When I was a child, I lived for the month of December, and in large part, it was because of the holiday baking and treat making that happened from day 1 to day 24. I didn’t think there was anything quite like frosting cookies, making giant messes with the sprinkles, “gluing” eyes and buttons onto goofy gingerbread men and making all other sorts of yummy, delicious, festive treats. Today you can find ideas for whipping up almost anything with your kids, but unfortunately, not many of them are geared for the little, little ones to help with. When Tanya so graciously agreed to allow me to write a piece for Mixin’ Kitchen, I knew I wanted to dedicate a post to holiday treat making that even her little ones could get involved in. If you’ve got your own children that you would love to share some holiday treat-making with, here are a few of my very favorite ideas!

Sugar Cone Trees!

This one is so fun and easy! All you need are sugar waffle cones, a batch of frosting (sample recipe listed below) and a variety of candy. Turn the cones upside down for the kids and give them bowls of frosting (green works best!) and let them have at it! You’ll have instant Christmas trees in no time. Adding on candy for ornaments will add just the right final touch. You can use these guys for décor or eat them as soon as they’re done!

Dipped Marshmallows

Even your three year olds can have fun with this one. All you need are large marshmallows, melting chocolate, wooden food sticks and a variety of fun toppings like sprinkles and candies. Warm the chocolate and place in dunking bowls for your children. Make sure the chocolate is not overly hot so that it’s safe enough if little fingers get dipped too. Kids can place their sticks in the marshmallows and then “dunk” them in the warm chocolate. Finish with a topping of their favorite sprinkles and mini candies. Put a Hershey kiss on top for a hat (attach with a frosting) and a face on the side for extra fun! Not eating the marshmallows when the chocolate is warm and dripping is the hardest part.

S’more Cookies

If your kids are in the mood for making “cookies” but you feel it might be a little advanced, go for “s’more” cookies. There’s still a little time in the oven, so it feels more like baking than the other treat ideas geared for young ones. Have your little ones place graham cracker squares on a cookie sheet and then top them with chocolate chips and holiday colored candies like M&Ms or even red and green Reese’s Pieces. Place the cookie sheets in the oven and allow to “bake” just until the chocolate starts to melt. Remove, and making sure that little hands don’t touch the hot cookie sheets (you can give them back their graham cracker squares on plates), let them top with a layer of mini-marshmallows. Put the crackers back on the cookie sheet and place back in the oven just until the marshmallows start to puff and turn golden brown. You’ll have festive s’more cookies in no time!

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

This is one of my favorite ideas ever! I absolutely loved decorating gingerbread houses as a child (and still do, in fact!) but baking the walls and roofs is time consuming and not much fun. Without having to go buy pre-made packages, you can whip out a box of graham crackers, quickly throw together some royal icing (recipe below) and your little ones have all the ingredients for crafting mini graham cracker “gingerbread houses”! A supply of all your candy on hand will serve for the remaining décor.

Cut-Out “Cookies”

For the little ones anxious to get their hands on cookie cutters, the easiest thing I’ve found to do, rather than mixing up and baking batch after batch of sugar cookies that they won’t be able to help with, is to make Rice Krispies treats instead. While still warm, just after stirring in the marshmallows, place onto a large sheet of waxed paper and roll out thin. Then hand off the cookie cutters and let your little guys go to town (works better before they harden)! They can even frost and decorate just like sugar cookies.

Holiday Wreath Snacks

Instead of using Rice Krispies, you can switch out the Krispies for Corn Flakes. Add a drop or two of green food coloring into the butter/marshmallow mix and make like normal. Then spoon out large helpings of the mixture onto waxed paper and let your little ones shape into circles with holes in the middle (let cool slightly before they touch). Then they can decorate with red hot candies and thin red licorice strings (tied in bows) to make fun and festive holiday wreaths.

Basic Icing Recipe

• 4 cups powered sugar
• 4-5 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar and milk, blend on low speed. Add vanilla, continue blending until completely mixed. Add more liquid or sugar to reach desired consistency.

These are just a few of the many ideas available for young children and holiday sugar-y fun! So go grab your kids, turn on the Christmas music, pour everyone a mug of hot cocoa (with marshmallows) and have some fun together making yummy, easy holiday treats!

