STORM2K

ROFLMAO.. HG.. That is one of the funniest things I have read in a LOONG time

Here is a South African Treat.. Will make you sick if you eat to many because they are just sooo sweet.. I love these.. They are called Koeksisters (pronounced kind of like cook sisters)

For the syrup:
1kg sugar
500ml (2 cups) water
2 pieces fresh green ginger (each 5cm), peeled and crushed
2ml (½ teaspoon) cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
Grated rind and juice of ½ lemon

For the dough:
500g flour
2ml (½ teaspoon) salt
30ml (2 tablespoons) baking powder
55g butter, grated
1 egg
250-375ml (1-1½ cups) milk or water



How to Make It
To make the syrup, put all the ingredients in a saucepan. Heat (stirring) until the sugar has completely dissolved. Cover the mixture and boil for 1 minute. Remove the saucepan lid and boil the syrup for a further 5 minutes, but do not stir it. Remove the syrup from the stove and allow it to cool for at least 2 hours in a refrigerator, or overnight.

To make the dough, sieve together the dry ingredients and rub in the grated butter with your fingertips, or cut it in with a pastry cutter. Beat the egg, add 250ml (1 cup) of the milk or water and mix lightly with the dry ingredients to a soft dough. Add more milk or water if the dough is too stiff. Knead well until small bubbles form under the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to stand for 30 minutes –1 hour.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1 cm, then form koeksisters in either of the following ways:
Cut strips 1 cm wide and twist 2 strips together, or plait 3 strips together, cutting the twisted, or plaited lengths at 8cm intervals and pinching the ends together.

Alternatively, cut the dough into 8cm x 4cm pieces. Cut 2 vertical slits in each piece, reaching to 1cm from the end. Plait the 3 strips that have been formed and pinch together the loose ends.

Heat 7-8cm deep oil to 180-190°C – a cube of bread should turn golden-brown in a minute. Fry the koeksisters for 1-2 minutes, or until golden-brown, then turn them over with a fork and fry until golden-brown on the other side.

Remove the koeksisters with a lifter or slotted spoon, drain them for a moment on paper towel and then plunge them into the cold syrup for 1-2 minutes. Stand the container of syrup in a bowel of ice so that the syrup will stay cold. Remove the koeksisters from the syrup with a lifter or slotted spoon, allowing the excess syrup to flow back into the basin, then drain them slightly on a wire rack

"WARNING!"

When using the hot air popper, ALWAYS put the top back on I was making batch # 7 this morning, I was busy putting batch 6 in the oven at the same time, forgot to put the top on, a POPCORN VOLCANO

Dennis

Dennis - can I pop my popcorn the old fashion way on top of the stove - I don't have an hot air popper...

Will it still make good carmel popcorn. I am thinking of trying a batch tonight.

Patricia

I don't see why not Patricia, I do know that nuked popcorn doesn't work very well at all!

Dennis

was the popcorn volcano fun except for the Mess

ticka1 wrote:Dennis - can I pop my popcorn the old fashion way on top of the stove - I don't have an hot air popper...

Will it still make good carmel popcorn. I am thinking of trying a batch tonight.

Patricia

Patricia - I only use microwave popcorn for my caramel recipe. I do need to buy a hotair maker but for now I still just use mircrowave, Kroger brand (natural flavor, w/o butter) for now. It works well.

I first pop it all. And I pick thru it, since some doesn't pop well. I spray my cookie sheets or pan (alum ones work best, trust me, don't use a pyrex pan) and get the popcorn/nut amounts just right. Then I start the sauce.

Sorry Dennis, hate to shoot your theory, but I'm still w/o the popcorn maker. Looked again at Target and couldn't find one. Tried finding a clerk, again couldn't find help! I gave up.

Mary

Hmmm Mary, I tried the nuked popcorn once, it didn't work for me, seriously, I think the altitude has something to do with it, I have to adjust every single recipe I have due to the altitude. I read on a Digornio Pizza box the other day that you have to adjust for elevations of 3000 feet, well, I'm at 7200' "LOL!"

tropicalweatherwatcher, YEAH.......it was funny AFTER I got MAD "LOL!" Thank heavens for dogs, they LOVE popcorn!

Dennis

Dennis - the altitude must be the difference. I've always used Kroger brand, natural flavor and have never had a problem with it. Knock on wood.....LOL But it sure would be nice to have a popcorn maker.

I made the first batch last night and it went to my family. They're my testers. The verdict was it was very good so now I'll be making several batches for gifts.

