Easy, Peezy Caramel Apples

I LOVE LOVE LOVE September! The weather is cooling down, you can smell Autumn in the air, it's the month of my youngest daughter's birthday AND it marks the beginning of Apple season. My husband and I enjoy taking the girls to an apple orchard, picking our own apples then coming home and cooking up some goodies. Unfortunately, this September is a little different. Here in the Midwest, as in many other areas of the country, our farmer's crops have suffered greatly from this summers horrible drought. Since the apple crop is slim pickins, I decided to shop the orchard in my local produce aisle.  :)  After collecting a relatively nice bounty, we came home and decided to kick off the Fall season by making up a yummy batch of super easy caramel apples. These are very easy and require very little work but result in a scrumptuous outcome.

Ingredients:

5 Apples of your choice (Most recipes call for Granny Smith but I used Jonathan), stems removed
1 (14 oz) bag of caramels
2 Tablespoons of milk
5 Craft Sticks
Toppings of your choice. Ex: crushed peanuts, sprinkles, chocolate chips, walnuts etc. 

Directions:

Thoroughly wash off apples. You can also soak them in a solution of 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar. Let them soak for around 30 minutes. The vinegar kills bacteria and germs and removes preservatives sprayed onto the produce. While the apples are soaking, line a baking sheet with waxed paper.

When the apples are done soaking, remove them from solution and dry them completely. Next insert the craft stickes into the apple.

Next add the unwrapped caramels to a microwave safe container. Then add the milk. Microwave for 4 minutes. I watch them closely and after a couple of minutes I open the microwave and stir them up to keep them from burning. While these are melting, pour your toppings into seperate bowls. Once they have thoroughly melted, remove container from the microwave and dip the apples into the caramel. Cover the apples as much or as little as you like.

Then dip your apple into the topping of your choice. Next set your apples onto the waxed paper lined baking sheet to cook completely.

If you wish to drizzle yours with chocolate as I did, then melt chocolate chips in a zip loc baggie. You will want to microwave for 20 seconds, pull out the bag, knead the bag to mix the chocolate, then microwave again for another 20 seconds. Repeat until thoroughly melted. Next, snip the corner of your baggie and drizzle chocolate over your apples! You can refrigerate to speed up the process or let them sit out to set.

HINT:

Make sure to add the milk to your caramels when melting. If you forget the milk then once the caramel cools it will become as hard as a rock and your yummo-licious apple could potentially break a tooth.

ENJOY!!

DIY Oatmeal Baggies

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. By eating breakfast you give your body an advantage. A healthy breakfast keeps you from bottoming out later in the day and succombing to food cravings. When this happens people tend to make unhealthy choices because they are so hungry they need something immediately to ease the hunger pains.

Children also need a healthy start to their day. Children who eat breakfast are more likely to perform better at school than those who skip the meal. They need a lot of healthy food for their growing bodies and learning brains.

While fiddling around on my favorite site to kill time, Pinterest, I came across a woman's blog (http://amylovesherlife.blogspot.com/2012/01/who-likes-saving-money.html) that had such a wonderful idea for a time saving and money saving breakfast! It's so incredibly simple, and I can't believe I didn't think of this before.  It was information on how to make your own oatmeal baggies for breakfast! Now, with summer coming to an end, and here in the Midwest, temps are finally cooling down.  And with the cooler weather comes the strong desire for "stick to your ribs" type of food.  Oatmeal definitely fits the bill. These are so super easy and inexpensive.  If you are like me, and love an oatmeal breakfast, then make a batch of these as soon as you can! It makes a ton of oatmeal and costs about what one box of the instant stuff would cost you.

Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Oatmeal

Ingredients: 

1.  One 48 oz. canister of instant oats. (I bought a store brand)
2.  Light Brown Sugar
3. Cinnamon
4. Small Zip Loc baggies

Instructions:

I dumped about half of the canister of instant oats into a large mixing bowl. I then put 3/4 cup of brown sugar in the bowl followed by 1 TBSP of Cinnamon. Mix it all up! Then measure out half a cup of the mix and place into Zip Loc baggies. Voila! Oatmeal to go!