Image source: onecharmingparty.com via Dawn on Pinterest

Image Source: karaspartyideas.blogspot.com via Sherry on Pinterest

Author Tara Alley is graham cracker addict, caramel roll baking connoisseur and full time writer for www.air-n-water.com. When not writing site content, she reaches out to write foodie articles every chance she gets.

I was at an event with Smucker’s this past week where we had a lot of hands on experience from learning about the differences in Coffee, food photography (info to come!), as well as learning how to make our own homemade pie crusts using Crisco.

I did have a lot of fun and I learned a lot about how to mix, create and bake that perfect pie crust, as well as how to make the most beautiful Pumpkin Pie. While I am not a pie baker, I am more of a decorator, I have decided that I will leave the pie baking to my fabulous mother in law. You don’t have to know how to make your own homemade pie crusts, but you can still get that homemade flavor from refrigerated pie crusts from Pillsbury, which is what I use a lot in my kitchen for baking as well as to create fresh new meal ideas for my family.

Eagle Brand Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin (about 2 cups)
• 1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Instructions

• HEAT oven to 425°F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust.
• BAKE 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F; bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1-inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired.

While I, personally, am not a fan of pumpkin pie, I loved learning all about the ingredients and all the tips on how to create that perfect pie crust which I can create for my favorite; Chocolate Pie. I don’t use pie crusts just for pie baking; I use pie crusts to make things like I am creating tonight…. a pastry filled with diced potatoes, cheese and seasonings, topped with homemade chili. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? I will post the recipe and directions once I make sure it is tasty.

You can find more about Pillsbury, Eagle Brand, and Crisco by visiting the links attached to each brand. Be on the look out for some tester recipes that I am working on this weekend and this upcoming week!

When you are getting ready to head out to do some grocery shopping, how do you prepare yourself? I have tried several things ranging from setting reminders on my phone to post it notes to remind me of all the things I need to get, components for recipes that I want to try and even gift ideas for family for the upcoming holidays. I have been using a new app on my iPad that I really like called Grocery Guru.

What is Grocery Guru?

Simply put, Grocery Guru is the ultimate shopping tool. Grocery Guru is a FREE mobile application that allows you to create customized grocery lists on your cell phone that you can then sync with your computer! You can watch the video below on all the cool features of the Grocery Guru app and how it can help you get grocery shopping done in the most efficient way.

With Grocery Guru, you are able to create lists, check off items in store on your phone and share with friends to help get the job done. Create, manage and share your grocery lists at home and in-store with Grocery Guru. While I do not have my iPhone anymore, you are able to use this on the iPad. Four words: I. Love. This. App! Anytime I go out for a day of errands and grocery shopping, I take my iPad with me to help keep me on track with what all I need to do.

Once you download Grocery Guru, you are able to see your grocery lists, create a new list, invite friends to check out Grocery Guru and more.

Within my lists, I have created two lists. On Friday, Kambry and I are going to run some errands and visit Sam’s so that we can stock up on some bulk items. Also, with the upcoming holidays, I created a whole list all in itself that has gift ideas for friends and family, as well as a list of the kids’ ‘wants and needs’ for clothes, toys, etc. for Christmas. There are so many times that I will be out and someone will call and ask what one of the kids has on their wish list for birthdays or Christmas. With this list, I can pull up their wish list right away.

There are so many different categories within the lists that you create.

Here is what it looks like once you get your list created. I love that it organizes everything in to the appropriate department.

What platforms is Grocery Guru available on?

Currently, Grocery Guru is available on:

• iPhone
• Blackberry
• Android

You can download the app here.

Another thing that I have found that I love about Grocery Guru, is that you can look up recipes and get some new ideas for dinner… and along with those recipes, it has all the ingredients that you need just like a Build A Burger Bar for yummy burgers to solve just about everyone’s taste. I am always looking for new recipes for my family, so this is a great addition!

If you are like me and are always on the go or always trying to find ways to keep your lists organized, Grocery Guru is a great app to get you organized! You don’t have to have just Android, iPhone or Blackberry – as I said above, I have this on my iPad and it works beautifully!

