Chewy, Soft, Honey-Sweetened Butter Caramels With NO Corn Syrup

Maybe you are snowed in with a little extra cream from holiday baking. Or you want to master the art of candy making. Perhaps you want to impress someone with the most delightful sweet bite at the end of a meal. Maybe you have some fantastic honey to highlight. I adapted this recipe because I had excess expiring Snowville cream I couldn't let go to waste. Caramels sounded good but I could find precious few recipes without corn syrup. I'm not rabidly against corn syrup but I don't choose to keep it around the house. I also wanted to practice candy-making. I am inconsistent because I typically become distracted with another chore or are trying to manage too many things in the kitchen at one time.

I started by making butter by hand to use up more of the cream. I waited patiently while sugar and butter roiled on the stove until the exact right temperature. I even remembered to let the hot sugar cool before tasting - no burnt tongue!

The results were worth the effort. These caramels are soft and chewy but not pull-your-fillings-out sticky. They smell floral from the honey and surround the taste buds with richness. Whatever your reason, you will not be sorry after you spend an evening cooking caramels.

Soft Caramels adapted from Chez Pim Makes: 40-50 1 1/2 inch squares Time: 30-50 minutes

1  1/2 cups granulated cane sugar 1/2 cup honey 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup sweet cream butter (make by shaking approximately 2 cups room-temperature cream in a quart jar and skimming butter from buttermilk or use unsalted butter) 1 generous pinch salt 1/4 cup finely chopped chocolate (optional) parchment paper

1. Mix sugar and honey in a heavy-bottomed pot. Heat over medium until the mixture is melting, swirling the pan to stir without using a utensil. Continue to cook until the sugars have caramelized to a deep brown.

2. Meanwhile, in another heavy-bottomed pot, slowly heat cream to a simmer.

3. Whisk butter in small pieces into the sugar and honey. When it is totally incorporated, whisk in the cream and salt as well.

4. Cook over medium heat until the mixture measures 255F with a candy thermometer. Do not stir. This may take up to 15 minutes of boiling - be patient and keep cool water nearby in case you accidentally touch a splatter.

5. Meanwhile, line a cookie sheet or baking dish with parchment paper.

6. When the candy reaches 255F, pour onto the parchment-lined pan. If using chocolate, sprinkle over the top after 10 minutes of cooling.

7. Allow the caramel to cool completely. Cut with a serrated steak knife and wrap in parchment squares or layer between parchment paper in a covered container. Consume within 7 days for best texture.

Family Wellness {Sponsored}

Thanks to Walgreens for sponsoring my writing. Help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote.

The last year has been one of the worst for my personal health, with a slew of sinus infections and most recently an allergy diagnosis. Lil had her share of colds and Alex spent a good amount of time at the doctor dealing with his log splitting accident this year too. It wasn't a great one for our family who aspires to live naturally.

That's why as we head into the fall, we are making some changes to better our family wellness.

We are working on the preventative side by exercising as a family more often. We're taking long walks with the dogs as often as possible and having dance parties or doing floor exercises when the weather is poor. Lil and I checked out the Worthington Rec Center indoor pool last week based on the review by Cbus Mom. We'll definitely return when temperatures drop.

Lil and I made a chart to track how many days each family member eats five servings of fruits and vegetables. We are a slightly competitive family; charting our healthy food intake will certainly result in better eating.

We are also taking steps to prevent illness by ridding our home of allergenic carpet and soft furniture. A new linen washing routine will remove even more allergens. And we all have our minds on safety when Alex picks up the axe (his fancy new Wetterlings axe) these days.

On the reactive angle, we are stocking up on natural remedies for common winter concerns like sore throats and sniffles. We dried homegrown mint and chamomile for soothing teas. Some of our garden's chamomile flowers are soaking in raw honey for an all-natural cough syrup that actually works - honey has scientifically documented curative properties.

Only time will tell if our new efforts lead to better overall wellness. In the meantime, I'm curious: How do you maintain family health?

Don't forget to help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Brother's Drake Meadery

Mead, the honey wine fit for kings, is no longer a hard to find ancient drink.

Nay, Columbus is home to one of a very few Meadery's in the state, Brother's Drake Meadery. Operating since 2007 in Worthington, Brother's Drake makes a variety of traditional (honey, yeast, and water), melomel (honey, yeast, water + fruit), metheglin (honey, yeast, water + spice), and creative (honey, yeast, water + spice, fruit, or other flavoring agents) meads.

Mead has been made for centuries and is likely the first alcoholic beverage drunk by humans. As honey is a more refined and less available form of sugar, mead was once enjoyed by royalty alone.

The friendly mead makers at Brother's Drake invited a group of local bloggers to their meadery for a lesson in the ancient art of making mead and tasting of their modern interpretations. Amanda Anderson (co-mastermind of Feed Social Media and Wild Goose Creative board member) won a drawing to make a small batch of mead to take home. She demonstrated how simple mead making is: stir together water and honey in a sanitized pot, pour into sanitized carboy, pitch yeast, and attach an airlock.

Woody, chief mead maker, suggests that home mead brewers use EC1118 yeast and a ratio of 3 to 4 pounds honey per gallon of spring water. Let this mix ferment for two months, rack it into a second carboy and allow the secondary fermentation occur for an additional three to four months. Then, the mead is ready for bottling. Aging in the bottle improves flavor further.

