I am currently trying to revise my eating plan for the new year, so I thought I'd throw out one of my healthier cookie recipes for you to try. It's (supposedly) the recipe for those oh-so-tasty Great Harvest Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, and while it might not be the real one it tastes very similar. It also may not be low in calories, but it is made from more high quality healthy ingredients than the average cookie, which I think is important when deciding what to put into your body. And chocolate should always rank somewhere high on your important things to eat list. Antioxidants, people! :D
Harvest Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups whole wheat flour (I use Great Montana or King Arthur...try to use a good quality flour, it's worth it)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats, divided in half
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 11.5 ounce bag chocolate chips
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
-Take one cup of the oats and grind in a blender or food processor until it is the consistency of coarse flour. Set aside.
-Cream together the brown sugar and butter until well combined.
-Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir molasses, milk and vanilla into the butter and sugar mixture and beat well.
-Add the ground and rolled oats to the butter mixture and mix well.
-Add the flour mixture and mix until it is completely combined.
-Stir in the chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
-Using a 1/4 cup scoop (about the size of a regular ice cream scoop) or measuring cup, scoop the dough onto ungreased cookie sheets 3 inches apart.
-Bake for 12 to 13 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown.
-Remove from oven and cool two minutes on the cookie sheets. Remove from sheets and cool completely on racks.
Makes 22-24 giant cookies.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
This Is Why I Mostly Bake
I've been off work the last few nights so I thought I'd make us some lovely dinners, and here is what I say to that experience: Poopie! Chicken Marsala be danged to heck! (Not to mention the nasty smell of wine while it's doing it's reduction thing.)
Christmas night we got home from my parents and had a nap, got up around 6-ish and I decided it would be nice to make some lovely, homey dinner. Something that sounded decidedly easy and not too over the top considering we'd been eating ham, rolls, cake and pie all day. My sister gave me all her old copies of Fine Cooking Magazine, and they had an issue on "Comfort Food". The cover had a casserole dish practically spilling over with the most divine looking homemade mac and cheese I'd ever seen. So I thought I'd make it. I remember making it in home ec. in high school. Shouldn't be that hard to make comfort food, right? Boil some pasta, make some white sauce, melt in some cheese...ta da! I'm a hero.
1 and 1/2 hours (and a very frazzled Becky) later we finally had our dinner. While it was decidedly tasty macaroni and cheese, it was just far too involved. Comfort food should be easy to make. I swear I stirred that !@#*@&^ white sauce for around an hour before it even decided to thicken up enough for the cheese. I had to whisk it the whole time. Then strain out the onions. Then I had to bake the stinking stuff. Dana wouldn't eat it because it had breadcrumbs on it. *SIGH*
So tonight I finally got around to making what I was going to make for Christmas dinner, but we got invited to a family party and decided to go to that instead. Boy am I glad we did. The Chicken Marsala in question was okay, but nowhere near worth the trouble I went through to make it. Plus wine smells really gross when it's simmering with mushrooms. By the time I got it on the table I didn't feel well. You can tell I'm a hardcore drinker, can't you? The mashed potatoes, which took all of 15 minutes to make (because you have to boil them, you know) and the croissants which came out of a can were better than the stupid frou frou chicken. Fancy dinner recipes be damned.
When I come back from the fog hanging round my head, which I think is wine fumes that have attached themselves to my brain, I shall post a new recipe. I am now off to pass out.
Christmas night we got home from my parents and had a nap, got up around 6-ish and I decided it would be nice to make some lovely, homey dinner. Something that sounded decidedly easy and not too over the top considering we'd been eating ham, rolls, cake and pie all day. My sister gave me all her old copies of Fine Cooking Magazine, and they had an issue on "Comfort Food". The cover had a casserole dish practically spilling over with the most divine looking homemade mac and cheese I'd ever seen. So I thought I'd make it. I remember making it in home ec. in high school. Shouldn't be that hard to make comfort food, right? Boil some pasta, make some white sauce, melt in some cheese...ta da! I'm a hero.