For more information on Grocery Guru, be sure to check out http://see.walmart.com/groceryguru

I am working on a campaign for Lunchbox and will be compensated for my time. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

It’s just about that time of year where we are pulling out the fall clothes and where hot cocoa sounds oh so yummy! I looked in my cabinets only to find that hubby had drank all of our instant hot cocoa mix, so I decided to try something new.

Homemade Hot Cocoa

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup Nestle Baking Cocoa
• 4 cups of milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a pan, whisk together the sugar, baking cocoa & cinnamon over medium heat. Gradually stir in the milk and vanilla. Stir constantly until hot, but do not boil. Feel free to add whipped cream on top! Sip and enjoy!

I use a Wolfgang Puck Bread Machine and love to make different things in it, other than just homemade bread. I have made pizza dough, as well as Monkey Bread. If you haven’t tried Monkey Bread – you are missing out!

Bread Machine Monkey Bread

Dough Ingredients (Put in machine in order as below)

• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Topping Ingredients

• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 1/4 cup of chopped pecans (optional)

Sugar Mixture

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Directions

1. In the order of ingredients, place in bread machine. Make sure the yeast is on top of the dry mixture & doesn’t touch the liquid, until the bread machine is started.
2. At the top of the powdered mixture, place the yeast. Make sure that no liquid comes in contact with the yeast. Select dough cycle and press start.
3. When dough is complete, place dough on floured surface, knead and roll dough in to a long tube shape.
4. Cut dough in to 1 inch bites.
5. Drop one chunk at a time into the sugar mixture. Thoroughly coat dough pieces. I like to use a sifted spoon to get excess sugar off the rolled dough.
6. Layer them loosely in a greased Bundt or tube pan, staggering layers so you’re plopping each dough chunk over a space between two below.
7. Chop Pecans
8. In a medium saucepan on low heat, wisk together topping ingredients until smooth. Remove from heat.
9. Pour topping mixture over coated rolls in baking pan.
10. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F (190 degree C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes or till golden brown.
11. Remove from oven & enjoy!

Images of steps:

Steps 1 & 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Step 10

Step 11

Today is hubby’s birthday, so I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and look on the Wilton website at cake ideas. I came across a Poker Cake and thought ‘Hey, I can do that’… so I did. Well, not exactly how the cake in their picture was, but I decided to take the picture and play around with some ideas.

I started out with two white cake mixes and added some Jumbo Rainbow Nonpareils Sprinkles for color and fun.

I used a UltraGold 10 in. Square Pan and it filled that bad boy up. The remaining cake mix, I used in two smaller cake pans for the kids to decorate their own individual cakes later on.

While the cake was baking, I used White Solid Color Sugar Sheets Edible Decorating Paper to create poker cards. While I wanted to make a stack of playing cards, I was on a time restraint since hubby was away at baseball practice for only 3 hours, so I just made a full house. I really like the Rotary Cutter for the sugar sheets, but I (personally) found it easier to maneuver around the edges of the cards with scissors.

For the writing on the cards, I used FoodWriter™ Primary Colors Edible Color Markers.

I used the red and black to make the 5 cards that I wanted to use to create the full house.

I decided to add to the cake ‘Happy Birthday Daddy’ by using Ready-To-Use White Rolled Fondant 24 oz. Pkg. and I cut the letters out by using 37 Piece Alphabet & Number Cut-Outs™. What worked best for me was to use the Perfect Height™ Rolling Pin on top of Parchment paper and I let the fondant set for about 10 minutes to get a bit less sticky. Doing this made the fondant letters easier to cut and easier to work with.

One the cake was done baking, I let it cool on my 14 1/2 x 20 in. Non-Stick Cooling Grid.

Once my cake was cool enough to work with, I used a knife to cut off the hardened edges and then I used the Cake Leveler to cut the cake in to two pieces. Why two pieces? You will see.

I decorate the cake and serve it on, what I had on hand was some Show ‘N Serve Cake Boards. My cake was far from perfect as far as it being perfectly level, but hey – it worked! I flipped the cake over using the Cake Lifter and used the cut part on the bottom, then the bottom on the top.

