Caramel Popcorn Balls

 My son will not eat corn, hence he will not eat popcorn.
"Mum," he says "if it's corn, it's a veggie." And we all know how hard it is to get the kids to eat their veggies, even if it is in the form of popcorn. Yes, this is the three year old that knows his chocolate custard from his chocolate mousse, and isnt hesitant to make it known. "This isn't custard Dad--I think it's chocolate mousse!" While I beam with pride that my son knows the difference, part of me thinks, we probably conume more mousse and custard than we should.
My two year old daughter on the other hand, is more of the experimental type, and corn in any form does not faze her. In fact, she can't get enough. She went crazy for this popcorn when I made it. Her eyes almost popped out of her head with glee when she saw me pouring hot caramel over the fresh popcorn, and she started clapping excitedly. This recipe for caramel popcorn is from Danielle's blog, Hugs and Cookies XOXO. Danielle is the owner of a delightful blog just bursting with all sorts of scrumptiousness--and I found it hard to choose just one recipe to recreate for this months Secret Recipe Club Reveal. The caramel recipes alone left my keyboard rather drooled upon. Anyway, I've been looking for Christmas recipes for a long time, and when I came across the caramel popcorn it brought back vivid memories of Christmases gnawing away at caramel popcorn in the form of a ball.
My parents ended up making a rule against gift giving among my siblings--there are ten of us kids, so you can imagine the mountains of presents surrounding the tree and everyone getting stressed over what to buy and the lack of coin, especially among the younger ones. So my parents would give us all presents, and we would in turn, add something to the day--the Christmas tree, the wine, the pudding, the candy canes for the tree--whatever we wanted. For many years in a row I recall making caramel popcorn balls tied with ribbon, and hanging them on the tree like baubles as my little gift for the day. It's very economical and fun, and easy enough for children to make. They would make great DIY teacher's Christmas gifts for the end of school as well, tied up with ribbon in a clear cellophane bag. They would also be a great treat to sell at a school fete--cant you just see all the little ones munching away?
Now will my son eat corn?
Only if it's popped kernels covered in caramel and made into a ball shape. Somehow now, it's not a vegetable.

CARAMEL POPCORN BALLS (Adapted from Hugs and Cookies XOXO)

6 cups already popped popcorn
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup honey (golden syrup or light corn syrup and great substitutes)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp bicarb soda (aka baking soda)
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, place the popped popcorn. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, then add the sugar, honey and salt. Stir to combine, then let boil without stirring for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the bicarb soda and vanilla. Pour this hot caramel over the popcorn. Stir thoroughly, then set aside for 5-10 minutes to cool. The caramel is extremely hot, so cautiously test the caramel with your finger to make sure it's cool enough to handle. While it is still warm, scoop handfuls of caramel popcorn and form them into balls, about fist size. Make sure you use some pressure, so that the ball holds together firmly. Set aside to cool before tying with ribbon.

Makes approximately 6

Forbidden Fairy Foam

This is a tooth fairy's greatest nightmare. She'll be working extra hard after the kids have eaten some of this forbidden fairy foam--a gorgeous gold dusted, pink spotted cloud of sugary deliciousness. The tooth fairy would never visit me when I had a bad tooth fall out as a child, so maybe she will get a chance to sit back and relax if you have a few...or make them for your daughter's birthday party and send the kids home bouncing off walls.
You won't believe it, but these faux-meringue creations are made of three simple ingredients, and would make a great  and fun project for when the kids are home and on school holidays. It's almost like a scrumptious science experiment, and best of all, they're made in the microwave, so you don't have to turn the oven on and heat up the whole house. They start off as a sticky, coloured marble, and billow up within moments into great fluffy clouds. Yes, there will be stickiness, lots of excitement, possibly some crumbly powdery stuff to sweep up. But the look on the faces of those kids crunching through this forbidden fairy foam is delightful. I had to hide them. My son would stop at nothing to get another, and another. He pulled the table cloth off the buffet just to bring them to his arm's reach, and quickly became a sticky, meringue flavoured little boy. All the better to kiss, I say.
And it wasn't just he who enjoyed this pretty stuff. They look so unique and elegant, you could easily serve mini ones at a high tea or girl's get together, topped with roses or some other feminine garnish. They would also be fabulous for a treat at a little girl's birthday party, with a touch of edible glitter on the tops (be sure to send the kids outside to eat them!)