1 and 1/2 hours (and a very frazzled Becky) later we finally had our dinner. While it was decidedly tasty macaroni and cheese, it was just far too involved. Comfort food should be easy to make. I swear I stirred that !@#*@&^ white sauce for around an hour before it even decided to thicken up enough for the cheese. I had to whisk it the whole time. Then strain out the onions. Then I had to bake the stinking stuff. Dana wouldn't eat it because it had breadcrumbs on it. *SIGH*
So tonight I finally got around to making what I was going to make for Christmas dinner, but we got invited to a family party and decided to go to that instead. Boy am I glad we did. The Chicken Marsala in question was okay, but nowhere near worth the trouble I went through to make it. Plus wine smells really gross when it's simmering with mushrooms. By the time I got it on the table I didn't feel well. You can tell I'm a hardcore drinker, can't you? The mashed potatoes, which took all of 15 minutes to make (because you have to boil them, you know) and the croissants which came out of a can were better than the stupid frou frou chicken. Fancy dinner recipes be damned.
When I come back from the fog hanging round my head, which I think is wine fumes that have attached themselves to my brain, I shall post a new recipe. I am now off to pass out.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Good Morning
Today is a testament to how much I not only love my husband, but all the really nice people he works with. I got up at 6am to make them cinnamon rolls as our Christmas gift to them. For those of you who have never made bread from scratch, this is a labor of love....that and a really good outlet for frustration. :) Making bread is a wonderful thing to do on a cold day, and very cathartic.
I am a huge fan of cinnamon rolls. There is nothing wrong with a cinnamon roll. I remember when Ray came to Utah for the first time I took him straight to Crossroads Mall and stopped at Cinnabon so he could taste the best cinnamon rolls ever. When that Cinnabon closed down I was very sad. So I started making this recipe to fill the void. The last time I had an actual Cinnabon was when we were stuck in Chicago on a layover to Scotland and I have to tell you a secret. I think that these might be better.
This really is a great recipe, the dough is very forgiving...and full of interesting ingredients you would never think to see in a cinnamon roll. If you've never made yeast bread before, I think it's time to put your hands to good use. It's nice to think that you're doing something that people have been doing for thousands of years. I always imagine my grandma in her kitchen making 10 loaves of bread and how satisfying it is to make things with your own two hands. My hope is that this never becomes a dying art.
Copycat Cinnabon Rolls
2 tablespoons or 2 packets dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix (4 serving size)
milk (for pudding)
1/2 cup margarine, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups flour
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
8 teaspoons cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
-First, make the cream cheese frosting: mix all the ingredients together until smooth and set aside.
-In a small bowl combine the yeast, sugar and water, stir until dissolved and set aside.
-In a large mixing bowl make the vanilla pudding mix according to package directions.
-Add in the melted margarine, eggs and salt and mix well.
-Add in yeast mixture (which should be foamy by this point) and blend.
-Gradually add the flour. Once all the flour is in, turn out and knead on a floured surface until smooth.
-Place the dough in a large greased bowl and grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and place in a warm area. Let rise until double.
-Punch down and let rise until double again.
-Next, roll out on a floured surface to 34x21 inches.
-Take the soft butter and spread over the entire surface.
-In a bowl mix together the cinnamon and brown sugar. Sprinkle over the top of the buttered dough.
-Roll up tightly.
-Using a piece of thread or unwaxed dental floss, cut the dough every two inches. (Do this by sliding the thread under the dough, crossing the thread over the top and pulling quickly to cut.)
-Place the rolls on a lightly gread cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Take your hand and lightly press down on each roll.
-Cover with plastic wrap and let rise. In the meantime preheat your to 350F.
-When rolls are doubled in size, bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove when they just start to turn golden. Don't overbake!
-Frost while warm with the cream cheese frosting.
Makes about 20 rolls.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Minty
I know I haven't gotten around to posting some of those other promised recipes yet...don't worry, I will!
