Katie’s Caramel Crunch

December 3, 2011 by

This highly-customizable recipe makes a delicious snack mix. It can work for any holiday or event. Just adjust the added candies to fit the color scheme. The recipe came from the Kellogg’s site (original here), and is very close to a recipe I used to make for Halloween. Still can’t find that recipe, but this one is a great substitute. Katie’s Caramel Crunch is the third of my 25 Appetizers of Christmas.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups Kellogg’s® Crispix® cereal
  • 3 cups popped popcorn
  • 2 cups small square pretzels
  • 1 cup cocktail peanuts (optional)
  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F.
  2. In 17 x 11 x 2-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray, combine Kellogg’s® Crispix® cereal, popcorn, pretzels and peanuts (if desired). Set aside.
  3. In heavy 3-quart saucepan combine brown sugar, butter and corn syrup.
  4. Bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.
  5. Reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
  6. Remove from heat.
  7. Stir in vanilla and baking soda. This mixture will foam up, so be sure you don’t let it boil over!
  8. Immediately pour over cereal mixture.
  9. Stir until evenly coated.
  10. Bake at 250°F about 1 hour or until deep golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes.
  11. Spread on wax paper. Separate clumps.
  12. Cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Variations

  • My version of this recipe is a little different. Instead of moving the mix to wax paper, stir it in the pan to ensure it is broken up properly. Allow it to cool a bit and add seasonal candies (like candy corn and pumpkins, holiday M&M’s, etc.). The mix needs to be cool enough that the candy will not melt.
  • I recommend buying a bag of prepopped popcorn on the chips aisle at your grocery store for this recipe. You can pop your own, but then you have to sort through the bowl to remove any unpopped kernels or burned pieces. If you buy the prepopped stuff at the store, you save a lot of time and don’t have to worry about missing a kernel.
  • Change the cereal mix to your liking. You can use 6 cups of whatever you like. Obviously 3 cups of Rice Chex and 3 cups of Corn Chex would be the same as 6 cups of Crispix. It’s highly adaptable though. You can use whatever cereal mix you like. I’d just stay away from anything fruity or “candy” like (e.g. Chocolate).
  • I am not savvy about gluten-free recipes, but I am told this recipe can be easily adjusted for a gluten-free snack mix.

Time Required: 1½ hours

Servings: 24

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Oatmeal Carmelitas

December 24, 2010 by

This recipe comes from someone I worked with at NCTE, Sharon. She brought them to a cookie exchange we had at the office, and I became thoroughly addicted. Oatmeal Carmelitas are the twenty-fourth of my 25 Cookies of Christmas.

Ingredients

Crust

  • 2 cups all-purpose or unbleached flour
  • 2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
  • 1½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1¼ cups margarine or butter, softened

Filling

  • 6 oz. pkg (about 1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
  • ½ cup chopped nuts
  • 12 oz jar caramel ice cream topping
  • 3 tbsp flour

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Grease 13" x 9" pan.
  3. Measure flour by dip-level method into large mixing bowl.
  4. Blend in remaining crust ingredients with electric mixer at low speed until crumbly.
  5. Press half of crumb mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Set remainder aside for topping.
  6. Bake for 10 minutes
  7. Sprinkle warm crust with chocolate chips and nuts.
  8. In small bowl, combeing caramel topping and 3 tbsp flour.
  9. Drizzle caramel mixture evenly over chocolate chips and nuts.
  10. Sprinkle with remaining crust mixture.
  11. Bake an additional 18 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown.
  12. Cool completely. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or until filling is set.
  13. Cut into bars.

Time Required: 45 minutes plus cooling time

Servings: about 3 dozen

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