Chocolate Covered Cherries

This recipe was given to me by my Aunt Audra back in 2001 and I have made them every Christmas since then.  When I was growing up I had a neighbor who would give me and my sisters a box of chocolate covered cherries each for Christmas.  I think he started my love affair with these incredible candies.  Now that I know how to make my own, I don't buy boxed anymore.  These take about 2-3 weeks for the insides to liquefy so plan ahead if you are going to be making them as gifts.

Ingredients:
3 T unsalted butter, softened
3 T light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 pkg chocolate almond bark
1 large jar of stemmed cherries
1 pkg mini muffin liners

Drain cherries.  Put them in a bowl with paper towels and put them in the fridge to chill.

Combine butter, syrup and salt.

 Stir in powdered sugar.  You will have a big sticky ball and will have to use your hand to really mix.  Sometimes you need to chill it too.  

Take a tsp of sticky mixture to wrap around a cherry.

 Leave stem uncovered.  Place on wax paper and chill.

 Dip in melted chocolate and place in mini muffin cups.  I use the Ghirardelli chocolate because I have found that as far as taste and appearance go, it's the best.  Make sure to cover the whole cherry up to the stem.

Yummy!  Now just store them in a cool, dark place for 2-3 weeks and they'll be ready to eat!  I always eat a few after making them and they taste good too but it's so much better when the sugar has liquefied. 

Pumpkin Bread

This is a moist and delicious treat that we love to enjoy every fall.  It fills the house with delicious smells and begs us to pick every crumb off of our plates.

Ingredients:
1 - 15oz can of pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups Splenda sugar blend for baking (you can use regular white sugar too)
3/4 cup water
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 6 3x5 loaf pans.

In a large bowl mix together pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil, water, sugar, and vanilla; until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended.  Pour into prepared pans.

After making 4 loaves I added 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips to the rest of the batter and made a couple of them into Pumpkin Chocolate Chip loaves.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes in preheated oven.

Loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cut you a piece, grab a fork and enjoy!  These make a great little gift to share with a friend or neighbor.

If you divide each loaf into fifths then 1/5 is worth 5 Weight Watchers points.  If you make it with regular sugar it's more...not sure how much more.

Spiced Orange Marmalade

I have a new found love of canning.  It all started this summer when I had a Ball House Party and me and several friends made strawberry jam.  It was so much fun, not that hard and very rewarding.  I love that I have made my family something that is fresh and cheaper than what I can buy at the store!  I've made strawberry jam, apple butter, apple sauce, spiced orange marmalade and spiced watermelon honey.  I learn something new about the process every time I make something.  It's great!

I made this recipe by taking a little bit from several different orange marmalade recipes.  This one is not your traditional recipe.  I'll post the links to those recipes at the bottom of the post and you can check them out for yourself.

Ingredients:

8 oranges (I used navel)

2 lemons (juice from both, zest from one)

5 cups sugar

4 cups of water or orange juice

6 T regular pectin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cloves

Start with ripe fruit (not over ripe) and wash them well.  

 Peel your oranges making sure to pull out the middle part.  If you want the traditional orange marmalade then you will see one of the recipes below and follow the directions there.  This marmalade has no peel in it, just some zest.

After your oranges are peeled you will slice them and cut them into chunks, remove any seeds at this point.  Mine were seedless.  I added a couple of chunks of lemon too, they were not seedless.  Make sure you are saving as much of the juice as you cut by draining it into the bowl. 

Zest one lemon into your bowl.  Then add your chopped oranges.

Mix your pectin in with a 1/4 cup of your sugar and your spices.  I read that this keeps the pectin from clumping.  It must work because it did not clump.  Stir this into your oranges.

Dump your orange mixture into a large pot and then add 4 cups of water or orange juice.  I used water.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Stirring occasionally.

Add the sugar and bring the mixture to a full boil.  Stir and bring boil, hard, for one minute.

This is the finished batch.

Pour into jars and leave 1/4-inch at the top.  Wipe any that may have spilled on the top, seat the prepared lid and tighten the ring around them.  Put them in the boiling water canner.

Keep the jars covered with at least 2 inches of water.  Keep the water boiling and boil for 15 minutes.

Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool without bumping them in a draft-free place.  You will start to hear the popping of the lids as they are sealing.  It's very exciting!  Once they are cool you can check to see that they are sealed.  It may take up to two weeks for the marmalade to set and thicken up.  It will be runny until then.  Should last about 18 months.  This batch made 5 1/2 pints.

RECIPES

ONE

TWO

Applesauce

Ingredients:
5 lbs of apples (I used Gala, but you can use whatever kind you prefer)
water
1/4 cup sugar

 Core, peel and quarter your apples.  I used my apple corer/slicer and then peeled each slice with a knife. Put your apples into a pot with enough water to cover the bottom and keep your apples from sticking.  Put your pot on medium/high heat and cover with a lid.  

 Cook until you apples are soft.

Then, using a blender or a food mill, process your apples until you have the consistency of applesauce you want.  I use a hand blender for these types of recipes and I love it!

This is about the consistency that I wanted mine.

I then added 1/4 cup of sugar and stirred it in over high heat.

Using a candy thermometer I boiled the sauce and kept it at 212 degrees while I filled the jars.

The jars had been through a sanitize cycle of my dishwasher and had been keeping hot inside there.  When I was ready to fill it I pulled it out and put in the funnel.

I then filled the jar, leaving 1/2 inch of head space. I pressed a spatula into the sides of the sauce to take out bubbles then wiped off the mouth of the jar and around the sides.  

Then I took a lid from the pot where I had my lids keeping hot, and set it on and screwed a lid ring on, finger tip-tight.  Then I turned the jar over to seal. 

Apple Dew Crisp

This recipe is a combination of two recipes that I really like.  I just took a Apple Crisp recipe and tweaked it a little bit by adding in some of the ingredients of the Apple Dew recipe.  We all really enjoyed it.  I hope your family will too.

Ingredients

• 2 Granny Smith apples cored, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup Mountain Dew (diet or regular)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup sifted flour
• 1 cup quick or old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

 Core and peel your apples and chop into small pieces.  Place in a bowl with the Mountain Dew.  Stir and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.  

 When apples are about ready, lightly butter an 8-in square pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl; blend in melted butter and vanilla.  

 Press 2/3 of mixture into bottom of pan.  

 Cover with apple mixture.  Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned.

 Cool; cut into squares; serve topped with ice cream or whipped cream.

Makes 8-10 servings.