In the meantime, I tried a recipe yesterday that I thought was brilliant and would be impressive for a cookie exchange or a gift. Mint Shortbread! They are drizzled with white and milk chocolate and they taste a little like a grasshopper cookie, only much, much better.
Mint Shortbread Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons mint extract
2 and 2/3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Green food coloring
White and Milk Chocolate chips
-In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
-Beat in the egg and then stir in the mint extract.
-Add the flour and salt and stir in until completely mixed.
-Add several drops of food coloring and mix well. (I find this works best if you mix until the dough is marbled and then knead it with your hands so it gets well mixed, but you don't get green fingers.) Add food coloring until desired shade of green is reached.
-Roll the dough into a log and wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Slice dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
-Bake for 8-9 minutes or until cookie just begin to brown at the edges.
-Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.
-Drizzle with melted chocolate chips if desired*. (Melt each kind seperately in microwave safe bowls. Instructions on how to do this follow.)
Makes about 60 cookies
(depending on what size log you make...mine was about 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter and about 2 feet long)
----------------------------------------------------
*Some tips about chocolate and how I did my drizzling!
Once upon a time, right after I graduated from high school, I worked at a chocolate factory. I guess that would make me an Oompa Loompa of sorts, but this chocolate factory wasn't anywhere near as fun or pretty as Willie Wonka's. (Nor was my manager anything as lucious and Johnny Depp.)
I learned lots of things while I was there, like how to make nifty designs so you could tell the chocolates apart and also how to eat so much chocolate that you don't ever want to eat it again.
All kidding aside, it's important how you heat chocolate so that it doesn't do scary things that make very un-attractive treats. Overheating it and/or getting any water in it will make it sieze up and turn into a lumpy, sugary mess. Cooling it too quickly will cause it turn grey, and it won't set up properly. Not cooling it enough will ensure messy, sticky fingers.
Here is the easiest way I know, short of owning a warm chocolate vat, to melt chocolate:
Put the chocolate (chips in this case) in a microwave safe bowl and microwave them for 30 seconds. Stir them around and put them back in for another 30 seconds. Stir again. Don't be tempted to put them in until they melt. This will overheat your chocolate and make it sieze. If the chips aren't melted yet, put them back in for another 30 second but watch them. As soon as the chocolate starts to look like it's melting you need to take it out and stir it. Make sure you stir it really well because this may be all it needs for it to melt the chips.
Without trying to get too scientific, the reason you need to do this is because everything you're cooking in a microwave will conduct heat from the bottom up. The bottom of the chips will melt first while the top chips might not look melted at all. In fact, some kinds of chocolate don't even look like they're melted at all until you stir them up. If you wait for all the chips to melt, the chocolate on the bottom will already be overcooked. This is why it's necessary to stir, stir, stir. The hot chips on the bottom will melt the less hot ones on the top and your chocolate will never get too hot if you remember to stir it often and cook in short bursts.
As soon as there are no more lumps in the chocolate you're ready for drizzling. You can do it freehand with a fork or spoon, or spoon the chocolate into a plastic bag, snip a tiny bit of the corner off and drizzle them that way. You may even be tempted to make nifty swirly designs or star shapes with your chocolate. You little artist, you. :) Just remember that as soon as the chocolate starts to come back to room temperature it will harden up, so you need to do the drizzling in a relatively short amount of time.
The last tip is that you need to give yourself time to let the chocolate set up. It will harden again if you let it sit at room temperature long enough. Faster in a cooler room. Don't be tempted to put them in the freezer. Reason being that when you introduce too much cold into warm you're going to get condensation, and that equals water on your chocolate. Water+Chocolate=Grey, Sticky Chocolate. If you absolutely need them to be done faster, you can put your cookies in the fridge, but not for longer than 5 minutes. This will give the chocolate a chance to cool down just enough. Let them finish out cooling at room temperature. This will ensure perfect cookies.
I will now dismount from my chocolate soapbox.
