Better Than Sex Chex Mix.....heaven in snack form!

Better Than Sex Chex Mix

8  cups Chocolate Chex® cereal (1 box)

3/4  cup packed brown sugar

6  tablespoons butter or margarine

3  tablespoons light corn syrup

1/4  teaspoon baking soda

1  cup Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, MINI size

1 cup mini Hershey Kisses

1 cup Snickers Bites

1 cup MINIATURE marshmallows

1/2  cup caramel bits

1 Tbsp heavy cream

1/2  cup MILK chocolate baking chips (or more if you wish)

1/2  cup vanilla (white) chocolate baking chips

 

Into large microwavable bowl, measure cereal; set aside. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper or foil.

 

In 2-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave brown sugar, butter and corn syrup uncovered on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour caramel mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave on High 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spread on cookie sheet. Cool 10 minutes. Break into bite-sized pieces.

 

Make sure Chex mixture is cool to the touch (so candy doesn't melt.) Evenly sprinkle mini peanut butter cups, Snickers, Kisses and miniature marshmallows over Chex mixture.

 

In small microwavable bowl, microwave caramel baking bits and cream uncovered on High about 1 minute or until chips can be stirred smooth. Use a spoon or fork to drizzle over snack. Microwave the milk chocolate baking chips next, starting with 20-seconds and stirring, then at 20 second intervals until the mixture is completely smooth (microwave temps vary, so watch the chocolate and stir frequently until it's of drizzling consistency). Drizzle over the snack mixture. Then microwave the vanilla (white) baking chips in 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth, and drizzle that over the snack mixture. (Note: The vanilla and milk chocolate chips should not need cream added.)

 

Refrigerate until set. Break apart and store in tightly covered container.

 

Enjoy!!

-Jessica

Milk Chocolate English Toffee.....drool!

    Pinterest is evil........they show you yummy pictures of foods and then I just HAVE to try making the recipe. I'm not sure if this one had me by the picture or the tag line " This is the best toffee ever. It is a vintage recipe that my husband's Grandma Utahna used to make. I have made up to 24 batches at Christmastime." OK SOLD!! I pinned the recipe and have made myself wait until December to make it. Well here it is the 7th of December........close enough to Christmas. I made toffee today!! Seeing as I am not really a candy maker, I followed the recipe step by step. The original recipe came from Pinterest, and the pin came from a blog called Red Couch Recipes. OK, well I take that back, I didn't have any nuts, and the original recipe called for nuts, so I left those out. I guess I just can't follow a recipe to the T, it isn't in my genes!!

Milk Chocolate English Toffee (from Red Couch Recipes)

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons water

1 cup toasted pecans broken in pieces--Toast in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Milk chocolate chips

     Place toasted pecans in the bottom of 8 x8 pyrex pan. Put butter, sugar, and water in medium heavy sauce pan and cook at high temperature. I always break up my butter in small pieces in the sauce pan. Stir with wooden spoon throughout the cooking time. The mix should always appear fluffy at all times. Cook until mixture turns an amber color, starts to leave the sides of the pan, and is slightly smoking, take off heat and turn immediately over onto prepared nuts. The cooking time is relatively short, depending on your stove, approximately 7 to 8 minutes with a gas stove and 10-11 minutes with an electric stove. These are just approximate times. Let toffee cool for 8 to 10 minutes. Then sprinkle with milk chocolate chips. When chips are melted, swirl around with knife. Let chocolate dry -- this takes several hours. When chocolate is dry, turn over toffee on wax paper and break into pieces.

Candy Making Notes:
While stirring, use a wet pastry brush or clean, wet dishcloth to wash down the sides of the pan to dissolve any undissolved sugar crystals. If you skip this step, the candy might sugar. Also when you pour the toffee mixture on the pecans, do NOT scrape the pan. If you do scrape the pan, this could also cause the mixture to sugar. If you are making more than one batch, make sure that your pan and spoon are clean of sugar crystals. If it DOES sugar, it tastes wonderful broken up and served on a good quality vanilla ice cream. Also, make sure that your toffee is truly an amber color before you take it off the stove.
________________________________________________________________________________

     Ok, that's the exact recipe from Red Couch, I left out the nuts because I didn't have any on hand. I think that I didn't cook my toffee quite long enough because it sugared on me. UGH! I cooked it longer than her recipe said to cook it, but I think it could have went a little longer. So next time I will cook it longer. It still tastes amazing.......just isn't quite the right texture.

Butter, sugar and water in the pan

Melting and mixing with my wooden spoon.

Fluffy and bubbly toffee

Pour the hot mixture into a well greased pan.

YUM!

Sprinkle Chocolate Chips on top of the warm toffee.

When the chips get melty, spread them over the toffee and let the chocolate dry.

When the chocolate is dry, turn the toffee out onto some wax paper.

Use a knife and break it into pieces.

 

Let's talk Halloween Candy

Halloween is quickly sneaking up......only 11 days away now!! I know that Halloween and Trick-OR-Treating can be a BIG source of stress for parents of kids with food allergies and intollerances. There are lots of ways that you can handle the holiday. Here are a few that I like:

• Following trick or treating sit down and pick out all of the unsafe candy. Set the candy out for a "Candy fairy" and overnight the candy fairy replaces the non gluten free candy with a toy or with a bag of safe candy.
• Again sit down and pick out all of the unsafe candy and "trade" with your child for candy that is safe. Keep in mind that you will have to buy that candy in advance so that you can do the swap right when you get home.  That way they don't feel "cheated"
• Allow your trick or treater to go around getting their candy, when they get home trade out the entire bag for a "safe bag" until you can go through it.
• Have a bag of "safe candy" in the car or while you are walking around your neighborhood. That way if your child wants to eat a piece of candy while they are trick or treating, you will KNOW it is safe. It is awfully hard to read those candy labels in the dark and most candy that the kids will be getting is not labeled with ingredients.

 

The other issue is WHAT CANDY IS SAFE!?!?!!

    Thankfully there are people out there who keep lists. Bless their little hearts for doing this. It sure saves the gluten free community from having a meltdown! Seriously, candy is important!! Keep in mind that the lists are a guide. You should always double check for yourself by reading the label or calling a company to verify the gluten free status.

Celiac.com's 2011 GF Halloween Candy List: http://www.celiac.com/articles/22704/1/Gluten-free-and-Gluten-safe-Halloween-Candy-2011/Page1.html

National Foundation for Celiac Awareness 2011 Candy list (link goes to a PDF File): http://www.celiaccentral.org/SiteData/docs/NFCAGluten/b722688930c37dce/NFCA_Gluten-Free%20Candy%20List%202011.pdf

I hope that this gives you a couple of ideas so that Halloween can be a less stressful holiday for you and your family!

-Jessica