- Recipes from Melanie Krochak
This is my Uncle Jimmy’s famous Carmel Corn! I love making a couple batches and storing them in those huge decorative tins you buy popcorn in (yucky popcorn by the way! Last year shoppers had beautiful tins that I bought on sale and thru the popcorn away just so I would have new tins!) Make it ahead and you can have a yummy snack for surprise company, or a snack for the toboggan hill.
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ¼ cup corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Fill a large turkey roaster about ¾ with popcorn, I pick the unpopped kernels out.
Melt butter, add sugar, syrup, and salt. Bring to a rolling boil in a large Dutch oven type pot. Boil hard for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and mix until popcorn in coated. You can add nuts if you would like at this point. Put uncovered roaster in a 250 degrees oven for 1 hour, stir every 15 minutes. Immediately after taking it out of oven pour in onto parchment and break up clumps while it cools. Store in air tight tin.
Every Christmas Eve I have ever celebrated with the Krochak Klan has begun with Banana Slush! Make it ahead and have it in the freezer for the holiday season!
4 cps sugar
6 cups water
Boil these 2 ingredients together to make a simple syrup. Let cool.
5 mashed bananas
2- 1 litre boxes of banana pineapple juice
2 cans orange juice
1 can of lemonade
3 cans of water
Add all these to the simple syrup and put into ice cream pail. Freeze. Take it out of freezer an hour before you need it and let soften, it should still be frozen but scoop able. Use an ice cream scoop to fill glasses about ½ full and then top it up with 7-Up or Ginger ale. Yum!
My mom worked in a bakery when I was growing up and this is her recipe from the bake shop. For years I have baked cookies with students, my children, their friends and in the nurseries using this recipe. It never lets me down. Make sure to stock up on cookie cutters and on coloured sugar crystals (bulk barn!) Another hint: tint coconut green for Christmas trees and wreathes.
1 cup of margarine
1 cup of icing sugar
1 egg
2 ½ cups of flour
¼ tsp of baking soda
Mix all, reserving ¼ cup of flour for rolling. Roll out not too thin, and cut with cookie cutters. Use an off set spatula to lift and place on cookie sheet with parchment. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.
Icing
¼ cup margarine
2 Tbsp milk
2 cups icing sugar
Blend well and store in an airtight container. You can add food coloring if you like but I prefer to use coloured sugar on top of the icing! Yum!