Sweet Treat of the Week: Fall Favorites

Last night we hosted a chili party and had a fabulous time!  Rather than baking a cake for dessert, I opted for a few simple fall favorites.  Here's what we had:

I had never heard of mixing candy corn and peanuts until this year, and now I see the combination everywhere!  How was I so out of the loop?  I'm not a fan of candy corn so I thought I may enjoy it with some salty roasted peanuts.  The verdict?  I still don't like candy corn.  Yuck.  But some of my friends do!

While I may not love candy corn, I do love hot apple cider and I'll find any excuse to make it. 

I make hot apple cider by pouring a gallon of bottled apple cider into a crockpot and I add:

• one cinnamon stick
• 5 cloves
• a few slices of orange

Just keep your crockpot on the warm setting and keep the lid on until your guests arrive.  Once your guests arrive, remove the lid so that your cider will be a more "drinkable" temperature.  (I forgot to do that and we all had to wait on our cider to cool before we could sip it--no big deal of course!)

Caramel Apples were the "official" dessert of the evening...the quintessential fall treat!

It had been a while since I made these so I asked my mom how she makes them with her preschool class and it turns out that she uses the recipe from a bag of caramels.  This is a great treat to make with a child--can't wait 'til my Junebug can get in the kitchen with me (and appreciate it)!

You'll need:

10 medium apples, washed, well dried 

2 bags (11 oz.) KRAFT Caramel Bits

2 Tbsp. water

Sticks for the apples

INSERT one pop stick into stem end of each apple. Cover large plate with waxed paper; spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

PLACE caramel bits in microwaveable bowl. Add water; cook in 1 minute intervals, stirring after each minute, until caramel is melted.
DIP apples into melted caramel until evenly coated, spooning caramel over apples if necessary. Allow excess caramel to drip off. Scrape bottoms of apples; place on prepared plate. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator 15 min. before serving. Store any leftover apples in refrigerator.

How's that for some simple fall dessert ideas?  Chili night was a hit--I'll be sharing about that soon!



What are your favorite fall treats?