there has been a flurry of holiday baking the last couple of weeks. making christmas treats is one of my favorite things and i look forward to it all year. most holiday seasons, i make about four batches of fudge, caramel corn, and many cookies. someday i will add divinity, peanut brittle, and salted caramel to the mix.
this is a three part post to highlight the three best christmas treats i made this year: caramel corn, gingersnaps, and fudge.
pecan caramel corn
earlier this week, dinah and i whipped up a batch of caramel corn to take to her preschool teachers at sweethearts as our christmas gift and our way of saying thank you for taking such good care of our girl all year. before this, dinah has never really tried popcorn, and now i think she assumes all popcorn is caramel corn. she may be mighty disappointed at her first trip to the movies.
we also made previous batches for sending to the grandparents and other family.
pecan caramel corn
15-18 cups of popped popcorn
2 cups whole pecans
1.5 cups packed brown sugar (i use dark)
3/4 cups butter (i use salted sweet cream)
almost 1/2 cup light corn syrup
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
pop popcorn and place it and the pecans in a large roasting pan (i use the kind you might use for baking a turkey). heat brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. once it starts bubbling around the edges, continue cooking over medium heat without stirring for 5 minutes. remove from heat and stir in baking soda until foamy. pour caramel mixture over popcorn and toss until evenly coated. bake 1 to 2 hours at 200 degrees. stir every 20 minutes. spread out on wax paper and let it cool completely before storing.
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gingersnaps
i discovered this recipe in an issue of sunset magazine and have been making them every year since. though, i have adjusted the spices a bit. i tend to add about a 1/4 tsp more than recipes call for. anyway, these are the best gingersnap cookie i've ever had in my entire life. ever! they are like heaven (if you like ginger, that is.) they are so spicy. you get a really robust ginger flavor with every bight. and the texture is fantastic: soft and chewy in the middle and crisp and crunchy on the outside edges. our kitchen smelled just like christmas while we baked. when i think of christmas, the scent of ginger baking is always a strong memory.
mega-ginger gingersnaps
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
about 3/4 cups sugar, divided
6 TBS butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
in a food processor, whirl chopped ginger and 1/3 cup of sugar until ginger is finely ground. remove from container. back in the food processor, whirl butter and 1/3 cup of sugar until fluffy. add ginger mixture, molasses, and egg and whirl to mix. in a mixing bowl, mix flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. then whirl into the butter mixture. cover dough and chill until firm, about 1 hour. shape dough into 1-inch balls and coat with remaining sugar. place balls 2 to 3 inches apart on a non stick or greased cookie sheet. bake at 350 degrees until slightly darker brown, about 11 to 12 minutes, switching positions of baking sheets halfway through.
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walnut fudge
my fondest memories of fudge are of my brother swift and i making it at christmas together. we were quite young. probably younger than i'd allow my kids to be making fudge independently, but whatevs, it was a simpler time back then. :) anyway, i was young enough to push a chair up to the counter to help. and i helped by, like, you know, licking the spoon and sneaking handfuls of chocolate chips and finger dips of marshmallow cream. my brother did all the hard work: the relentless stirring. i swear after a holiday season of making fudge, i could win any arm wrestling match with my massive biceps. anyway, i was my older brother and dinah was me in this year's fudge-making extravaganza.
i think there are about a million different ways to make fudge, but i've quite honestly never tasted any quite as rich and delicious as me and my brother's version using jet-puffed marshmallow creme. i've also done a million different varieties using various flavored chips. mint-chocolate (with swirls of green mint chocolate on top), peanut butter, white chocolate, butterscotch...the list goes on. but this year, i kept it classic: chocolate walnut fudge.
walnut fudge
3 cups sugar
a pinch of cream of tartar*
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cups evaporated milk
12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
7 ounces of jet-puffed marshmallow cream
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla
grease a cake pan with butter (use a 13x9 for thinner pieces of fudge or a 8x8 for thicker pieces). then in a heavy medium sized saucepan, over medium heat, bring butter, evaporated milk, and sugar to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. boil 4 to 6 minutes, until it reaches a soft ball stage in cold water or reaches 234 degrees on a candy thermometer. remove from heat and stir in marshmallow creme and chocolate chips. once melted, add vanilla and nuts. pour into your prepared baking dish and let cool completely.
*the pinch of cream of tartar is a relatively recent discovery for me. after years and years of making fudge, last year i made a terrible batch where the sugar crystalized and the texture was gritty. fudge is such a simple recipe, but the chemistry of it is complex. for the next batch, i added a pinch of cream of tartar and its texture was perfect. by adding acid, such as cream of tartar, some of the sucrose will break down into glucose and fructose, resulting in great smooth texture.
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