Sweets for
the Sweet
Written By Catherine Newman
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Recipes:
These recipes are lots of fun to make, with plenty of lovely little jobs for kids to do, and so extravagantly delicious that you'll want to taste everything before wrapping it up festively for teachers and classmates, friends and family. If you're planning to give this stuff away, make some extra, okay? After all, you don't want your children tearing open their friends' gifts just so they can cram a handful of marshmallows into their own deprived faces. Nor do you want to suffer the shame of inadvertently eating an entire sinkful of salted caramel popcorn and then skulking around your neighbors for days, despite their happy obliviousness to the treats they never got. (I'm just imagining here.)
Plus! Click for printable gift tags
Salted Caramel Popcorn
makes about 14 cups
This insanely good mix of sweet and salty is treacherously hard to stop eating. Install a bigger sink and double the recipe.
Ingredients:
10 cups oil-popped popcorn (Trust me, the air-popped and microwavable kinds don't work. We pop 1/3 cup of kernels in 1 tablespoon of oil.)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped or crushed pecan halves or pieces, toasted in a 350-degree oven for 7 minutes
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup (available at Whole Foods and some specialty stores) or light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Unless you have the world's largest mixing bowl, give your kitchen sink a quite thorough scrubbing and an equally thorough drying, then dump the popcorn and pecans into it. In a small pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter with the brown sugar and syrup, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat and add the vanilla, baking soda, and salt, and stir vigorously. (The mixture will get very foamy and light.) Pour it over the popcorn and pecans, and use a wooden spoon to stir it quickly, gently, and well. Spread the coated popcorn mixture out on a pair of large, rimmed baking sheets, and heat it in a 200-degree oven until it feels dry to the touch, about 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely before packaging, about 20 minutes.
Caramel Cone
We filled cellophane bags (4 1/2-by-7 1/2-inch flat bags, $2 for 24, sugarcraft.com) with about a cup of popcorn each, cinched the tops with twist ties, and slipped them into waffle cones wrapped in paper (Joy classic cones, found at most supermarkets and amazon.com; Stardream Text aquamarine paper, $20 for 100 sheets, paperworks.com). After setting four of them in an ice-cream-cone holder ($15, amazon.com), we used aqua ribbon (.25-inch organdy, $4 for 11 yards, katespaperie.com) to attach the gift tag.
Macaroon Marshmallowsmakes 117 marshmallows
This recipe showcases the alchemy of candymaking at its most thrilling: An odd gray mixture first fills your kitchen with the depressing scent of horse hooves, then billows up into white clouds of exquisite marshmallow.
Ingredients:
3 cups sweetened, flaked coconut, divided
1 cup cold water, divided
3 (1/4-ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Heat oven to 350. Toast coconut on a rimmed cookie sheet, stirring occasionally, until golden and fragrant, about 10 to 18 minutes. Oil a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and sprinkle 1 cup of the toasted coconut over it. Pour 1/2 cup of the water into the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, then sprinkle the gelatin over it and leave to soften for 5 minutes. It will get very strange looking, but don't worry.
In a small, heavy pot over medium heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and remaining water until the sugar is mostly dissolved, about 3 minutes, then cook without stirring until the syrup reaches 240 on a candy thermometer, about 10 to 17 minutes. As the syrup cooks, use a brush dipped in cold water to wash down any sugar crystals on the side of the pot (so they don't burn — you won't need to do this if you're using a nonstick pan). And be patient: The syrup may take what seems like forever to climb the last 5 or 10 degrees.
Turn off heat and let the syrup settle for 1 minute (so it doesn't splatter), then pour it down the side of the mixing bowl and over the gelatin with the mixer on low. Once it's all in (after about 1 minute), turn the mixer to high and beat for 15 minutes. It will turn delightfully thick. Add extracts and beat another minute or so, then use a rubber spatula to scrape mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers in cold water to pat down the top, then sprinkle on another cup of coconut and let set overnight at room temperature.
Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto a cutting board, then use the knife to cut the marshmallow first into 1-inch strips and then into 1-inch cubes. Coat cut sides in the remaining coconut and store in airtight containers before packaging.
Variation: To make the kind of marshmallows you'd want to melt in hot chocolate, skip the almond extract and add any other flavor you like with the vanilla (peppermint extract, say). In place of the coconut, sift together 1/2 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup confectioners sugar. Prepare the pan by lining it with foil, oiling it, and sifting some of the sugar-starch mixture over it. After the marshmallow has set, sift more sugar-starch over the top, then turn out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch cubes, sifting more sugar-starch as you go. Finally, dredge cubes in the mixture and shake in a sifter or sieve to knock off the excess.
Sweets, Cubed
These trays (Tovolo perfect cube, blue or green, $15, amazon.com) are just the right shape and size for the marshmallows. Once the trays were full we sealed them in cellophane bags (8 1/4-by-10 1/4-inch bags, $10 for 100, paperpresentation.com) to keep the treats fresh.
Shortbread
makes 16 wedges
This is excellent even without the lemon and rosemary, which I only started adding a couple of years ago to distinguish it from my mother's famous shortbread. (I tried it first with lavender, but my husband referred to that batch as "bubble-bath cookies.")
