Pancake fun

I decided to make the kids some fun pancakes.  It can't be that hard, right?  You pour the batter into the cookie cutters, let them cook for a while, remove the cookie cutter, flip them over,, bake 'em a little longer, and voila!

...or not!

In the words of my oldest...

"What are those supposed to be, mom?"

Perseverance pays off.  This time I dipped the cookie cutters in oil first, then I only filled them about half as full.

Yes, that's a little more what I was going for.

They were a hit!

Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats

Our Friday night fun consisted of Mommy going grocery shopping, coming home and trying to find a place to put everything, then making a treat.  The request was Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats.  They turned out really good.  I found the Pumpkin Spice chips at Target.  That's the only place I found them this year, but then, I didn't look super hard either.  The original Rice Krispie Recipe was posted here, but I changed it just a tad. 

Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats

5 Tbl. butter

10 cups mini marshmallows

6 cups Rice Krispie cereal

A pinch of salt

1 cup Nestle Pumpkin Spice chips

Directions:

Melt butter in a large pan. Add 8 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows and a pinch of salt, and stir constantly until melted.  Remove from heat, and add Rice Krispie cereal.  Stir until well combined, then add additional 1 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows and Pumpkin Spice chips while still hot.  Press into bottom of greased 9x13 baking dish (or 8x8 if you like them really thick).  Let cool, then ENJOY!

(Note: These have a strong pumpkin taste.  If you want it to be a little more subtle, you can reduce it to 1/2-3/4 cup of the Pumpkin Spice chips.)

Caramel Corn

I found a really good recipe for caramel corn, and made it with the kids last night.

Making the caramel

 Popping the popcorn

 The finished product

Here's the recipe we used.  It's Paula Deen's recipe with a few changes that I made.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla

8 cups popped popcorn

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200* F.

Pop popcorn and set aside

Over medium heat, combine butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup.  Boil for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in baking soda and vanilla.

Place popcorn in a large bowl, pour hot caramel over popcorn and stir well.  Cover a baking sheet with waxed paper and lightly spray with oil.

Spread coated popcorn out on the baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes.

Break up and let dry for 10-15 min.

Enjoy!!!

(Note: A heaping 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels makes 7-8 cups in my air popper. Also, If you like your caramel corn hot and very chewy, do not bake in the oven.  Enjoy immediately.)

This is where I got the original recipe: Food Network: Paula Deen's Caramel Corn