Yum. Caramels. Or how to turn your child into a little thief.

I haven't made caramels in about 6 years, because they're a bit time consuming. In fact, it took me an hour and a half to cut the caramels today. The heel of my hand still feels bruised tonight from pushing down on the knife to cut them. Then, it took another couple of hours to wrap each one. If they didn't stick to plastic wrap or waxed paper like they do, they wouldn't take so long to wrap. However, there's something rather gross about having to pick the plastic or waxed paper out of the caramel before eating it, so I'd rather use the cellophane.

Let me just say this:

They are totally worth the effort!

I made this little bowl the other night when I was doing the pinata. I wasn't sure what I was going to use it for when I was making it, but I knew it would be put to good use and Mom would like it. It wasn't until I was done making the caramels that I knew it's purpose.



To give you an idea of how many caramels are in there...the bowl is 9.25" in diameter and 6" tall. The doubled recipe I made makes 5.5 pounds of caramels. We did eat a few, but that's still over 5 pounds of goodness in that bowl!

I got my recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens CANDY cookbook that I've had for years, but it's also all over the web. If you want to try the recipe for yourself, you can find it here.

Oh. And the cookie jar?

Yeah. It's full now. I added 3 dozen more cookies after this picture was taken. The kids have been so good about not begging for any out of the jar, but I did go ahead and sneak one out for each of the girls today. It's such a temptation for them.

Speaking of temptation...Scooter really likes the caramels. Hopper does, too. And I did give them one here and there while I was wrapping them up today. The last time they got one, I gave Scooter hers and she immediately popped it into her mouth. I handed her Hopper's caramel and asked her to go give it to her sister. No sooner did I put it in her hand than the little turkey decided she wanted it. I caught her hand on it's way to her already full mouth, and told her it was her sister's. She grinned from ear to ear at having been busted, and I followed her to make sure she gave Hopper her caramel.

If you don't want to see your child become a little caramel thief, you may want to stick with store bought goodies!

My nose is broken.

Well. At least the smelling part is.

I baked 9 dozen gingersnaps today, and I couldn't even smell them. Fine. It was only 8.75 dozen. I can't roll them all evenly. Ok? To add insult to injury, they didn't taste right, either. It wasn't the spices. They were brand new. It's this broken smeller I have. I wish I had a warranty on it. I'd return it for a refund.

The electrician did get the dedicated outlets hooked up today. I so hope it helps keep the breakers from popping all the time! Thankfully, it's cool enough today we didn't have to have the air on at all, even with me baking. That was nice.

The hubster got the roller shade yesterday. Had it cut especially for the window. It's a tad on the narrow side, as we still get a little sunlight on the sides of the shade, but overall we're very pleased. We had a decent little rain earlier, but now the sun is out. So I decided to feel behind the shade to see, if it made a difference. It does. Yay! It was much warmer on the other side of the shade.

I think this will help a lot this summer. I'll miss the light that it blocks out, but I figure I'll still get some, if I leave the shade up in the morning and pull it down when the sun goes around to that side of the house. We decided to leave the mini blinds up in front of the shade. At least for now. Two layers should be better than one. Right?

Opened the sweetened condensed milk, so I could make the caramels this afternoon, and it was no longer off white. It looked like it had already been caramelized. Oh yay. Thankfully, Bugster was over at the grocery store and picked some more up for me, so I could get the caramels going. I'm sure I'll be wrapping them for a few hours tonight.

For anyone who makes their own caramels, I have a little tip. You know how they stick to plastic wrap and to waxed paper? Isn't that just so frustrating?? You don't have that problem? Hmmm. Must be something I'm doing wrong. Oh well. I did discover they don't stick to cellophane, so I highly recommend using it. The only problem is that you have to tape each little packaged caramel shut or tie it off on each end. They look superdeeduper cute, if you then tie them like a little gift with curling ribbon whether you tie the ends, or whether you tape the package shut and add the ribbon as a little decoration.

I am a bit frustrated with the spice drop cookies. They're supposed to be rolled into a tube shape in plastic wrap and refrigerated before cutting and baking. The recipe says to cut them 1/4" thick. Uh huh. Go ahead. Try it. Doesn't work. I'll be interested to see how many dozen cookies the doubled recipe makes, because there is no way it will make 18 dozen cookies like purported. Ha. I'll be glad to get 8 to 10 dozen out of it. We shall see.

So. I left my post for a couple hours, and I've come back to finish it up. Bugster came over and helped pour the caramels for me. Trying to pour them pretty much kills my neck and shoulders, so I was very happy to have the assist. They're cooling now, and I will try to get them cut tonight or in the morning and get them wrapped. From the little that was left on the wooden spoon, they taste really good, too.

I'm off to go finish baking the spice drop cookies and clean up my messy kitchen. I think I'll probably finish up the caramels in the morning. I have a feeling I'll absolutely crash once my head hits that pillow tonight. I just hope I don't dream about baking. I think I've had enough for one day. :)