FORBIDDEN FAIRY FOAM (adapted from Scrumptious)

1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 cups icing sugar
a few drops of pink food colouring
edible glitter or edible gold dust (optional)

Place the egg white and the vanilla in a small bowl. Beat briefly, until the egg has broken down and there are no stringy bits. In a medium sized bowl, place the icing sugar, and make a well in the centre. Gradually add the egg mixture to the icing sugar, slowly incorporating the icing sugar into the wet mixture. You may not have to use all the egg, but combine until all the dry is mixed into the wet to make a thick, pliable icing, the consistency of thick dough. Add a little more icing sugar if it becomes too sticky, it should not leave residue on your hands when you handle it. Dab a little food colouring onto the mixture and twist it randomly through the icing until you have a marbled effect. Roll into walnut sized balls and place in the centre of 7cm round paper patty pans. (If you are using smaller pans, make the balls smaller, and lessen the cooking time accordingly). Sprinkle the tops of each with edible glitter or edible gold dust.
Place 6 at a time inside the microwave on the turntable, in a circle. This ensures they all cook at an even rate. Set the microwave on high and at a setting of two minutes, just to be on the safe side. Start the cooking, watching carefully. After about 30 to 45 seconds, the balls will melt, then start to billow at a rapid rate. They will stop billowing momentarily, then cook for a further 30-45 seconds. Each microwave has different powers so you will have to do a trial run to begin with to see if your fairy foams will have to be cooked for more or less time. The outer should be crisp and firm to touch on removing, as will the inside. If the insides are brown, you have cooked them too long.

Makes approximately 20.

Millionaire's Nuggets

So after a marathon of lots of tasty savory delights for the blog for the Gourmet Gardens Herb Blog off, I am back with a super scrumptious sweet. It's that time of the month again, reveal day for the Secret Recipe Club. Erin from Making Memories  had me looking at her page for weeks, I couldn't decide what to make for this month's reveal. Erin has an interesting blog filled with fun ideas for things to do with your kids, including some very yummy looking recipes. I found amongst it all a recipe for millionaires nuggets, and thought it looked like my sort of affair. Caramel-y, gooey, sweet, covered in chocolate...maybe some marshmallows in there too. I have been meaning to make Millionaire's tarts for quite a while now, and realised this would probably give me my millionaire's fix. Oh so tasty.
I couldn't for the life of me find caramels in the store, so I made my own basic caramel instead. Erin from Making Memories melted down a 14oz bag of caramels to pour over the rice bubbles ("Rice Krispies" in USA I'm guessing!) but I think my caramel worked out really well in the end as a substitute.
Eureka!
I also splashed them with a bit of edible gold dust to jazz those babies up a bit. A little gold bling never goes astray.

MILLIONAIRE'S NUGGETS (Adapted from Making Memories)

1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. butter
3/4 cup marshmallows, chopped (or use mini marshmallows)
1 1/2 cup Rice Bubbles (or Rice Krispies)
2 cups dark chocolate buttons
edible gold dust to decorate, if desired

Place the sugar, honey and butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Stir occasionally, until the butter melts and the mixture boils and bubbles. Remove from heat. Stir the marshmallows through immediately. Then add the rice bubbles and combine.
Scoop tablespoons full of hot mixture into a silicone mini muffin tray (or a well-greased tin mini muffin tray). Press mixture down until even. Place in refrigerator for 5-10 minutes. Remove from tray and place on baking paper. Melt the chocolate in two batches. In a microwave proof bowl, heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each time, until smooth and well melted. Dip each nugget into the chocolate until well-covered, and replace on the baking paper. Repeat with remaining nuggets and chocolate. Sprinkle with gold dust if desired.

Makes 16

NOTES: You can also roll the mixture into balls, if preferred. Prepare your hands firstly with a generous amount of cooking oil before beginning, as the mixture is quite sticky (and may be hot!) You can buy edible gold dust  in decorating stores, or online (I bought mine from a cake decorating place on eBay)

Homemade Bounty Bars

This is by far one of the simplest, most delicious recipes I have come across in my lifetime.
Not only is it simple and scrumptious, its very close to the real thing--yes, I'm talking Bounty Bars. I've had near-death experience with my love for coconut over the years, but Bounty bars and I--our affair has never been on the rocks. There's just something so undeniably delicious about that moist coconut centre and the outer chocolate layer, and the attraction gets even stronger with the use of dark chocolate over milk..And here's another thing. It's quite delicious before the chocolate dipping process, so if you have the self control I can't muster, you could always leave the chocolate off (if you're weight conscious but still want to have a treat).

HOMEMADE BOUNTY BARS

3 cups dessicated coconut
200g sweetened condensed milk
1/2-3/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla essence
350g dark chocolate, melted

Combine the coconut and condensed milk in a large bowl. Add enough icing sugar to make a stiff mixture.Add the vanilla and stir until well combined.
Press with a fork into a greased and lined 20x20cm tin and refrigerate overnight until hardened.Cut into 24 bars, coat in melted chocolate and serve when set.