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1 Year Blogoversary: Thank You’s and a Top Ten–Yours and Mine

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Veronica

It has been a year since I decided I needed a new location for all the recipes I had been posting on MySpace.  I started Recipe Rhapsody last fall with just a few interested readers.   Faith, I think you were my very first (not counting friends and family)!  Thank you so much for sticking with me and inadvertently introducing me to so many wonderful fellow food bloggers, especially Sophia, Brandy, & Biz.  Thank you to Laura, Kim, Cheryl, Erin, Suzie, & Carla who all followed me from MySpace to continue to support and encourage me on my new blog.

I remember when I first started this blog, I’d log on every day to check my statistics and see how many people had found me.  In the beginning, I got maybe twenty-five views a day.  That quickly increased to the hundreds and eventually even reached thousands, and although I don’t check my statistics any more, I did so today so I could give you the latest report.  As of this second, I’ve had 166,006 hits and am averaging about 1,000 per day.  Wow.  Thank you for your interest in little old  me and my adventures in baking!  Those are likely laughably small numbers to most bloggers, but they utterly floor me.

To celebrate Recipe Rhapsody’s first year, I put together a top ten.  Actually, I put together two! The first is based on your favorites–those posts that got the most views to date.  And the second is a top ten of my own favorites.

Reader’s Favorites:

1. Cake Pops won your hearts by a landslide, with 48,392 views since January.

2. Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

3. No Bake Cookie Bars

4. Soft Caramels (oh, these would have definitely made my own top ten as well!)

5. Chicken Ranch Tacos

6. Best Made Plans & 10 Dozen Cupcakes

7. Rolo Pretzel Turtles

8. Cherry Cordials

9. Carrot Cake Breakfast Muffins

10.  One Minute Mayonnaise

(Some of) My favorites:

Incredible Dinner Rolls

General Tso’s Chicken


Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Dulce de Leche Apple Pie

Shrimp & Bacon Ranch Pizza

Chipotle Honey Roasted Peanuts

Mexican Corn Dip

Snickerdoodle Blondies

World’s Greatest Salmon

and last but certainly not least….(drumroll please)

 

THE Mocha Crunch Cake


Oh, you’re looking for the link to this one?  Well, I haven’t posted the recipe yet, but you can look forward to it soon as part of the continued celebration of Recipe Rhapsody’s first year.  It is my signature cake–my favorite, my family’s favorite, my customers’ favorite, and the one they most often order.  And I (*gasp*) am really going to give you my secret recipe.  Really, really!

Also, look forward to another giveaway later in the week as well!

And thank you all, my dear readers, for your continued interest and encouragement.  XOXO

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Crème Bouquet Winners

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Veronica

Congratulations to Jenna, Suzie, Biz, Cheryl, and Kim~the lucky winners!  Please send your address to me at vraklis at yahoo dot com and I’ll get your crème bouquet in the mail on Monday!

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Eggnog Pumpkin Bread

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Veronica

It usually takes me months to get around to posting a recipe, but I couldn’t wait with this one.  I made it today, and I’m posting it today because I’m durn proud of it!  I threw a bunch of stuff together in a bowl and was delighted when it came out even better than I expected.

It started with the marked down holiday baking stuff last year.  I can never resist it.  Among bags and bags of peppermint baking chips, I bought maybe ten boxes of pumpkin spice pudding mix, having no idea what I was going to do with it.  (Making pudding with it would be too obvious.)  Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I bought some eggnog because I can’t resist that either.  I have to have at least one glass of eggnog a year.  I love it.  However, I don’t need a whole half gallon all to myself and my husband won’t touch it, so I now had two things I wanted to include in a recipe in order to get rid of them–pumpkin spice pudding mix and eggnog.  And then I found the finishing touch–something I’ve been scouring the store shelves for for two years! Cinnamon baking chips.  I was ready to bake, baby.

The loaves came out super-moist thanks to the pumpkin and pudding mix…and maybe the rich eggnog and oil had a little to do with it, too.  :)  There is a good balance of flavor between the pumpkin and taste of eggnog, enhanced by extra rum and nutmeg.  The cinnamon chips are perfect with the flavor of the bread but they can be left out if you prefer.  I hope you try it this holiday season!