While I normally use decorating tips, I didn’t use any for this cake. What can I say – I was on a time restraint. I used 3 Disposable Decorating Bags for this entire cake, one which I filled with White Ready-To-Use Decorator Icing – 4.5 lb. Tub (just enough to make a bridge from the outside, but I had some left, so I made roads in between. Yeah, I just said roads. (more like dirt roads that are far from even)

Who can have a double layer cake without something yummy in the middle? My almost 6 year old suggested pudding. I wasn’t about to deny him that. Who doesn’t love pudding?

Once I set the cakes on top of each other, I slapped some icing on and spread somewhat even. I was going to be using Sugar Sheets and Fondant, so I wasn’t particularly cautious how even my icing was. I know… shame on me.

Before I did anything else, I decided to let my icing harden just a bit, so I went on to the next project for the cake…. making the poker chips. I colored the fondant with Royal Blue Icing Color. Yes, my fondant is a bit tie-dyed, but I like the effect that it had on the poker chips. I used a Decorating tip (what size? I don’t know – whatever size the one was that I pulled out randomly that fit the size of a poker chip. How’s that for measurements?

On top of the cake, since my icing has hardened a bit, I used a single sheet of Green Solid Color Sugar Sheets Edible Decorating Paper and placed on the top of my cake. With the sides on my cake, I took some fondant and colored it with Black Icing Color, then I put it in between a piece of Parchment paper and wax paper and rolled with my Perfect Height™ Rolling Pin to get it to a thinness that I wanted. I created 4 pieces and just folded over on each corner. I am still learning fondant, so I am sure I will look back at this later on and say to myself ‘what in the world was I thinking?’ For now… it worked. Then I took some black ready to use icing and piled down the seam on each side between the green sugar sheet and the black fondant, then I rolled some leftover black fondant in thin rolls and placed it around the seams to cover it up.

With my poker cards, I had them set out to harden a bit, then I took some piping gel and a brush and brushed a tiny bit on the back of each card, as a glue.

I had set out my poker chips that I colored in royal blue, black and non-taste red and cut with a decorator tip out to harden just before I used piping gel to stick to the cake top, as I did with the lettering from above.

Here is my overall Poker Cake. While I wasn’t too thrilled with the unevenness of my layers, I think I did pretty darn good for only having 3 hours to bake and decorate hubby’s birthday cake.

He was happy when the kids presented him with his birthday cake!

And how was the cake? Here’s the middle. One word…. Yummy!

I live in a 1900 home, and in my kitchen comes lack of storage. I find myself de-cluttering quite often just to make sure I have room for all my containers, the lids, the sets and the mis-matched pieces that I have. I spend countless time trying to find dishes to cook in, dishes to store in and dishes to re-heat in, yet what I am planning on doing is replacing all that I have with a new product from Rubbermaid. Where has this been my entire life? I am in love!

Glass with Easy Find Lids

Now, you can enjoy the organization benefits of the Easy Find Lids system with the versatility of glass. Like other Easy Find Lids products, Rubbermaid Glass containers have lids and bases that neatly nest for compact storage. Lids snap to bases and other lids to make finding the right lid a breeze. Glass bases are designed to stack neatly, which saves space and prevents them from getting stuck together. Rubbermaid glass containers are also ideal for reheating foods in the microwave and the glass bases are oven safe up to 425°F. Plus, a built-in gasket creates a leak-proof seal.

Buy Now from Rubbermaid.com

• • Priced at $25.99

Features:

• Being made with tempered glass that is oven safe up to 425°F (lids are not oven safe). The lids and containers are microwave, dishwasher and freezer safe.
• The Easy Find Lids system helps keep your cabinets organized by having the lids snap to the bottom of the container and to each other to make finding the right lid quick and easy.
• Glass bases are designed to stack neatly, which saves space and prevents them from getting stuck together.
• The lid has a built-in gasket that creates a leak proof seal to keep foods fresher, longer.

I use these and love Rubbermaid Glass with Easy Find Lids because:

• My cabinets are more organized and easier to find things
• When I am gone for a media event, I can easily make those days meals and store then for hubby to pop the meals in the microwave
• I like that I can make casserole meals in the same container that I cook them in, as well as the same that I can reheat them in. This is literally an all in one container!

