knife under
hot water, wipe dry with a towel or paper towel, make a few cuts, then
repeat the knife-heating procedure. Makes 36 squares, although those
corner squares are shaped a little funny…you might just want to eat
those straight up while you’re cooking.
For both the marshmallows and the chocolate squares, feel free to get
creative with flavorings and/or rolling them in peppermint pieces,
cocoa, etc. I just used a little vanilla in the chocolate and kept it
simple. And they are still mighty delicious! One stick is good for about
4 – 8 ounces of hot milk…depending on how chocolatey you like it.
Marshmallows:
- 3 packages unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup ice cold water, divided
- 12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- Nonstick spray
Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer set up with the whisk attachment along with 1/2 cup of the water.
In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated
sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow
to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the
side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240
degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes
Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.
Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture.
Once you have added all of
the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the
mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15
minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the
mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.
Combine the confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.
Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking
spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to
completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining
mixture to the bowl for later use.
When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan
Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture
to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to
sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch
squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners’ sugar
mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the
remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight
container for up to 3 weeks.
And I made these printable cards to go along with my hot chocolate on a stick gifts:
Cookies and Cream Fudge:
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup
(1 1/2 sticks) butter
2/3 cup
(5 fl.-oz. can) Evaporated Milk
2 cups
(12-oz. pkg.) White Chocolate Chips
1 jar
(7 oz.) marshmallow crème
1/2 cup finely crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup crumbled cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
Line a 9-inch-square baking pan with foil.
Combine
sugar, butter and evaporated milk in medium, heavy-duty saucepan.
Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring
constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Stir in white
chocolate chips, marshmallow crème, finely crushed cookies and vanilla
extract. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle crumbled cookies on top.
Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Lift from pan; remove foil. Cut
into 48 pieces. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.
My Girl's Teacher's Gifts!!