Cooking:

Pour one bag of your oatmeal mix into a bowl. Add 3/4-1 Cup of milk or water.  Heat it up in the microwave for about 1 min and ENJOY!

Other Versions:

I made a few different versions of oatmeal. I added cinnamon and raisins to one batch and mixed dried fruit to another.  Really, you can add or do anything you want! I would love to hear any other combos you have made!

The Disappearing Dragee (those silver ball things)

A few weeks ago I made a batch of pretty little cupcakes for my mom and her friends. I decided to use a soft pink buttercream frosting topped with dragees (or as I call them, those silver ball things). Upon searching the entire Columbus Ohio metropolitan area I was only able to find these little evasive decorations at two specialty cake stores! I was honestly surprised. I remember my grandmother decorating cookies with these little beauties. They have been featured in old cookbooks as well as by Martha Stewart not that long ago!  I even remember when grocery stores regularly stocked their shelves with them. Their lack of location peaked my interest. I set out to learn more about these mystical orbs and to find a cause for their disappearance.

Let me give you a brief history of the confectionary topping called dragee (pronouced dra-zhay). Some believe that the first dragee was made almost 2,000 years ago by a Roman baker named Julius Dragatus. His early version was simply almonds dipped in honey (sounds delicious!). Fast forward a few hundred years to a town in France called Verdun, where the local druggist was trying to find a way to preserve his almond crop. He devised a plan to coat almonds in a cooked sugar and honey mix.

Many legends arose around dragees. For instance, some believed that these little delights should be served after a meal to promote digestion and rid bad breath. Some also believed they prevented sterility!  Soon, people began giving them to family and friends for good luck at events such as weddings and baptisms. Verdun still carries the reputation of the almond dragee to this day.

Now, at some point in time, we began producing small sugar balls coated in silver, gold and copper (yes, real silver, gold and copper). The silver dragees are what has always been so popular on wedding cakes and holiday cookies. However, I have had a difficult time finding any information regarding when this dragee transformation really took place or why. So if anyone knows anything I don't or I can't find out in cyber space, please let me know!

The Food and Drug administration has declared that them to be inedible. It is believed that at some point in time, these delights contained mercury in them. Of course, now they do not but the FDA still says they are inedible.  That is not the same story told in many other countries though. For instance, the United Kingdom still considers them to be a food item. After researching and reading all of these things I thought, "OK, but still what's the big deal? Why do I have to turn every stone in central Ohio to find one precious dragee?" My research led me to surprising findings.

In as early as 1990, a California lawyer set out on a mission to rid California shelves of the dastardly dragee. According to an article I found from SFGate.com (see link below), he got McCormick to remove them completely from all shelves. He filed a lawsuit that alleged the little dragee was toxic (even though there is no record of anyone becoming sick or dying from eating dragees).  He claims that the silver can build up in the body causing many health defects over time. If you buy or sell dragees in the state of California, and are caught, you could find yourself in court! Wow! So is that why they are disappearing from shelves across the country as well? I would think so.  I believe the disappearance is the result of political pressure in California. How bizarre right? I couldn't believe this! You would have to eat an extremely large number of them in order to have health issues. In the article link below there is a quote from a woman with the California Department of Health Services. She says, "We are not aware of any health problems associated with this product. Levels of the metal are extremely low -- you'd have to consume massive quantities. We don't know how much."  Duh! Enough said! Not to mention all of the other toxic things that are put in our food product that the FDA approves such as BPA! Canada is the first country to declare BPA as a toxin. But that's a whole different post!

So if you are ever in need of the pretty little dragee, I suggest ordering them online (unless you are in California because merchants won't ship to Cali zip codes) OR find a specialty cake store that sells them. You unfortunately won't find the metal coated dragees at any craft store. We constantly encounter Michaels crafts customers on the hunt for these little guys.

Happy Baking!

