Another stocking stuffer idea. Or a snack. Or just because you can! I used to make caramel corn a lot. In 2018, I brought some to a work gathering an people were actually fighting on who could eat the crumbs. And then, yesterday evening, I was in the Christmas section of Target and they had Caramel Popcorn with peanuts, or macadamia nuts, or pecans, and I though — yeah, I should make some of that! and so I did. This is Caramel Macadamia Nut Popcorn and it is seriously delicious.
As is often this time of year, I am thinking of “stocking stuffer” style gifts and inevitably I make some roasted nuts. This year: Maple Syrup and Bourbon…. a sort of New England meets Kentucky thing. They are delicious, not too hard and quite addictive. I should stop eating them, otherwise I won’t have any more to give away!
Here’s another simple “stocking Stuffer” like idea, if you are looking to make your own foodie Christmas presents this year: Chocolate-Covered Roasted Cashew + Pretzel Rounds Brittle. Takes less than 15 minutes to prepare, an hour to chill/harden and then voila! A homemade present! You can, of course, use other nuts, but I am definitely partial to cashews here. If you want to make them a little cinnamony, that might be a nice twist too.
In between all the other things that I am baking — whoo hoo Cookie Madness! — I need to keep my sourdough starter in tip top shape, so I made a new variation on the weekly sourdough experiment: Sourdough Maple Pecan Harvest Bread. A little nutty, a little maple-y and definitely a good choice for breakfast and bread pudding. Very New England autumn inspired.
Completely out of character for my baking and cooking style, but staying on the Halloween and ghoulish eyeball theme, here we have some absolutely delicious Spicy Hot Honey Almond Buckeyes, all decked out for the holiday. Despite being technicolor and ghoulish, they taste really cool — kicked up almond butter with cayenne and honey. And besides, freaking the kids out by biting into an eyeball has to be fun, no?