Eggnog Pumpkin Bread

I weighed my flour and sugar as I measured them so I could be sure to get the same amounts the next time I make the bread. If you don’t have a scale, be sure to scoop the flour into the measuring cup with a spoon and level it rather than scooping it with the measuring cup, or you may get too much flour in the recipe, resulting in heavier, drier loaves.
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

3 cups (13 ¾ oz) all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups (11 ¼ oz) granulated sugar
1 (3.4 oz) package Jello Pumpkin Spice pudding mix*
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 ½ cups eggnog
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon rum or 1 teaspoon imitation rum extract
1 (10 oz) bag cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9×5 loaf pans; set aside.

Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, beat the eggs and add the eggnog, pumpkin, oil, and rum. Beat until incorporated and smooth. Pour liquid into the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Add the cinnamon chips and fold them in until combined.

Divide batter between prepared pans and bake 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack ten minutes, then remove from pans to cool completely on rack.

*You could probably substitute another flavor of pudding mix, like vanilla, if you can’t find the pumpkin spice, and just add some extra spices to the batter to make up for it not being in the pudding mix.

Recipe by Veronica Miller

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Leek & Onion Pie

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Veronica

Growing up in a home where pizza was considered “junk food” and therefore not allowed, I quickly become an avid reader so that I could get my pizza fix through Pizza Hut’s “Book It!” program.  I read my little tail off to earn those delicious personal pan-sized pepperoni pizzas.  At first the reading was a means to an end (I was a deprived child who needed pizza!), but it quickly became a pleasure and reward in itself.  I lost myself in books–they captivated my imagination and I spent almost every free minute reading, even while in school, so that at the end of fourth grade I received an award from my teacher for being the “class bookworm.”

The book(s) that had the most impact on me was the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I would wake up as early as possible before school so that I could sneak down to the kitchen and read until everyone else woke up and the bus came to pick me up.  My captivation with early pioneer life became so intense during that time that even to this day, I’m convinced I was meant to be a pioneer woman and still long for a much harder and simpler life in a tiny log cabin with a butter churn and pot-bellied stove.

What does my love for reading and The Little House on the Prairie books have to do with Leek and Onion Pie, you might ask?  Well, it just so happens that the recipe comes from the author of my favorite childhood books–Laura Ingalls Wilder herself.  When I found out Mrs. Wilder had a cookbook, I was beyond ecstatic, let me tell you.  It was published long after her death, but all the recipes in it come from her own personal recipe collection, many written in her own hand.  Having become so enamored of cooking and baking, reading it captivated me nearly as much as the books about her pioneer life!

I found this pie is every bit as enchanting as the books I grew up reading.  Not enchanting in any refined or gourmet sort of way, but in a simple, rustic, and completely comforting way.  This is the kind of food I was meant to grow up on.  It’s the kind of food I was meant to make for my own family.  Thankfully, food is timeless and there is no reason why I can’t.

Leek & Onion Pie

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 refrigerated pie crust or your favorite homemade recipe
1 egg white
6 slices bacon
1 leek, sliced, white part only
2 cups diced onions
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup cheddar cheese
¼ cup Monterey jack cheese

Line a 9” pie plate with crust, place a sheet of parchment paper on top and fill the parchment with dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove parchment and beans and poke crust all over with a fork, then return to oven for ten minutes. Remove and brush the inside with egg white to seal. The residual heat will cook the egg white and turn it opaque. If the crust is not hot enough to cook the seal, return to the oven for a minute or until opaque.

Chop up the bacon and cook over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Pour off all but two teaspoons of the bacon grease. Cook onions in the grease over medium heat until wilted but not browned, stirring occasionally, about ten minutes.

Whisk the eggs and milk together in a medium bowl, then stir in the onions and bacon. Pour into prepared crust, sprinkle with the cheeses, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until center is set. To test, gently shake the pie to see if it jiggles. Remove and cool on a rack for a few minutes before cutting. Serve warm.

Adapted from The Laura Ingalls-Wilder Country Cookbook.

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Celebration Frosting & A Giveaway! {CLOSED}

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Veronica

***The giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to Jenna, Suzie, Biz, Cheryl, and Kim~the lucky winners!***

Celebration Frosting | veronicascornucopia.com

Wedding and birthday cakes from good bakeries, at least here locally, have a certain evasive flavor in the icing that I’ve always mentally defined as “celebration.”  I am still unable to describe the flavor any other way, but I learned the secret of that flavor and have been using it in the frostings for my own homemade celebration cakes ever since.