Ingredients:
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) salted butter, softened1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
1 1/2 cups flour
Heat oven to 325. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in salt, rosemary, and lemon zest, then add flour and mix until batter starts to hold together and you don't see any dry patches, about 2 1/2 minutes. Scrape the crumbly dough (knead for 30 seconds if it's too dry) into a 9-inch glass pie plate, then use your fingers to pat it down evenly. Prick holes all over the top with a fork, then use a sharp knife to score the shortbread into 16 skinny wedges. Bake until nicely brown all over, 45 to 50 minutes, then remove from oven and cut immediately in the pan, retracing your lines with a sharp knife. Let cool completely in the pan.
Boxing Day
After we took a thin slice for ourselves, the round shortbread went in the square coolie boxes (10-by-10-by-2 1/2-inch, $2 for 6, sugarcraft.com). We lined them with Gemstone tissue ($3 for four 20-by-20-inch sheets, containerstore.com) and tied them with aqua shiny tinsel ($6 for 10 feet, papyrusonline.com). Then we started the car and took a stack out for delivery.
Cherry-Pumpkin Seed Chocolate Barkmakes about 2 pounds, enough for 4 gift boxes
This is the grown-up variation: sweet, tart, spicy, salty, and profoundly addictive.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup raw hulled pumpkin seeds (the green kind)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 (11- or 12-ounce) bags semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup dried, pitted sour cherries (we get ours at Trader Joe's)
Heat oven to 250. Line a 12-by-17-inch jelly roll pan (or rimmed baking sheet) with parchment paper. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the oil until a drop of water sizzles on contact, about 3 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin seeds and cook, stirring constantly until the seeds are fragrant, starting to brown, and making popping sounds, about 3 or 4 minutes. Turn off the heat, stir in the salt and cayenne, and leave to cool about 5 minutes. Scatter the chocolate chips evenly in the prepared pan. Place pan in the oven for 5 minutes, then remove and spread chocolate with a rubber spatula. Scatter the cherries over the top of the melted chocolate, then scatter the pumpkin seeds. Chill at least 2 hours, until firm enough to break into pieces.
Cranberry Snowfall Chocolate Bark
makes about 2 pounds, enough for 4 gift boxes
White chocolate seems at least as oxymoronic to me as jumbo shrimp, but whatever. My kids eat it up. It makes a festive and surprisingly tasty backdrop to the gorgeous red of the cranberries. This bark is easy, pretty, and always well received.
Ingredients:
1 cup dried cranberries (preferably orange- flavored)
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon orange extract (optional)
1/2 cup walnuts
2 (11- or 12-ounce) bags white chocolate chips
Heat oven to 250. Line a 12-by-17-inch jelly roll pan (or rimmed baking sheet) with parchment paper. In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse together cranberries, orange zest, extract, and walnuts (or chop them with a large knife). Spread mixture over the prepared pan to within 1 1/2 inches of the edges, then evenly cover that mixture with the chocolate chips and put the pan in the oven. When the chips just start to look melty (5 minutes or so), take them out of the oven and use a rubber spatula to spread them evenly over the parchment. Chill until firm, about half an hour, then break into pieces.
Tall Order
We stacked the bark in clear Amac boxes ($2, 2 5/16 by 6 3/16 inches, containerstore.com) topped with 5-inch fireworks bows ($33 for 12, amazon.com). Keep the barks separate to avoid flavor mixing.
Rosemary Pecansmakes 4 cups
These are challengingly spicy for kids (cut back on the cayenne if you like), but satisfyingly salty-sweet for grown-ups. Feel free to experiment with other nuts if your family is not as devoted to pecans as ours is.
Ingredients:
1 pound unsalted pecan halves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon melted butter
Heat oven to 350 and toast nuts on a cookie sheet, stirring every so often, until they're golden and toasty, about 10 minutes. Combine the other ingredients in a large bowl, then toss in the nuts to coat.
Nuts to You
Okay, you can't shake them out of this sugar pourer ($4, amazon.com), but they sure look sweet. We decorated with aqua parfait ribbon ($5 for 10 feet, papyrusonline.com) and some mini bows ($4 for 100, papermart.com).
Chocolate Lollipopsmakes 14 to 25
If you have lollipop molds, by all means use them, but we like to make these freehand. Cover 2 or 3 baking sheets with foil and arrange 6-inch lollipop sticks on them, a couple of inches apart. Pour an 11- or 12-ounce bag of milk or dark chocolate chips into a ziplock bag, zip the bag nearly closed, leaving about 1 inch open, and microwave until chips are melted, checking the bag every 30 seconds or so. (Or melt the chips in a bowl for a minute, stir, then microwave for another 10 to 15 seconds and scrape into the bag.) Let chocolate cool for 30 seconds, then snip a quarter inch off of one corner of the bag and let your child squeeze a nice, thick circle of chocolate atop each stick (we do the outline first and then fill it in), rotating the sticks as you go to secure the chocolate to them. Decorate with colorful sprinkles (jumbo sprinkles, $6, and nonpareils, $4 per color, both at kitchenkrafts.com) while the lollipops are still melty, then chill until firm, 15 to 20 minutes.
Pop Star
We slid the lollipops into cellophane bags (part of a kit that comes with sticks and ties, $3 for 18, wilton.com) and planted them in 2-inch foam balls to anchor them in clay pots (we got ours at Michaels; go to michaels.com for a store near you). Then we added some grass (paper shreds, $3, containerstore.com) and aqua ribbon (.5-inch organdy, $6 for 11 yards, katespaperie.com) for extra festivity.
Click for printable gift tags
