Apple Jelly ~ One Ingredient!

I have been a public radio fan since I found it shortly after our move to Las Vegas eighteen years ago.   We were thrilled when we moved to Wisconsin to find that our area had two local stations WPR and WUWM.  This week on WPR as I was driving from errand to errand, the guest on Here and Now was Kathy Gunst, a Maine chef who focus' on local and seasonal dishes monthly.  My mouth was watering by the end of the program.  One simple recipe piqued my interest not only because I am apple crazy this time of year, but because all you needed was a few hours of time and one ingredient!

Apple Cider Jelly.  All it takes is some patience and a gallon of the refrigerated apple cider that is all over this time of year.  Pour it in a big pot and bring it to a boil, then simmer it for two hours.  When it gets to where it is just coating the back of the spoon, pay close attention and let it continue to thicken and reduce.

What you are left with is a dark brown reduction of beautiful jelly.  The natural pectin in the apple sauce does all of the work and the caramelized effect of cooking it down allows for no added sugar.  I did stir in a teaspoon of Ceylon Cinnamon at the end and then put it in a mason jar.  As it cooled I skimmed a little bit of foam off of the top and then refrigerated it.  The one gallon of juice yielded me one pint of amazing apple jelly!  I will definitely be doing this again!  I may also have to try her easy baked apple sauce.  Just click the link above for the recipes.

Drop Everything And Make These... Now!

Gotta love facebook.  I had at some point or another "liked" the Cooking Channel.  Today, they posted about Popcorn Balls, Reinvented.  Maybe because it was just before lunch, or maybe it was because I have a perpetual sweet tooth and an undying love for bacon, but I just made these Salted Caramel Bacon Popcorn Balls...and they. are. the. bomb!

First I took 1 1/2 C of sugar, 1/2 C dark brown sugar, 1/3 cup water and 1/2 C light Karo syrup and put them in a sauce pan, stirring occasionally until it boiled and the sugars were melted together and all gooey.  Then I removed it from the heat and whisked in 2 tablespoons of butter and returned it to the heat until just boiling again.

While the sugars were melding I popped 2 bags of popcorn.  The recipe called for 9 Cups, which worked out to be about 1 1/2 bags.  I also bought some microwavable bacon and popped it in until crispy. Then crumbled the bacon in with the popcorn.

Ok, back to the caramel sauce, it's just started boiling again and I removed it from the heat, added 2 teaspoons of dark rum, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of baking soda.  It fizzled and bubbled and turned this amazing light caramel color.

I dumped that beautiful caramel over the bacon/popcorn mixture and then stirred until well coated.  I then put on some latex gloves and coated them with a little vegetable oil and formed a dozen lovely popcorn balls.

All that's left is for mom to snack on some gooey left overs in the bottom of the bowl, and presto, happy kids!