that's just poppycock!

i've got this old poppycock tin from when i was a kid (not that old, really ;)) and every time i look at it i think, "i should make some of that."
so i did, finally. it's very easy to make, and even though the recipe doesn't call for it, i think it needs a pinch of salt. i used an air popper to make my popcorn, we don't buy the microwave stuff. who needs all that extra chemicals (as tasty as they are)? make sure you don't over darken your caramel on the stove, it will darken even further once it's in the oven.
i've also made this a couple times for my kids' birthday parties with variations... omit the nuts and swap out the dark corn syrup for the light and before the baking soda goes in, add in 2 packets of your favourtie kool-aid! we've made raspberry blue space popcorn and cherry popcorn- both a huge hit with all the kiddies!
Poppycock
4 qt. air popped popping corn
1½-c. sugar
¾-c. butter
½-c. dark corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
½-tsp. baking soda
1½-c. almonds (or mixed nuts or whatever you prefer)

Turn on your oven to 250 degrees F, to preheat.
Pour the popped corn into the roasting pan. Sprinkle the almonds (or other nut) evenly, over the top and put the pan aside.
Combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup and vanilla into a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, while stirring. Lower the heat to simmer. Continue stirring the mixture until a caramel colour appears (about 3 minutes). Add the baking soda and stir. Pour the sugar mixture evenly over the popcorn and nuts. Stir the mixture with a large spoon. Place the roasting pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, stirring the Poppycock popcorn every 8-10 minutes. Remove it from the oven and break apart immediately. Let it cool before eating (them nuts get hot!)

it's cold in here!

it's a crazy time of year and we just got whallopped with some snow. if you don't already know, the lower-mainland of BC (or pacific north-west if you're south of the 49th) is a rainforest and if it snows, it usually doesn't stay for very long. i think it's been 4 days now that we haven't seen the green grass and "they" are calling for more on sunday. i've also been very busy with work and our kids' school and trying to find time to get all the shopping done without having to go to when everyone and their aunt harriett is there, too. o yeah, and both kids have been sick or grounded at some point this week. not fun.
last night derek helped me make these lovely peppermint icicles (found in december's issue of MS living). they were very easy to make, look good and they definetly stick to your teeth! we didn't have the proper gloves, which i'm sure would have made all the differnce since it was so freakin' hot to handle! whew!

Ingredients

Makes about 16 icicles

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• 1 drop blue gel-paste food coloring
• 1 drop violet gel-paste food coloring

Directions

1. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Bring su gar, corn syrup, and water to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until sugar dissolves. Cook, undisturbed, until mixture registers 305 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and stir in lemon juice and peppermint extract. Working quickly, pour hot sugar mixture onto prepared sheet. (Be careful not to touch hot mixture.) Let cool until bubbles subside, about 30 seconds.
2. Coat a metal spatula with cooking spray, then fold 2 edges of mixture inward, toward center (pictured, above left). Continuously fold candy in half on itself with spatula until it is cool enough to handle, about 1 minute (it will still be very hot).
3. Wearing rubber gloves and working quickly, pull candy to a length of 1 foot, then fold in half on itself. Repeat, twisting and pulling until candy starts to turn white. Remove a golf-ball-sized piece, and add food colorings to the smaller piece. Continue to stretch and fold both pieces separately. When candy is almost cool, and the uncolored piece is white, pull each piece into a 12-inch-long rope.
   
4. Place ropes side by side, and fold in half together to layer colors. Twist pieces together. Starting at 1 end, pull and twist until rope is 1/2 inch thick. Working quickly, twist and pull end to taper slightly, and cut off a 6-inch length with scissors. Continue twisting, pulling, and cutting icicles until candy becomes too hard and can no longer be pulled. (There will be some left over. Reserve for another use, such as crushing over ice cream or cookies; see Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies, recipe page 240.) Transfer icicles to a baking sheet to harden. Store, covered, for up to 4 days.

Helpful Hint

The peppermint candy is very hot initially, so be sure to work quickly wearing protective rubber gloves. For the best results, at the beginning of the pulling stage in step three (pictured, above), two people should divide the candy between them. Use any color you prefer to tint these minty sticks.

kumbaya

i made this campfire cake for my friend's daughter. she was hosting a sleep-out-in-refrigerator-boxes party and thought a campfire theme would be great. after some research on the good ole interweb i found two possible ways to make the cake: make a "normal" cake and have pretzels and candy on top creating the campfire; or make the cake the actual campfire. the latter is what i decided upon.

on some magasine's site (i can't remember which one) i had found the idea and they used 2 store bought pound cakes with the corners trimmed off. that just wasn't going to cut it. then i remembered the buche de noel. that would be perfect. i did take their idea of melting life savers for the fire. i couldn't find any doughnut holes so i grabbed some bridge mixture and tossed them with some icing sugar for the coals. sponge sheet cake

adapted from williams-sonoma CAKES

2/3 cup cake flour

pinch of salt

4 large eggs, separated, plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. in a 10x15x1" jelly roll pan butter, parchment and butter again. dust with flour and tap out the excess. sift the flour and salt together in to a small bowl. set aside.

in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 5 egg yolks and 1/3 cup of the sugar. beat on med-high speed until the batter is thickened and pale yellow and falls back on itself like a ribbon when the beaters are lifted, about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. transfer the yolk mixture to a large bowl; clean and dry the mixer bowl thoroughly.

beat the egg whites in the clean bowl of your mixer, now fitted with the whip attachment, on medium speed until foamy, about 1 minute. increase the speed to med-high and continue beating until the whites are holding soft peaks when the whisk is lifted, about 2-3 minutes. turn the mixer to medium and add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar 2 tbsp at a time. after all the sugar has been incorporated, beat for 1 minute more to have stiff peaks.