Overall, I love the new Rubbermaid Glass with Easy Find Lids! I can store them all together in one central location, verses containers in one spot and lids in another. What I have done in the past is used one entire cabinet to hold my containers, then on the other side of my kitchen, in a drawer, I would hold all my lids. Since I got the Rubbermaid Glass with Easy Find Lids, I have decided to toss ALL my other containers for these. Perfect solution for cooking and storing meals in advance – which is what I love to do for my family when I travel!

For more information, please visit http://rbbr.md/bglass. You can also visit them on Twitter at @Rubbermaid. The Rubbermaid Glass food storage containers with Easy Find Lids is currently available for purchase online and at Target, Wal-Mart and grocery stores.

Mommy Goggles gives this product: [rating:5]

Why this rating? This is a star rating (1-5) that is based off our opinion on the product itself, use, wear & tear, price and how it fits in to our family’s lives (at home or on the go).

All opinions in this posting are 100% my own.

My son came to me yesterday saying he needed something green to take to school for a snack…. today. Well, not realizing that today was St. Patrick’s Day, hubby already had some green grapes but I had to make some other treats for him to take to school, so I went to my Wilton Pantry (yes, I have an entire pantry with Wilton goods in it for those spur of the moment times like now) and I got out stuff to make cupcakes and coloring to make the batter green, as well as the icing. The only thing I didn’t have on hand were St. Patrick’s themed cupcake papers :scratch: or St. Patrick’s themed sprinkles, but with the sprinkles, I just used some green sugar sprinkles from Christmas.

I started out with a white cake mix, colored it green.

I filled the cupcake tin with the green batter.

Once they were baked, I put them on a cooling rack to cool before decorating.

For decorating, I used a few methods.

• Wilton Ready-to-Decorate Icing
• Wilton Sparke Gel (I used green and white – not pictured)
• Wilton Sprinkles (I had holiday sprinkles on hand, so I used the green leftover from Christmas)
• Wilton White Decorator Icing (not pictured)
• Wilton White Cookie Icing

I used one can of the Wilton White Decorator Icing. I separated it – half to be kept white and half to be colored green and filled two Disposable Decorating Bags – each with the individual colors.

With some of the cupcakes, I used Wilton’s green Wilton Ready-to-Decorate Icing, and drizzled them with Wilton White Cookie Icing & Wilton Sparke Gel in white, then sprinkled some green sprinkles on top of the wet icing so they would stick to the cupcakes. Why did I use white cookie icing? Well, I was out of plain white ready-to-decorate icing in white, so this worked perfectly!

With the white cupcakes, I used the Wilton White Decorator Icing, put in a disposable decorate bag and used tip # 21 to spread the icing on top of both colors, then drizzled Wilton Sparke Gel over the top and sprinkled with green sugar sprinkles.

You don’t have to make a special trip to the store to buy things that you need for on the spot snack requests. You can get creative with the things you have, even holiday sprinkles like I used, and you can create a fast and pretty snack for the kids’ holiday class parties. Hubby was glad I was making these because he, after I found out that my son had a party today, had told me ‘Oh, yeah, I am supposed to bring something too.’ Thank goodness I like to bake, so both my son and husband were able to take Wilton treats to their classes.

I woke up this morning in a creative mood, so I went with the flow. I made rice krispie treats and used Wilton’s Candy Melts to drizzle over the treats, as well as I made candy to go on top.

I made some hearts using candy melts and I used the Wilton Heart CandyPick Mold. I had another idea to make smaller candy pieces, so I used the Wilton Flowers Cookie Candy Mold. This is usually used to make candy covered cookies, like Oreo’s, but I only filled in the small flower part. I love how they turned out. SO EASY and so cute!

I didn’t want to make cupcakes since that’s the traditional class treat. I am really excited with how these turned out!

I cannot tell you how much I love my Crock-Pot and how often I use it. If you are looking for that ‘must have’ for a kitchen, it is a Crock-Pot. Love it! here are some fun and tasty recipes that you will love this Superbowl weekend, as well as for Valentine’s Day!

Candy in the Crock-Pot®? Go for it… along with a host of other sweet treats this Valentine’s Day.