In the meantime, I tried a recipe yesterday that I thought was brilliant and would be impressive for a cookie exchange or a gift. Mint Shortbread! They are drizzled with white and milk chocolate and they taste a little like a grasshopper cookie, only much, much better.
Mint Shortbread Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons mint extract
2 and 2/3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Green food coloring
White and Milk Chocolate chips
-In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
-Beat in the egg and then stir in the mint extract.
-Add the flour and salt and stir in until completely mixed.
-Add several drops of food coloring and mix well. (I find this works best if you mix until the dough is marbled and then knead it with your hands so it gets well mixed, but you don't get green fingers.) Add food coloring until desired shade of green is reached.
-Roll the dough into a log and wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Slice dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
-Bake for 8-9 minutes or until cookie just begin to brown at the edges.
-Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.
-Drizzle with melted chocolate chips if desired*. (Melt each kind seperately in microwave safe bowls. Instructions on how to do this follow.)
Makes about 60 cookies
(depending on what size log you make...mine was about 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter and about 2 feet long)
----------------------------------------------------
*Some tips about chocolate and how I did my drizzling!
Once upon a time, right after I graduated from high school, I worked at a chocolate factory. I guess that would make me an Oompa Loompa of sorts, but this chocolate factory wasn't anywhere near as fun or pretty as Willie Wonka's. (Nor was my manager anything as lucious and Johnny Depp.)
I learned lots of things while I was there, like how to make nifty designs so you could tell the chocolates apart and also how to eat so much chocolate that you don't ever want to eat it again.
All kidding aside, it's important how you heat chocolate so that it doesn't do scary things that make very un-attractive treats. Overheating it and/or getting any water in it will make it sieze up and turn into a lumpy, sugary mess. Cooling it too quickly will cause it turn grey, and it won't set up properly. Not cooling it enough will ensure messy, sticky fingers.
Here is the easiest way I know, short of owning a warm chocolate vat, to melt chocolate:
Put the chocolate (chips in this case) in a microwave safe bowl and microwave them for 30 seconds. Stir them around and put them back in for another 30 seconds. Stir again. Don't be tempted to put them in until they melt. This will overheat your chocolate and make it sieze. If the chips aren't melted yet, put them back in for another 30 second but watch them. As soon as the chocolate starts to look like it's melting you need to take it out and stir it. Make sure you stir it really well because this may be all it needs for it to melt the chips.
Without trying to get too scientific, the reason you need to do this is because everything you're cooking in a microwave will conduct heat from the bottom up. The bottom of the chips will melt first while the top chips might not look melted at all. In fact, some kinds of chocolate don't even look like they're melted at all until you stir them up. If you wait for all the chips to melt, the chocolate on the bottom will already be overcooked. This is why it's necessary to stir, stir, stir. The hot chips on the bottom will melt the less hot ones on the top and your chocolate will never get too hot if you remember to stir it often and cook in short bursts.
As soon as there are no more lumps in the chocolate you're ready for drizzling. You can do it freehand with a fork or spoon, or spoon the chocolate into a plastic bag, snip a tiny bit of the corner off and drizzle them that way. You may even be tempted to make nifty swirly designs or star shapes with your chocolate. You little artist, you. :) Just remember that as soon as the chocolate starts to come back to room temperature it will harden up, so you need to do the drizzling in a relatively short amount of time.
The last tip is that you need to give yourself time to let the chocolate set up. It will harden again if you let it sit at room temperature long enough. Faster in a cooler room. Don't be tempted to put them in the freezer. Reason being that when you introduce too much cold into warm you're going to get condensation, and that equals water on your chocolate. Water+Chocolate=Grey, Sticky Chocolate. If you absolutely need them to be done faster, you can put your cookies in the fridge, but not for longer than 5 minutes. This will give the chocolate a chance to cool down just enough. Let them finish out cooling at room temperature. This will ensure perfect cookies.
I will now dismount from my chocolate soapbox.