It is a flavor emulsion called “Crème Bouquet.”  This is wonderful stuff.  It is an oil-based flavoring with lemon and other essential oils that aren’t listed on the label (because they are sneaky and don’t want us to figure out how to duplicate it at home!).  Believe me, I’ve tried, but I can’t make anything that tastes even remotely as wonderful as this emulsion.  It doesn’t taste like lemon to me, although that’s the only essential oil listed, and it doesn’t taste like anything else I’ve ever had.  Well, besides wedding and birthday cake.  I have relatives that call it “that sweet flavor.”  But that is not an apt description, either.  You just have to try it for yourself!

Since I’m so in love with this flavoring and know it’s not a common household ingredient, I am going to give five lucky readers a 2-ounce bottle from Cake Stuff!  To enter, just leave me a comment on this post and I will draw the winners using Random.org on Friday, November 5th .  Simple as that.  For those interested in purchasing crème bouquet, you can order by phone from Cake Stuff–just call the number on their website.   It is very reasonably priced at $2.50 for a 2-ounce bottle, and they also have two larger sizes available.

You can turn any vanilla frosting into celebration frosting by adding crème bouquet to it, and I’ll share the two that I use it in.  Enjoy!

White Celebration Frosting

I try to avoid this one since it’s kind of a non-food, one but sometimes, you just need a good, bright white frosting and the only way to achieve that is with shortening. And believe me, it does not taste like non-food. It is utterly delicious. I promise. The meringue powder is essential in this recipe to eliminate the greasy mouth-feel that shortening frostings usually have. It is also important to use good shortening because cheaper brands tend to be clearish, off-colored, and slimy. You want one that is an opaque white, like Crisco.
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2 cups Crisco vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons meringue powder
2 teaspoons crème bouquet
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
Pinch of salt
2 lbs. (8 cups) powdered sugar
1/3-1/2 cup water

Put the Crisco in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium a few seconds, until creamy. Add in the meringue powder, flavorings, and salt and beat until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, alternating with water when it becomes too thick. Add more or less water to get your desired consistency. Once it is all added, beat on medium-low speed for four minutes. This frosting will keep for up to a month, tightly covered, at room temperature, or several months in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Celebration Frosting

This is my favored celebration frosting. This frosting on white cake, for me, makes the ultimate celebration cake. And be sure to try it on red velvet as well–divine!
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 pounds powdered sugar
2 teaspoons crème bouquet
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract*
Pinch of salt
Milk, if desired

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on low, scraping the sides, until all the sugar is incorporated, then turn to medium/high and beat for another two minutes. I prefer not to add any extra liquid because I find it easier to get a perfectly smooth cake with thick frosting**, but you can add milk as needed to make it creamier. Refrigerate or freeze if you won’t be using it within a few days.

*You can use regular vanilla but the color will turn more yellowish-ivory (like Mom’s birthday cake above), which is fine unless you are aiming for a lighter color.  To illustrate, I made the following two wedding cakes with the same recipe for cream cheese celebration frosting, but used clear vanilla on the first and regular on the second:

**To get my icing perfectly smooth, I use a straight-edged offset spatula and the water bottle trick: fill a clean (ideally, brand new or designated for water only) squirt bottle with water and spray the frosted cake all over.  This allows the spatula to glide over the surface and smooth it easily.  I recommend placing the cake, uncovered, in the refrigerator for an hour or overnight to allow the water on the surface to evaporate completely before decorating.  You can see me demonstrating the “water bottle trick” in this video: How to Make a Layer Cake part 3: stacking and frosting.

~Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this blog or sponsored by Cake Stuff to promote them.  That is the store where I’ve always purchased my crème bouquet and it is consistently delicious.  So I decided to buy some to share with my readers so you can experience the awesomeness for yourselves!~

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Sedona Cream Scones

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Veronica

I adapted this recipe from Carole Walter, who adapted it from the recipe used at Shugrue’s Hillside Grill in Sedona, AZ (hence the name, although these are probably nothing like the original recipe now that it’s been adapted twice!).  These scones are so soft & tender, they practically melt in your mouth! I’m in love. Try them with lemon curd. You will fall in love too!