Take the Crock-Pot® to a land far more tempting, forbidden and exciting than soups and stews. That’s good eating, but this time of year, it’s time to sweeten things up a bit and let the sweet scent of treats permeate the air, tempt the taste buds and satisfy the tummy. Courtesy of CrockPot.com, below are 5 sweet treat recipes love birds can create together, or for each other, this Valentine’s Day. All become decadent, heavenly morsels after a little slow simmer action in this enduring kitchen appliance that’s sporting a more designer look these days (and makes a great gift for your sweetie too!)…

Crock-Pot® Designer Series Slow Cookers (MSRP: $49.99-$69.99)

A stylish take on the original and a multi-function party favorite… Just add ingredients and go. From creating sweet treats to simmering warm winter beverages to easy weeknight meal preparation, the Crock-Pot® Designer Series Slow Cookers are the ultimate combination of design and function, contemporizing the art of slow cooking. Sleek design elements complement the modern kitchen and serve as an eye-catching centerpiece to any gathering. Consisting of unique geometric shapes with distinctive stainless steel, polished and black finishes, these slow cookers have a 6-quart capacity, hideaway handles, and a digital timer in a choice of manual or programmable models. Visit www.crockpot.com

Or try this mini version Crock-Pot® for fantastic fondues & decadent dips…

Crock-Pot® Little Dipper® Warmer (MSRP: $19.99)

is made for warming fantastic fondues, decadent dips and then enjoying bite-size mini treats in the comfort of home. Forget running back and forth to the kitchen to reheat foods; focus on each other instead! Just add ingredients or pre-made dip to the 16-oz crock, plug in and enjoy. Attractive stainless steel finish looks great in any setting. Recipes included. Visit www.crockpot.com

*** RECIPES *** Courtesy of CrockPot.com

CHOCOLATE CLUSTERS ****

• 2 pounds white candy coating, in pieces
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 ounces sweet chocolate
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

Combine ingredients except nuts in slow cooker. Cover; cook on High for 1 hour, or until melted. Stir in nuts. Drop spoonfuls on wax paper to make clusters. Let stand until hardened.

CHEERY CHOCOLATE CHERRY FONDUE *****

• 1/3 cup honey
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup light cream
• 3 tablespoons Kirsch
• Pieces of apple, banana, pineapple, pear, strawberries, and assorted cookies, for dipping

Place first four ingredients in the stoneware. Once the chocolate begins to melt, stir to combine ingredients. Serve with cookies or fruit on skewers for dipping.

CARAMEL RUM FONDUE ***

• 14 ounces caramels
• 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1 tablespoon rum, or 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
• 2/3 cup cream

Combine caramels and cream in stoneware. Cover and cook until melted, 2 to 3 hours. Stir in marshmallows and rum/rum extract. Continue cooking ½ to 1 hour. Serve with apple wedges, pound cake, doughnuts, or marshmallows.

CRÈME BRULEE *****

For Custard

• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups whipping cream

For Meringue

• 3 egg whites
• pinch cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup sugar

Custard Directions

Place ramekin dishes into Crock-Pot® stoneware; add boiling water to come half way up the sides of the dishes. (Use 6- 6-oz (3/4 cup/175 ml) oven-proof custard dishes or ramekins, makes approximately 4 cups custard.)

In medium bowl, combine maple syrup, 3 egg yolks and 1 egg. In small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring cream to a gentle boil, remove from heat: very slowly whisk cream into egg mixture taking care to not add too quickly or it will cook the egg. Divide custard mixture evenly between ramekins dishes leaving 1-inch from the top; close lid and cook for 1 hour or until set. Remove carefully using tongs or oven mitts and let cool at room temperature for 1 hour. Place dishes onto baking sheet, refrigerate 2 hours or completely chill up to 24 hours in advance.

Meringue Directions

Just before serving or up to 1 hour in advance, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time and beat until glossy and stiff peaks form. Preheat broiler to HIGH; pat each custard dry with paper towel to remove any moisture; top each with approximately 1/2 cup meringue. Broil until meringue is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to serve or up to 2 hours.

SUGARED & SPICED PECANS ***

• 1 pound pecan halves
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Lightly coat the stoneware with cooking spray. Place the pecans in the Crock-Pot® slow cooker and add the butter and sugar, stirring until the pecans are well-coated. Cover; cook on High for 10 minutes. Reduce to Low and cook for 2 hours, or until the pecans are well-glazed. Just before serving, toss the pecans with the seasonings. Serve while warm.