Christmas and Caramels

As you can see below, Miss Ella is getting ready for her first Christmas. Too bad Nana is lagging so far behind. I apologize for not being on the blog for over 2 months again. I hope to do better in the NEW YEAR!!! I have been adjusting to my "New Normal" and enjoying my parents who have been with me in Oklahoma since the middle of October. They stay at the lake and with me, about half and half. It was great having them here. They are both 84 and in great shape both physically and mentally. They have been a great source of support. We are so blessed!!! They left on Wednesday to return to WV for the Christmas holidays with my brothers. I will be going to Minneapolis to celebrate with this beautiful little girl who is growing up WAY too fast. My friends in Oklahoma know how much I love and miss snow....so maybe I will see aWhite Christmas in Minnesota this year. Please Santa, please!!!!!

The last time I blogged....WAY back in October... I shared how to make Caramel Sauce in the Crock Pot with Sweetened Condensed Milk. Today we are going to take that Caramel Sauce and make Chocolate Covered Caramels. I had a great visit last week with Mary Nease from WV who gave me the recipe for the Crock Pot Caramel. She also shared the candy recipe we are making today. She is quite a talented artist and we have begun a collaboration working together on a cookbook. Mary graduated with my brother and my Jeffrey from high school so we have lots in common. Thanks Mary for this great recipe.

Chocolate Covered Caramels

Ingredients:

Almond Bark or Wilton melting chocolate disks

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk made into Caramel

Small foil Candy Cups--we used 56 for 1 can of caramel

Nuts of your choice , chopped. We used pecans.



First of all chop the Almond Bark into small pieces. If using discs you can skip this step.

Place in Chocolate in several small microwave prove dishes.

Melt the chocolate one cup at a time. Better to work in small batches. It took about 1 minute in my microwave, then we stirred the chocolate and returned it to the microwave for 10 second intervals, stirring in between until it was smooth and glossy. Microwaves differ so be sure and check after 1 minute and then ONLY 10 seconds at a time. You can BURN the chocolate if you leave it in the microwave too long.

Choose your favorite nut and chop finely. These are native Oklahoma Pecans that were harvested by my good friend Carol from trees owned by her father-in-law. She not only picked them up but she shelled them for me. Wasn't that so VERY Nice.....and quite a gift!!! I LOVE pecans!!!

Love my Alaska Uhle Bowl for chopping nuts!!

Remember our Caramel??

Remove from can and stir. Divide the caramel and mix half with the nuts. We will make candy with and without nuts.

Next coat the inside of the foil miniature baking cups with the melted chocolate using a spoon. This is Mary with my sweet little mother sitting at the bar supervising.

After the cups are lined with the chocolate put them in the fridge to cool and harden. It only takes a few minutes.

Here is the caramel mixed with nuts for the filling.

Carefully, using a small spoon fill the chocolate cups with the caramel...both with and without nuts.

Once the cups are filled. Heat another cup of chocolate and gently cover the filling. We sprinkled finely grounds nuts on top of the caramel nut filled candies so we would know which ones they were.

Aren't they beautiful??!!! And they taste even better than they look. We made 56 candies with 1 can of Homemade Caramel and 24 ounces of Almond Bark.

Hope you enjoy making the candy as much as we did!! Thanks Mary for your great recipe that is sure to please all those who are lucky enough to taste them.

Cleaning up wasn't as much fun!! But someone had to do it!!

These make pretty little gifts. There are so many pretty packaging options now. You can get small holiday boxes, bags, trays.....you choose!! I bought the little plate that the candy is pictured on at Kohl's several years ago. Stay tuned....more coming up this week...we have mounds and almond joy bars coming up along with fun holiday coated pretzels.

Tomorrow is the second Sunday in Advent!! As we prepare for the birth of our Lord let us remember that HE is the reason for the season!!

For unto you in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, which is Christ The Lord! Luke 3:11

May you feel His presence in all that you do this Christmas Season!

Happy Trails,

MTN MAMA

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