Holy tastiness

Why: I buy all the baking magazines around the holiday and cut out recipes and slap them into a binder. I hadn't cracked open the binder in months so I thought it was time to give it a peek. It was between this recipe and a caramel pudding cake but since my husband always leans towards pumpkin, the pumpkin cake it was. I had high hopes but I wasn't expecting the most delicious thing I've baked in a long time.

What: Imagine a pumpkin cake with a caramelized pecan topping. Yeah, it's as good as it sounds. Add some vanilla ice cream and I have just made a new friend for life. I feared that my husband would eat it all so I took most of the cake into work and people officially lost their crap. One person told me that he "lost himself" in it and another gave some to their friend who then offered me a marriage proposal. The best reaction was a coworker who ate 2 slices before he left the office only to call me later in the afternoon and hide him 2 more slices. Now it haunts me, weeks later people still bring it up in regular conversation.

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree

Why: My family likes to play boardgames. Lame, I know. Every now and then we get together to play games and I use it as an opportunity to try new treats. My husband declared "NO CAKE!" when I was planning for our next game night so I turned to the internet and was captivated by the idea of caramel corn. I've never ever had a successful run with caramel at home but I was willing to give it another go. I don't know what I did wrong previously but making this caramel for the popcorn was super easy. I even forgot a few of the ingredients from the original recipe without any major issues. Not only did I escape without major issues but I ended up with the most addicting treat! It's buttery, salty and sweet. Ugh. I'm drooling already.

• 
  
• 3 bags of unbuttered microwave popcorn (the best I could find was lightly salted which worked just fine)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Pop the 3 bags of popcorn and empty the popcorn onto a cookie sheet or anything with a lip. IMPORTANT: Be sure to remove all the kernels that didn't pop. Biting into an unpoped kernel is the quickest way to ruin your caramel corn experience. Heat the butter, brown sugar, light corn syrup and salt in a large pot on the stove. Stir continually to keep the ingredients combine and continue to stir until it starts to boil. Remove spoon and insert the candy thermometer. Do not stir or touch the caramel until it reaches 280 degrees. Remove the thermometer and add the vanilla (it will fizzle a little). Gently pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir the popcorn to evenly coat. It doesn't have to be perfect - you will stir it while it's in the oven so everything eventually gets coated. Pop the pan into the oven for 1 hour, taking out and stirring every 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. You may have to break apart some of the larger clusters, I find that putting all of it in a Ziploc bag and then crushing it is most effective. Store in an airtight container overnight if you happen to have enough restraint to not eat it all in one sitting.

I tossed in a handful of peanuts when doing the initial caramel pour. They became my favorite part of the treat. I read somewhere that this can be done via microwave (making the caramel and having the caramel set/coat by putting it in a paper bag and nuking/shaking a few times) but I haven't given it a go yet.