After Mead 101, we gathered in the cozy tasting room to try Brother's Drake meads. Many mead ingredients, including all of the honey, is now sourced locally. The current line up of meads were offered alongside several plates of cheeses and crackers from Integration Acres. Rumor has it that Integration Acres and Brother's Drake make be working together again soon to produce an Ohio native pawpaw melomel.

Ever the purist, I enjoyed the tupelo honey traditional 2008 'Southern Belle' Reserve most of all. The oldest mead we tasted, the Southern Belle has a round full body with gentle wildflower flavors. I also liked the dry, fruity Testa Rossa, a raspberry melomel, and herbal Pillow Talk, metheglin.

Alex and I made mead (technically melomel, as we used lemons) nearly ten years ago when we were newly married and living in California. It was good, as I recall, and drunk long ago. We have mead yeast in the fridge and will be applying lessons from Brother's Drake to make another batch soon. In the meantime, we will indulge our royal tastes and sip on a bottle of the newest Brother's Drake variety, Bergamot Blue.

Drink a Drake yourself!

• Visit the meadery and taste samples during open hours listed on their website.
• The site also lists where to buy and taste Brother's Drake meads around Columbus.
• This Wednesday from 6 - 10 pm is the Brother's Drake Fall Release Party at Dirty Frank's Hot Dogs. There will be special mead cocktails on hand and pairings with Dirty Frank's artisanal dogs.

Honey Blondies

Tomorrow's Kids Cook class is all about honey.  I searched for a dish that featured honey and would be appropriate for us to make and package as a Valentine gift.  Enter honey blondies.

Really a short dense cake, these treats are sweetened by honey alone.  They are delicious and super easy to make.  I baked them in a heart shaped silicone mold for this occasion, though they bake up just fine in an 8x8 inch pan as well.  Chocolate chips would be an tasty addition.

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Honey Blondies Makes: 16 small bites Time: 15 minutes preparation, 20 minutes baking

1/2 cup good quality honey 1/2 cup (4 oz) butter, softened 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 egg 1 1/2 cup white whole wheat or all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream honey with butter until fluffy.

3. Beat in egg and vanilla.

4. Mix well and then gently fold in flour, baking powder, and salt.

5. Line 8x8 pan with butter and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Let cool, then cut into squares or pop out of molds.

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I received discounted honey for this recipe from the fine folks at Honey Health Farms at the Clintonville Winter Farmer's Market. Visit their detailed website to learn more about honey harvesting and benefits.

Make it Yourself: Honey Berry Jam

The strawberry dilemma of a few weeks ago was solved this Wednesday when we got another six quarts of berries from our Wayward Seed fruit CSA.  I was thrilled!!

In the span of a few hours on Thursday, I made three quarts of berries into jam. Many people bemoan jam making, but it really is quite simple.

Over the last few years I have developed a recipe using honey instead of refined sugar for the sweetener.  Honey is arguably healthier and provides a delicious compliment to the tart strawberries.

Here's how I jam:

1) Wash three quarts berries

2) Remove stems and chop into pieces (I do this in my hand dropping pieces right into a ten quart cooking pot )

3) Place eight pint jars in your canner (I use our pressure cooker pot), add water, and bring to a boil.

4) Place lids (new) and rings (can be reused) in a smaller pot, fill with water and bring to a boil.

5) Back to the berries: Mash with potato masher and add one packet of Sure-Jell Fruit Pectin, Low Sugar.  Mash more until all large pieces are broken and Sure-Jell is well mixed.

6) Put strawberries on a burner set on medium and bring to boil.

(Yes, you now have three pots on the stove.  I suggest doing this on a cool day.)

7) (Meanwhile) Once jars are boiling, carefully lift out and place on a towel next to strawberry burner.  I use cooking tongs in one hand to grab the jar and a towel in other hand to hold it as soon as it is out of the boiling water.  Dip a ladle into boiling water to sanitize it too.

8) When strawberries are at boil, add in four cups of honey.  Stir frequently.

9) Allow strawberry/honey to return to boil and then keep at boil for five minutes.  Stir frequently.

10) Turn off the heat.

11) One at a time, fill jars:

• Funnel jam into santized jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of the top. I use a Stainless Steel Wide-Mouth Funnel to make this easier.
• Wipe rim with clean towel
• Place lid centered on top
• Screw on lid to finger tight
• Carefully place into canner

12) Fill canner with enough water that all jars are covered by at least one inch.

13) Return canner to high heat.  Boil for ten minutes.

14) Remove jars to a towel.

15) Allow to cool completely (24 hours).

16) Remove rings and wipe away any jam that may have escaped to the sides.

That's it!  I know 16 steps sounds like a lot, but it really isn't hard and only takes about two hours start to finish.  The quality is astounding compared to store bought jam.

Making jam is an investment initally.  Thrift stores often have appropriate pots and sometimes pint jars too.  You can see that I don't use or recommend a canner specific pot - any tall sided pot will do.  Jar tongs are handy but not necessary.  You do need to buy new lids each time to create a proper seal.

Do you make jam? What's your favorite kind?