Below are links to the information I used in the above post

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-faces-holidays-without-little-silver-2508262.php#ixzz25cZ3Uldw

http://ezinearticles.com/?Dragees,-A-French-Touch-For-Your-Next-Event&id=1541421
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag%C3%A9e
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-faces-holidays-without-little-silver-2508262.php
http://www.fda.gov/food/foodingredientspackaging/ucm166145.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

End of Summer Ice Cream Cake!

Well, it's official.  The kids are back at school, a few leaves are beginning their change in preparation of Winter, the Halloween and Christmas items are in the stores and of course Labor Day has passed. Summer is officially coming to an end. One way we celebrate these final warm days at my house is by making a home made ice cream cake.

DIY ice cream cakes are not difficult to make.  They can be time consuming, but the end result is worth it!  :) The original instructions for this came directly from Dairy Queens website (http://www.cakesbydairyqueen.com/dairy-queen-cake-recipe.asp).  

First you'll need your arsenal of ingredients.

1. 1-2 gallons of your choice of ice cream. I always use two flavors for the different layers. 
2. Whip Cream such as Cool Whip
3. Hot Fudge Sauce 
4. Oreos
5. Wax Paper
6. Pan of your choice (I use a spring form pan. I like these because if I want to take the cake out and set it out to display, I can easily pop off the sides and remove the cake)
7. Decorations of your choice (sprinkles, cherries, candy bars, etc)

To begin with, You will want to butter your cake pan, then press your wax paper into the pan completely covering the bottom and sides as much as possible.  The wax paper makes it easier to lift the cake out when done. This way the ice cream won't freeze to the pan.

Next, you will want to let your ice cream sit out for a little bit to soften up.  You can't very well spread around rock hard ice cream into your cake pan.  If you decide to use Dairy Queen ice cream then you can avoid this step because their ice cream is soft serve.  It's ready to spread.

Once softened, spread your icream on the bottom of the pan, filling the cake pan up about half way. Try to spread the ice cream evenly around to make it as even and smooth as possible. This just gives it a nice even layered look when you cut into it.  Pop this into the freezer to keep it from melting too much while you work on the next step.

Next, You will want to crush up about half a bag of Oreos. I do this by putting them into a large zip loc baggie and pressing on them to crush them. My kids love doing this job for me. 

Go ahead and get your pan out of the freezer. Now you can add the smashed Oreos on top of your first layer of ice cream. Smooth the Oreos out as evenly as you can over top of the ice cream.

Next, spoon the hot fudge sauce over top of the crushed Oreos.  You do not need to heat up/melt the hot fudge sauce. This step can be done at room temperature. Once covered, place it back into the freezer until frozen.

Once frozen, remove from the freezer and spread the second layer over top of the crushed Oreo/hot fudge sauce layer. Smooth out the top layer as much as possible. Then place it back into the freezer again until frozen. 

While you are waiting on this to freeze, you can prepare your final step.  Mix together, in a large mixing bowl, equal parts ice cream of your choice and Whip Cream. You are going to "frost" the cake with this combination. Now, there are a few ways you can do this. First, you could use a spatula to smooth it on the cake to give it a nice finished look, or you can add the mix to a large decorating bag and pipe the frosting on with the large frosting tip. It's up to you and what materials you have at home. Either way will work. I have the large tip but I didn't feel like using it.  I just smoothed my mixture on with a spatula.

Once it is frozen, and you have your mix made, pull out your cake from the freezer. At this point you can pull the cake out of the pan if you like.  You can do this by lifting out the wax paper, or opening up the spring form pan if you used one. Some people just leave the cake in the pan and simply frost the top. Do what works for you!  **TIP** If you do pull your cake from the pan, you will want to set it on a flat serving tray or a cardboard cake round. This just gives it added support.

You can add many different types of decorations to it if you want. If you have decorating bags and tips, you can pipe on stars or shells. If you have experience using buttercream, you can even pipe on some buttercream designs. Use your imagination and creativity! I took heart shaped cookie cutters and lightly pressed them into the top of my cake. Then I filled the cookie cutter with sprinkles. Once removed I had a nice sprinkle heart left over.  I did this all around the top of my cake.

Once you are done decorating, you can cut and serve up your yummy ice cream cake or pop it back in the freezer until frozen.

Enjoy!