Sedona Cream Scones

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder (preferably aluminum-free)
¾ teaspoon salt
½ c (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 –inch cubes

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk (reserve white for egg wash)
1 egg white beaten with 1 teaspoon cold water, for egg wash
1 T sparkling sugar

Position rack in the middle of oven.  Preheat to 375 degrees F.  Have ready a large, ungreased cookie sheet.

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Add the butter and mix for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes or until the mixture forms pea-size bits.  Whisk together the cream, egg, and egg yolk.  Stir it in by hand, just until it forms a dough. Sprinkle flat surface with about 2 tablespoons flour.  Empty dough onto surface, and, with floured hands, knead five or six times. Press into a 12″ circle or square. Cut the circle into four triangles, then cut each triangle into thirds, or cut 12 square pieces from the square.  When placing on cookie sheet, invert each scone, spacing them about 1 ½ inches apart.  Brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sparkling sugar.  Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until firm to the touch.  Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for 5 min before loosening with a thin metal spatula.  Serve scones warm.  If baking ahead, warm the scones in a 300 degree F oven before serving.  Store in an airtight plastic bag for up to 3 days.  These scones may be frozen.

Recipe source: adapted from Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More by Carole Walter


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Lemon Curd

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Veronica

After making enough white cake to feed one hundred guests at my birthday party (check out the 1980s fabulousness here!), I had twenty-eight egg yolks left over.  Usually when I make recipes requiring whites only, I toss yolks as I go and don’t realize how many I’m wasting.  This time I kept them all in a cup and when I was done baking the cake, I realized I simply could not toss them.   Twenty eight egg yolks is a lot to waste!  So I embarked on a mission to use them all.  Among other recipes, I took the suggestion of Nutmeg Nanny and made a batch of lemon curd, which used up six of the yolks.

This is not a spin on the classic, it is just the traditional recipe itself, which you can find anywhere online.  I’m not really posting it for your benefit as much as mine, so I can keep it where I can find it.  If you have not made lemon curd before, you are in for a treat!  The sweet-tart flavor combined with the velvety smooth texture is a refreshing change from the usual sweet jellies and jams and is bound to perk up your winter mornings and tea times if you are elegant enough to enjoy such things.  I have to admit I’ve never enjoyed a proper tea, but with this lemon curd now in my refrigerator, I’m at least on the right track.

Lemon Curd

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4-5 lemons)
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/8-in slices

Add 1-inch of water to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. In a medium metal bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar for about 2 minutes until smooth. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest until combined. Place the mixing bowl on top of saucepan (the bowl should be wide enough to fit on top of the saucepan, but shouldn’t be touching the simmering water). Stir the mixture constantly with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl as you stir, until it begins to thicken, and will coat the back of a spoon. This will take approximately 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Whisk in the butter, one slice at a time. Wait until each piece almost disappears before adding the next. Spoon into clean glass containers and allow to cool with a piece of plastic wrap laid on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until needed.

This lemon curd will keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

Veronica’s Notes: I used two large lemons for the zest and got 1/3 cup of juice from juicing one and a half of them. Not reading the instructions close enough, I cut my butter into large tablespoon-sized pieces. I also didn’t remove the curd from the stove top before stirring in the butter–I left it on the heat but neither mistake seemed to affect the end result.

Recipe source: About.com


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Pumpkin Spice Bagels & Pumpkin Butter

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Veronica

Dave from My Year on the Grill chose leftovers as this week’s “ingredient” for the Blogger Secret Ingredient contest (aka BSI).  Since I often make dishes with leftovers, I had a tough choice choosing which one I’ve made lately to post.  And since the things I made with 28 egg yolks leftover from my huge white birthday cake all included lemon, I chose to post something more season-appropriate.

Don’t you hate it when a recipe calls for 1/2 cup of pumpkin, or any other measurement other than the entire can?  Drives me crazy!  After using 1/2 cup for some yummy bagels, I decided to use the leftover to make pumpkin butter so I could smear that on the bagels with some cream cheese.  The bagels are good by themselves, but even better with the pumpkin butter!  And don’t worry,  your pumpkin bagels will not be as dark or flat because you will not mess up the recipe by adding so much water that you have to add in 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour to stiffen it back up, and you will not forget to put in half the yeast.  Although these mistakes made the bagels more dense than I would have liked, they were still quite tasty and I will definitely make them again.

