shoreline99

Fa-Tang!

totally jealous of you ladies and the 24 hour hands-up-a-thon, although i was lucky enough to catch a lot of the photos in realtime on teh facebooks...

Here's a recipe for apple cider salted caramels that we make every now and then; they are AMAZING and don't last long. You've got me in the mood to make some now.

Apple Cider Caramels
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Apple cider (sometimes called sweet or “soft” cider), as I’m referring to it here, is different from both apple juice and the hard, or alcoholic, fermented apple cider. It’s a fresh, unfiltered (it has sediment), raw apple juice — the juice literally pressed from fresh apples. It’s unpasteurized, and must be refrigerated, because it’s perishable. In the Northeast, I usually find it at farm stands and some grocery stores. I occasionally find vacuum- sealed bottles called apple cider in the juice aisle, but none of the bottled varieties that I’ve tried has the same delicate apple flavor as the more perishable stuff sold in the refrigerator section.

4 cups (945 ml) apple cider
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or less of a finer one
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (110 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
Neutral oil for the knife

Boil the apple cider in a 3- to- 4- quart saucepan over high heat until it is reduced to a dark, thick syrup, between 1/3 and 1/2 cup in volume. This takes about 35 to 40 minutes on my stove. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, get your other ingredients in order, because you won’t have time to spare once the candy is cooking. Line the bottom and sides of an 8- inch straight- sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets of crisscrossed parchment. Set it aside. Stir the cinnamon and flaky salt together in a small dish.

Once you are finished reducing the apple cider, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter, sugars, and heavy cream. Return the pot to medium- high heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side, and let it boil until the thermometer reads 252 degrees, only about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on it.

(Don’t have a candy or deep- fry thermometer? Have a bowl of very cold water ready, and cook the caramel until a tiny spoonful dropped into the water becomes firm, chewy, and able to be plied into a ball.)

Immediately remove caramel from heat, add the cinnamon- salt mixture, and give the caramel several stirs to distribute it evenly. Pour caramel into the prepared pan. Let it sit until cool and firm—about 2 hours, though it goes faster in the fridge. Once caramel is firm, use your parchment paper sling to transfer the block to a cutting board. Use a well- oiled knife, oiling it after each cut (trust me!), to cut the caramel into 1-by-1-inch squares. Wrap each one in a 4-inch square of waxed paper, twisting the sides to close. Caramels will be somewhat on the soft side at room temperature, and chewy/firm from the fridge.

Do ahead: Caramels keep, in an airtight container at room temperature, for two weeks, but really, good luck with that.

 

It came from this blog and post:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/10/apple-cider-caramels-the-book-is-here/

Don't shoot the messenger.

 

 

 

...and what if I am? 

Could have been a microburst.

Two thumbs up!

My family just loves Typhone Lagone. We go there everytime we stay at Camp Wilderness.

Agreed! We can get a whole day out of TL. When we were there last month we got there just after opening and stayed until just before closing.

As for the people watching in this last update: I have nothing. No comment. Except I will say this..... I am taking running in a tutu off my bucket list.

:rofl2:

This stuff was AWESOME. What a great treat when trying their tequila flights at 11:30 in the morning

So great to meet you guys, if only for a couple of minutes. That Saturday night was COLD. We made it until just after midnight and called it quits.

In! Nice job TCD and Twin #2!

That wig was en FUEGO.

Don't worry. Kenny will take care of you and anything you need.

Yes! That was the one. Battery was a little dicey, too. Didn't last too long and we had to keep it on charge when we weren't using it.

We rented a 6 person cart from Kenny this past week. Just a heads up, no rain sides. It was also a little worse for wear compared to his usually squeaky clean 4 seaters.

Congrats to the girls! Sorry I missed you on this trip, but my wife and I did manage to stop by to see Lorna, Mo and the womenz briefly on Thursday night. I may try to put together a trip report this week when I get all our photos organized and the laundry done, lol.

First page!

First page!

I stopped by briefly with the wife last night and met Lorna, Mo, Carol and the others. MK today, might loop by again tonight. FYI, ladies, the Disney PoPo were all over that area when we left last night. What did you do? :)

Supposed to be 88 degrees here today. High of 59 on Sunday, though. Plan accordingly or bring some extra rum.

Hey TCD - how crazy is it at lunchtime to get into BOG? We would like to go when we are there in a few weeks and figured we would try it for counter service since the dinner reservations are booked solid. Looks like a great food selection and my kids would love the atmosphere.

I have nothing against Snuggies...when they're worn at home.

I still would trade them for a flying car.

Thanks for pointing out those lockers. (and devores explaining) I've never noticed them before.

Nathen always has a pocket knife on him. Once, he forgot to take it out before we headed into DHS. He stuck it under a bush in the planters and grabbed it on the way out.

That works too! ;D

I believe the last time we went (2010) I went the entire trip with a swiss army knife in my pocket, completely forgetting to take it out. No problemo.

I probably wouldn't try that again today though.

Limited Time Magic = Limited Time Suckage

Next week's 'limited time magic' is that many rare characters will be seen throughout the parks for meet-and-greets. Could be part of the reason those guys were training over in EPCOT. Still, more suckage than magic.Buy those limited edition BEL13VE autograph books and pens, folks

Isn't norm the troll? Or is norm wannabeimagineer? Either way, the troll just called shenanigans.

I am totally crashing. My wife can't wait to meet you ladies. Might have to do a fly by and drop her off :)

I believe Norm just called 'fuego' on your purple crayon, TCD.

I guess you haven't seen TCD's character drawings.

We need to hide his purple crayon.