Mary

I know the nuked popcorn will not even let you pour butter on it. When you do, the popcorn melts. How in the world can you get hot caramel to stick to it? Very interesting Miss Mary.

Linda - the type I use is just plain microwave popcorn. You have to stand in that aisle and really hunt for it. I can only find it available in Kroger brand. And it has to say Natural, in other words, no butter of any kind on it.

It sticks, it really does!

Mary

Dennis - I have one more batch of caramel popcorn to make today! Man, it is so popular! Everyone loves it. I've made about 8 or 10 batches since mid-December. We have a New Year's Party/Open House to attend. I was stumped at what to bring until I found white ceramic bowls with Popcorn written on them. I'll just make it a hostess gift - for the couple giving the party. 2 cellophane gift bags inside each bowl. Their kids are grown.

I made a big batch for xmas day for Jim's family and put it in a large xmas tin.

I don't even bother with nuts now - and no one even asks - where are the cashews? We can't do peanuts, daughter is allergic.

Just wanted to let anyone know who's timid to try this recipe - it's soooooo easy. Give it a try!

Mary

Holiday Season is upon us again and Dennis I just had to fix up a batch of your caramel popcorn!!! Yum Yum Yum! Had to do a little digging to find the recipe!

Quick question for you though...do you use light or dark brown sugar?

For those without popcorn poppers... just buy bulk popcorn (comes in bags).

Any heavy (and large) pot with a cover does fine. I prefer stainless steel pots to aluminum--but anything from a large saucepan to a stockpot works fine.

It is best to "dedicate" a pot for popping popcorn, however, as sooner or later someone burns popcorn in it and it discolors. But you can buy 10 quart stainless steel pots in "job lot" type stores here for about $10 and it's a lifetime purchase. You don't "care" what it looks like...

Put a little oil in the pan (canola, corn oil, etc.) to cover the bottom (not a film, but so there is actually liquid in the bottom--like about 1/8 of a cup of oil) and heat it on high heat while you are constantlymoving the pan pack and forth or in a circular motion to keep the oil "moving" Put two or three kernels of popcorn in and listen for them to pop. When you hear them pop, pour enough popcorn in to make ONE layer of kernels in the bottom of the pan. You want fewer rather than "more" kernels--just cover the bottom. Keep moving the pot around--very soon you should hear furious popping! When the noise stops, remove pot from heat quickly, but leave the top on for about 45-60 seconds as the "late poppers" will continue to pop even once the pan is off the heat.

The advantage is that you can make as much or as little popcorn as you want/need... And bulk popcorn is cheap.

I tried popping my popcorn the old fashioned way last year....drove me nuts! I just found a hot air popper at Walmart for $15. It only took me 2 batches to pop 8 quarts of popcorn.

Sturgeon dip


1 can smoked sturgeon
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp parsley
1 cup chopped walnuts

Flake the fish
Combine all ingredients except parsley and walnuts.mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix parsley and walnuts. Take a large piece of plastic wrap, spread the nut mixture out onto it. Take the fish mixture and spread it onto the nuts. Beginning with one side of the plastic, carefully and tightly roll the fish mixture up. Fold over the ends and refrigerate for a couple of hours. This stuff is excellent with table water crackers or rosemary crostini.

A quick, easy, and CHOCOLATE recipe:

HAYSTACKS (~3 doz.)
2 cups chocolate chips
2 TBSP. shortening (NOT butter or margarine)
~1+1/2 cups chow mein (crunchy) noodles
~1+1/2 cups raisins &/or nuts

Melt chips and shortening in microwave for about 1 +1/2 minutes. Stir in noodles, raisins, nuts. Drop by tablespoon onto waxed paper. Chill. Enjoy!

My family's favorite ingredient combo is semi-sweet chocolate chips, golden raisins, and walnuts. But you could use milk-, mint-, cinnamon- or raspberry- chocolate chips. You could also add mini-marshmallows instead of the raisins. Or you could add any combination of all of them!

Where do you get raspberry chocolate chips? Someone gave me some a couple of years ago and I can't find them anywhere since.

Weathermom....I googled "Raspberry Chocolate Chips" and I found that Hershey's makes them. You can order them (12 bags) but I would check with your local grocer first.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 35-7285447

Thanks Cajunmama, I was afraid they didnt make them anymore, I used them in brownies and they were great!! I bet they would make a great fudge too! The store I usually shop at doesn't carry them, but I will look around at some of the other places now that I know they still make them.