Candy & Popcorn | Mixes, Ingredients, Recipes

How to Make Chocolate Covered Caramel Apples

October 27th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

These chocolate caramel candy apples are easy, delicious, and make beautiful gifts. Dip your apples in caramel, chocolate, or even melted candy and top them with cinnamon, candies, or chopped nuts. Use your imagination and the options are endless. Choosing Your Apples for Candy Apples The key to these best candy apple is contrast. Chocolate and caramel are sweet on their own. While adding a crisp apple to crunch into will be nice for the texture, choosing a sweet apple could be a headache. For the best contrast against the sweet caramel and chocolate coating, you’ll want a nice, tart …

Homemade Caramel Recipe

October 9th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

This homemade caramel recipe makes great caramel for coating candy or candy apples. It’s better than the caramel that you buy in the store and is way easier than unwrapping a million little caramel squares. It’s easy and leaves lots of room for variations. The Basic Homemade Caramel Recipe Ingredients 1 lb brown sugar 1 cup (two sticks) butter 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk 1 cup light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon butterscotch flavor Directions Care needs to be taken to assure that there are no sugar crystals in your candy as you make it. A few …

Four Unforgettable Things You Can Make with Cocoa

October 6th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

It’s amazing what good quality cocoa can do for your recipes. It will make them richer, tastier, and more chocolatey. It’s almost like the difference between good European chocolate and old holiday candy–you can easily taste the difference in quality. Get the Cocoa Recipes Click on any of the links below to jump to the recipe: Gourmet Hot Chocolate Chocolate Whipped Cream Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting Hot Fudge Sauce Made with Cocoa What Cocoa Butter Can Do for Cocoa Look for cocoa that is at least 14% to 16% cocoa butter. Most grocery store cocoa is 8% to 10%. The …

Lemon Cream Cake with Lemon Filling

October 1st, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

This is a delightful cake, one of the favorites in the store. It’s light and creamy, made from a cream cake base with a touch of lemon flavor, and topped with a lemon cloud whipped cream frosting for a delightfully intense lemon flavor without being overwhelming. About the Topping and Filling We topped this cake in several ways. What you see on this is a light coating of lemon designer dessert sauce sprinkled with lemon bark. The sauce holds the bark in place. The bark is crushed candy pieces, lemon, and white chocolate. Both the sauce and the bark contribute …

Six Kitchen Breakthroughs I Love

September 24th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

I may have the most fun job on the planet! I’m a food explorer. I have an office just down the hall from the test kitchen. I don’t do all of the baking but I know what’s going on. I get to explore new foods and methods and recipes. Including flavored whipped cream to add a boost of flavor to desserts and pie shields to prevent burnt crusts, these six breakthroughs will change your life. 1. Pie Shields I never bake a pie without a pie shield. Remember when we used to fold tin foil around the edges of pumpkin pies? …

5-Minute Microwave Fudge Recipe

September 23rd, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

This microwave fudge is ridiculously easy. Just mix it up in a bowl, stick it in the microwave to melt the chocolate, and pour it into a pan. It’s that simple and still has a great flavor and a nice texture. How this Microwave Fudge Works How does a fudge cooked in the microwave still work and taste just as good as regular fudge cooked on the stove? It all has to do with the reactions from the four main ingredients: chocolate, cocoa, baking soda, and sweetened condensed milk. The combination of the baking soda and cocoa changes the character …

How to Make Orange Chicken

August 27th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

This easy orange chicken recipe is the orange chicken that you are familiar with in most Chinese restaurants. It’s crispy and coated with a sweet orange sauce. It’s one of the most popular Chinese dishes in the US. Though there are variations, we’ll make it just like it is served in popular restaurants. Chicken breasts are cubed, battered, and deep-fried. They are then tossed in an orange sauce to make the chicken moist and tangy. What You’ll Need to Make Orange Chicken You’ll have most items, tools, and ingredients in your kitchen or find them readily in your grocery store. …

Rocky Road Microwave Cookie Bars

August 19th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

“Dad, anything with marshmallows and chocolate has to be good.” Katie was right; they are good. These interesting cookies are almost like candy bars—a chewy confection with nuts and chocolate. These are very quick microwave cookies. With all the ingredients on the counter, it took us eight minutes to pop these cookies in the microwave. We made several batches, tinkering with them to get them just right. Everyone declared them “very good”. Rocky Road Microwave Cookie Bars Recipe This recipe will make sixteen 2 x 2-inch squares. Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 cup quick rolled …

Candy Bar Sticky Toffee Pudding

August 17th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

This candy bar sticky toffee pudding really is reminiscent of a candy bar—at least it has candy bar components: nuts, chocolate chunks, marshmallows, and a sticky toffee topping. The cake mellows it down somewhat and balances the sweetness of the candy, but it is still a bit sweet yet very good. The Candy Bar Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe For the toffee sauce This is not complicated to make. You will need a candy thermometer. Just cook it until you reach the desired temperature. Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/4 …

Pineapple Coconut Sticky Toffee Pudding

August 17th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

This is one of our favorite sticky toffee pudding recipes. Made with shredded coconut and crushed pineapple, it has a very tropical flavor that pairs nicely with the sticky toffee topping. Pineapple Coconut Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe For the sticky toffee sauce This is not complicated to make. You will need a candy thermometer. Just cook it until you reach the desired temperature. Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/4 cup (1/2 cube) salted butter 1 teaspoon butterscotch flavor Instructions: In a large heavy saucepan, add the cream, brown sugar, …