Pumpkin Spice Bagels
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2/3 cup warm water 110°)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups bread flour (I used all-purpose)
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 egg white
1 tbsp cornmeal

In bread machine pan, place water, pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, spices, flour and yeast in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed). When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into nine balls. Push thumb through centers to form a 1-in. hole. Stretch and shape dough to form an even ring. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Fill a Dutch oven two-thirds full with water; bring to a boil. Drop bagels, two at a time, into rapidly boiling water. Cook for 45 seconds; turn and cook 45 seconds longer. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Whisk egg white and remaining water; brush over bagels. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place bagels 2 in. apart on prepared pan. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 9 servings.

Nutrition Information (provided by a Taste of Home): 1 bagel equals 180 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 273 mg sodium, 40 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 6 g protein

Recipe source: Taste of Home Healthy Cooking, October/November 2010

You can see other spreads I made with leftovers in the background: lemon curd (made with leftover egg yolks) and apple butter (made with leftover applesauce)

Pumpkin Butter
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

Leftover pumpkin (you should have a heaping cup)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup apple cider
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Whisk together in small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until reduced half.

Makes about 1 1/3 cups

Nutrition information per tablespoon (calculated on Sparkrecipes.com): 19 calories, 0 g fat, 2.4 mg sodium, 36.8 mg potassium, 6 g carbohydrate, 5 g sugar, 0 protein

Recipe by Veronica Miller

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Fall Favorites

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Veronica

I see the bigger bloggers doing this, rounding up their recipes into a category, such as fall, to guide their readers back to the oldies but goodies.  I thought this would be cool for me to do, not because I’m big (ha!) but because I started this blog less than a year ago and transferred all my old Myspace recipe posts to it, which means that I have over a year’s worth of recipes that my readers have never seen.

Click on the titles below the pictures for the recipes.

Fully Loaded Buffalo Chili and Sweet Corn Muffins

Butternut Squash Ravioli

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

Orange Biggie Buns

Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie

Honey Bun Cake

Tamale Pie

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles

Slow-Cooked Enchilada Casserole

Fresh Apple Bundt Cake (I won 3rd place for this cake at the 2010 state fair)

Honey Oatmeal Bread (my favorite bread recipe to date!)

Salmon Corn Chowder

Honey Whole Wheat Cornbread

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Quick and Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes
Squash, Sage & Ricotta Manicotti

Praline Sweet Potato Bread

Baked Pasta with Spinach and Sausage (my friend Kim just took 2nd place in a Taste of Home Healthy Cooking contest with a lighter version of this!)

Easy Apple Cider Doughnuts

Cinnabon Caramel Corn

Buttery Beer Bread (if I could only convince you to make one of these recipes, this would be the one)

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Vanilla-Rum Custard Sauce

Kielbasa and Northern White Bean Soup

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Crispy Caramel Puffed Corn

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Veronica

When I stopped in on a friend this summer, I couldn’t help but notice her kitchen counter was covered with drying caramel corn. I mean, I tried not to notice (because I’m trying to lose weight, dagnabbit!), but caramel corn is just not a thing I can ignore. I looked closer at it, and then got really close.

“Where in the world did you find popcorn that pops up so large?” I asked.

Her boyfriend piped up. “It’s not popcorn–I used puffed corn.”

I’m pretty sure an exclamation mark went off over my head. I loved this idea. He urged me to try it and as soon as I did, I knew I had to make some. He didn’t share his recipe but I just went with the recipe I always use, omitting the salt, halving it and using the puffed corn instead of popcorn. It was a hit at a family reunion and got devoured pretty quickly.

While I prefer caramel corn made with real popcorn, this is more of a snacky treat that is particularly appealing to kids and teens. It has a light coating of caramel and has a nice, salty taste and airy, crispy crunch from the puffed corn. That salty-sweet-puffy crunch can get pretty addicting! Try it out at a children’s Halloween party or pass it out to guests at a holiday party. Just try not to nibble on it while it’s cooling or you’ll have to make a second batch! I may or may not know this from experience.


CRISPY CARAMEL PUFFED CORN
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (8 oz) bag butter flavored puffed corn
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
½ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Pour puffed corn into a large bowl. Melt butter over medium heat, then stir in brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. Stir well. Pour over the puffed corn and stir to coat well. Bake in a roaster or two jelly roll pans for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper to dry, separating pieces with a silicon spatula as you go. Serve once cool or store in an airtight container.

Recipe by Veronica Miller, inspired by Gary R.

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