Christmas Cookies
I made the sugar cookie recipe over the weekend, but I didn't get around to rolling them out and cutting them into cute little christmasy things until yesterday. I purchased snowflake, snowman and pine tree cookie cutters from Spoons and Spice and commenced to cookie-ing. Dana sprinkled on the sugars and we had a grand time.
The verdict? They were phenomenal. They tasted wonderful and rich because of just enough cream cheese added to the dough, and they didn't spread out and make the shapes deformed in any way (which is a problem when you're making cut-out cookies). They also turn a brilliant white when they bake, which makes them look beautiful. The only problem I found was that if you use cutters with spindly shapes (like my lovely snowflake cutter that had slender tips) the cookies are tender, which lead to the tips breaking off in an unceremonius fashion. So this may be one to not use with the reindeer cutter that has tiny legs and antlers. Oh well, those tips were still tasty!
Buttery Cut-Out Christmas Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
-Combine everything but the flour in a mixing bowl and beat until well combined and creamy (about 3-4 minutes).
-Gradually add the flour and beat until well mixed, about 2-3 minutes more.
-Divide the dough in half and shape into flat discs. Wrap in each in plastic wrap.
-Refrigerate until firm, at least two hours.
-Take out of the fridge when ready and let rest for about 15 minutes (otherwise it's fairly impossible to roll out).
-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
-Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick.
-Cut out the shapes your prefer and place at least 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
-Sprinkle with colored sugars before baking if desired.
-Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the edges just start to brown. I find the magic number for my oven is about 8 minutes.
-Let sit on sheets for about 2 minutes (this prevents breakage) and transfer to racks to cool.
-I you prefer to bake your cookies plain you can decorate with icing and candies after they are cooled. Decorate away!
-------------------------------------------
Some helpful Tips!
If you're having trouble transferring your cut dough to the cookie sheets, try these techniques.
-Roll your dough out on waxed paper to keep it from sticking.
-cut out all your shapes on foil sheets, transfer the foil sheet to the baking pan, remove the excess dough around your shapes and bake.
The verdict? They were phenomenal. They tasted wonderful and rich because of just enough cream cheese added to the dough, and they didn't spread out and make the shapes deformed in any way (which is a problem when you're making cut-out cookies). They also turn a brilliant white when they bake, which makes them look beautiful. The only problem I found was that if you use cutters with spindly shapes (like my lovely snowflake cutter that had slender tips) the cookies are tender, which lead to the tips breaking off in an unceremonius fashion. So this may be one to not use with the reindeer cutter that has tiny legs and antlers. Oh well, those tips were still tasty!
Buttery Cut-Out Christmas Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
-Combine everything but the flour in a mixing bowl and beat until well combined and creamy (about 3-4 minutes).
-Gradually add the flour and beat until well mixed, about 2-3 minutes more.
-Divide the dough in half and shape into flat discs. Wrap in each in plastic wrap.
-Refrigerate until firm, at least two hours.
-Take out of the fridge when ready and let rest for about 15 minutes (otherwise it's fairly impossible to roll out).
-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
-Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick.
-Cut out the shapes your prefer and place at least 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
-Sprinkle with colored sugars before baking if desired.
-Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the edges just start to brown. I find the magic number for my oven is about 8 minutes.
-Let sit on sheets for about 2 minutes (this prevents breakage) and transfer to racks to cool.
-I you prefer to bake your cookies plain you can decorate with icing and candies after they are cooled. Decorate away!
-------------------------------------------
Some helpful Tips!
If you're having trouble transferring your cut dough to the cookie sheets, try these techniques.
-Roll your dough out on waxed paper to keep it from sticking.
-cut out all your shapes on foil sheets, transfer the foil sheet to the baking pan, remove the excess dough around your shapes and bake.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Christmas Bakery!
I'm sorry I haven't posted any new recipes lately. I haven't felt well since Thanksgiving and I've had a wee girl with a cold at home. That doesn't mean I have stopped cooking, though! Heavens, a day without cooking is like purgatory for me. I'm that addicted to it. I probably have a problem with a name and everything.