Peach or Mango Sticky Toffee Pudding

August 17th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

I love peaches in my baking—peach cobbler, peach crisp, peach pie, and peaches in muffins. Peach sticky toffee pudding is no acception to that and absolutely to die for. Substituting with Mangos in the Sticky Toffee Pudding Often peaches are not available in our local grocery store. When the peaches are not in season, it seems that mangos are available. In this sticky toffee pudding recipe, and most recipes, you can substitute one for the other. The Peach Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe For the toffee sauce: This is not complicated to make. You will need a candy thermometer. Just cook …

Plum Sticky Toffee Pudding

August 17th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

We think this plum sticky toffee pudding recipe has old English origins. Never mind that you don’t have any fresh plums—this recipe calls for dried plums that are rehydrated in hot water before baking. This is an excellent recipe. In the past, we made plum pudding with a pourable caramel sauce to make a delightful dessert but it’s really an intriguing dessert with a sticky toffee topping. The Plum Stucky Toffee Pudding Recipe For the toffee sauce: This is not complicated to make. You will need a candy thermometer. Just cook it until you reach the desired temperature. Ingredients: 1 …

Zucchini Sticky Toffee Pudding

August 17th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

If you think the banana sticky toffee pudding is good, you’ll like this zucchini sticky toffee pudding even better. You will be tempted to leave the flavors out. Don’t. The sauce is good with vanilla flavor; it is phenomenal with butterscotch flavor. Caramel flavor, brown sugar flavor, and French vanilla flavor are all good and each gives a distinctly different tone to the sauce. Using Up Zucchini in Sticky Toffee Pudding We have the best, friendliest neighborhood. And so, in the heat of the summer, everyone shares their zucchini. I love zucchini but I can’t eat them that quickly. So …

Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding

August 17th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

It always seems like we have extra bananas that are becoming too ripe. Usually, we put them in zipper-type plastic bags and freeze them—and then forget about them. This banana sticky toffee pudding is a great recipe for your ripe bananas. If you use frozen ones, thaw them in the microwave before using them. About the Flavors in the Sticky Toffee Pudding You will be tempted to leave the flavors out. Don’t. The sauce is good with vanilla flavor; it is phenomenal with butterscotch flavor. Caramel flavor, brown sugar flavor, and French vanilla flavor are all good and each gives …

Creamy Orange No-Churn Ice Cream Recipe

August 13th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

This creamy orange no-churn ice cream is phenomenally good ice cream. We found an orange custard ice cream recipe and converted it to a no-churn ice cream. It’s a mild, mellow combination of orange, caramel, and vanilla that seems rich and sophisticated. This is a great ice cream to make in your ice cream freezer. If you use your ice cream freezer, you can substitute milk for a portion of the cream. The Creamy Orange No-Churn Ice Cream Recipe For the syrup 1/2 cup brown sugar 3 large egg yolks 1 pinch of salt 1/2 cup milk 1 1/2 tablespoons …

Round Brownies in a Springform Pan

August 13th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

This is our Saturday Morning Brownies recipe modified to work in a 9-inch springform pan. It makes a smaller batch of round brownies. It’s still firm and not gooey but moist and dense. We recommend a glass base springform pan. The advantage of using a springform pan with a glass base is that you can cut right on the base and not have to dig brownies from the pan. It makes for an elegant presentation. Ingredients: 1 cup rich dark cocoa with a high cocoa butter content (See note.) 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted 1 …

Cranberry White Chocolate Rice Krispies® Treats Recipe

August 12th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

These are simply Rice Krispies Treats with added white chocolate chips and dry cranberries. The white chocolate melts into the marshmallow mixture and makes for a much richer and very attractive bar. This is very suitable for guests. It is nearly as simple as the original recipe. Look for white chocolate chips made with cocoa butter instead of vegetable or coconut oil for a better taste. Cranberry White Chocolate Rice Krispies Treat Recipe Ingredients 4 tablespoons butter 4 cups miniature marshmallows 1/2 tablespoon good quality vanilla 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips 6 cups Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal or equal …

Easy Mini Corn Dogs

August 10th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

Want More Fun? Get a free ooey, gooey caramel popcorn kit. Plus get free recipes for pigs in a blanket, homemade playdough, painted cookies, corn dogs, and peanut butter brownies in an ice cream cone. Tell us where to send it! Using tempura batter mix makes these mini corn dogs easy to make—with only four ingredients. They are as good as any at the county fair. The Mini Corn Dog Recipe One package of eight good quality hot dogs cut crosswise 2 cups tempura batter mix 1 cup milk 1 large egg 16 wooden skewers about 4-inches long (cut longer skewers into shorter sticks) …

The Search for the Best Chiffon Pies

August 7th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

Dennis Weaver & Debbie Frantzen Chiffon pies are ethereal–light and dreamy, refreshing, melt-in-your-mouth affairs. They are perfect for summertime as well as anytime a light, less-filling dessert is desired. We set off to find the best chiffon pies. Mostly, it was Debbie’s project but she and I (Dennis) collaborated, and, as usual, she did the photography and I did most of the writing. About Chiffon Pies A requirement of chiffon pies is gelatin, whether it be unflavored or commercial brands with flavor and sugar such as Jell-O®. We concentrated on recipes using unflavored gelatin so that we could experiment with …

How to Make a Fine Chocolate Caramel Turtle Cake

July 29th, 2020Dennis Weaver0 Comments

St. Paul’s Best Chocolate Cake We never make a trip to Saint Paul without making a stop— or several— at Café Latte. The pastries are exquisite; the soups, sandwiches, and salads are incredible. “What’s your best chocolate cake?” I asked the server. Without hesitation, she answered, “The Turtle Cake.” It was very good… and simple enough that I can talk you through making it. Keep reading for all the sweet details. Merri Ann, my wife, is gluten free so she had the flourless chocolate cake. It too was good. We have a mix for that, the Legendary Flourless Chocolate Cake Mix. Dusted with a …