using a rubber spatula, pile 1/3 of the egg whites on top of the yolk mixture and begin folding. the first addition will lighten the batter. add the remaining egg whites on top of the mixture and fold them in. still using the spatula, fold in the flour mixture in 4 additions. the batter will be light and foamy.

pour the batter int the prepared pan. bake undisturbed for 12 minutes. if the cake looks set and the surface is lightly browned, tough the top gently. if it feels firm, insert a toothpick in the centre. if it comes out dry, the cake is done. if it comes out wet or with crumbs clinging to it, bake for another 2 minutes.

using pot holders, carefully transfer the sheet cake to a wire rack. let the cake cool int he pan until cool to the tough, about 25 minutes. the cake will shrink slightly as it cools. run a thin knife along the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake, keeping the knife pressed against the side. invert a wire rack on top of the cake and invert together. lift off the pan and discard the parchment. using both hands, carefully the turn the cake top side up. the cake is now ready to be filled and rolled.

chocolate american buttercream

1 cup butter, room temperature

4-6 cups confectioner`s sugar (depends on how sweet you want it)

1é4 cup cocoa powder

1é4 cup milk (or more if you added more sugar)

1 tsp vanilla extract

beat all ingredients in the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until smooth and creamy. scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.

welcome home cupcake!

our 8 year old daughter, ella, went away this weekend to girl guide camp. she's a first year brownie. she'd been on many weekend trips to my parents' but never so far away, and never without talking to her at least once each day, if only to say goodnight. i think the whole weekend was harder on me letting her go than her actually going.

while she was away i got to thinking it'd be nice for her to come home and there'd be a special treat for her. i'm always calling her sweet pea or honey buns, but i didn't really feel like making anything that was decorated with sweet peas or made with honey. and then i saw a new favourite blog of mine, bakerella. she made these awesome cupcakes with candy melt flowers on top. brownies are orange and brown. i had orange and brown candy melts. i was too lazy to make the pattern for the flowers so i just free handed them and they're definitely not as pretty as bakerella's but still...the recipe i used was from one of my newish books, "cupcakes!" by elinor klivans. it was very straightforward and very easy to follow. i didn't use her recipe for the sticky fudge frosting, i just felt like making a whipped ganache frosting instead. i think the cake itself could definitely use a little more something... i'm just not sure what, i mean, it is a butter cake. maybe some lemon zest. the frosting i just kinda winged it- and it wasn't perfect, but sure was tasty.
butter cake cupcakes with whipped ganache frosting
by elinor kilvans

cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

position a rack in the middle of the oven. preheat the oven to 350F. line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes. stop the mixer and scrape the side of the bowl as needed during the mixing. add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. add the vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes. on low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing just until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

fill each paper liner with 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/2" below the top of the liner. bake until just the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 22 minutes. cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. turn out the cupcakes and cool completely before frosting.

frosting:

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup whipping cream

(i think you're supposed to add 1 tbsp of butter but i didn't)

place the chocolate chips in the bowl of your mixer and scald the whipping cream in a small saucepan on the stove. pour over chocolate and rest for 5 minutes. whisk until blended. (this is probably where you'd add the butter) cool in the fridge for about an hour before beating the mixture to the desired consistancy, shove it into your piping bag and go to town!. top with candy flower.

i picked up these awesome cupcake carriers from my maiden trip to williams-sonoma on south granville. one for my brownie for her school lunch and one for my handyman!

freakin brilliant idea

turn yourself around

the other day i saw my very first episode of nigella express. i've read many times on how good she is, etc. personally, i didn't like the style in which the show was filmed; candle lit rooms and vasilene lenses, and darling glances to the audience. she was making some roasted chicken legs, s'mores, coleslaw, and and the end she made what she called hokey-pokeys. growing up i remember going to the corner store and getting what we called honeycomb candy, or sponge candy all the time. i couldn't remember what the portions were in her recipe so google it was. the first recipe i came across didn't have honey- i thought that was weird for a honeycomb candy. the one i actally made today was from recipezaar. it's a bit chewy on the edges, but maybe i didn't maintain the temperature consistently enough, or maybe just needs more time to cure. either way, what a science experiment! wow! when that baking soda hit the hot sugar mixture... if it were red, you'd think there was a volcano near by (sorry no pics of the expansion)!

hokey pokey (honeycomb candy)

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons baking soda, finely sifted
chocolate, for coating (optional)

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, honey, and water, and using a wooden spoon, stir constantly over low heat until the sugar is fully dissolved. (in my previous candy making days, every recipe says to not stir with a spoon/spatula, but to swirl the pot- which is what i did)
Put candy thermometer into the mixture to monitor temperature, increase the heat and boil mixture to exactly 270 degrees F (132C).
Reduce heat to as low as possible and maintain the temperature 270F for exactly 15 minutes.
It is very important that the temperature of the mixture does not fluctuate; if the temperature begins to rise, remove the pan from heat occasionally to reduce the heat.
After the temperature has been maintained for 15 minutes, remove the pan from heat, take out the thermometer, and allow the bubbles to subside.
Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in finely sifted baking soda. (i used a whisk)
Immediately and quickly pour the mixture into a large oiled baking dish.
(Please note, important: the pouring step requires strength and you'll be handling extremely hot liquids; if you're not strong and agile enough you might want to leave that step to a strong and able assistant.)

candy has completely cooled, remove from pan and break into pieces.
Many lovers of honeycomb candy like to coat the pieces in chocolate- it's like a crunchie bar!