Recently I've been trying out recipes that are gift and party worthy. I have made a lot of lovely things. I've also made some not so lovely ones that will not be featured here...like the horribly wrong peanut butter fudge, which we shall not mention again.
The stand out ones that I have made--and which I will bestow on you in easy to digest installments--are the following: "The Cheesecake Factory" Pumpkin Cheesecake, Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies, Great Harvest's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lime Bars and Molasses Cookies.
Today is Gingerbread Caramel Corn. I made it over the weekend to take to work, and it got rave reviews! Just think what a great gift it would make, accompanied by a bottle of sparkling cider or some fresh apples.
Gingerbread Caramel Corn
15-18 cups popped popcorn
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
(Tip! If you don't want to use air popped popcorn, you can make this in a pinch with microwave popcorn. I use two bags of Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop Butter because the butter flavor is practically non-existent, so it doesn't effect the flavor of the caramel.)
-Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Set aside two 9x13 pans or one large half sheet pan for the popcorn to bake on.
-Put the popcorn in a large mixing bowl. Shake the popcorn so that all the unpopped "old maid" kernels (they break teeth!) fall to the bottom. Transfer the popcorn to another mixing bowl using very clean hands or a spoon, and then throw the unpopped kernels in the bottom of the bowl away. Make sure the bowl the popcorn ends up in is heatproof and has enough room for you to stir the popcorn around in without falling out, and set aside.
-In a large, heavy saucepan combine the salt, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, molasses, ginger and cinnamon. Measure out the baking soda and set aside.
-Heat the mixture over medium heat until it comes to a full boil.
-Boil for 4 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
-Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. The mixture will foam up. Stir well.
-Pour this mixture over the popcorn and stir gently until evenly coated with the mixture.
-Spread the popcorn out onto the pan(s) in an even layer.
-Bake for one hour, stirring the popcorn every fifteen minutes.
-Cool completely on the pans, stirring every once in a while as it cools. When completely cool, store in an airtight container.
Recently I've been trying out recipes that are gift and party worthy. I have made a lot of lovely things. I've also made some not so lovely ones that will not be featured here...like the horribly wrong peanut butter fudge, which we shall not mention again.
The stand out ones that I have made--and which I will bestow on you in easy to digest installments--are the following: "The Cheesecake Factory" Pumpkin Cheesecake, Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies, Great Harvest's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lime Bars and Molasses Cookies.
Today is Gingerbread Caramel Corn. I made it over the weekend to take to work, and it got rave reviews! Just think what a great gift it would make, accompanied by a bottle of sparkling cider or some fresh apples.
Gingerbread Caramel Corn
15-18 cups popped popcorn
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
(Tip! If you don't want to use air popped popcorn, you can make this in a pinch with microwave popcorn. I use two bags of Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop Butter because the butter flavor is practically non-existent, so it doesn't effect the flavor of the caramel.)
-Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Set aside two 9x13 pans or one large half sheet pan for the popcorn to bake on.
-Put the popcorn in a large mixing bowl. Shake the popcorn so that all the unpopped "old maid" kernels (they break teeth!) fall to the bottom. Transfer the popcorn to another mixing bowl using very clean hands or a spoon, and then throw the unpopped kernels in the bottom of the bowl away. Make sure the bowl the popcorn ends up in is heatproof and has enough room for you to stir the popcorn around in without falling out, and set aside.
-In a large, heavy saucepan combine the salt, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, molasses, ginger and cinnamon. Measure out the baking soda and set aside.
-Heat the mixture over medium heat until it comes to a full boil.
-Boil for 4 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
-Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. The mixture will foam up. Stir well.
-Pour this mixture over the popcorn and stir gently until evenly coated with the mixture.
-Spread the popcorn out onto the pan(s) in an even layer.
-Bake for one hour, stirring the popcorn every fifteen minutes.
-Cool completely on the pans, stirring every once in a while as it cools. When completely cool, store in an airtight container.
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