Now we go to BEER ... Brown Ale Caramel Corn

Yesterday I posted the Root Beer, so now we go to the actual beer!  As most of you know I don't drink beer but my dad does and since he isn't getting around much these days I thought I better use up the beer he left here.  Why not make caramel corn for the Christmas party I went to.  Now of course I can't taste anything but it sure did smell good lol.  I asked my friends to try and they said it was very tasty.  I found this recipe on Betty Crocker.

Brown Ale Caramel Corn

8

cups popped popcorn

1

cup mini-pretzel twists

1/2

cup salted cocktail peanuts

1/2

cup brown ale beer

1/4

cup packed brown sugar

1/4

cup brown rice syrup or corn syrup

3

tablespoons butter

1/4

teaspoon salt

• 1Heat oven to 300°F. Line two 15x10x1-inch pans with foil. Spray foil with cooking spray.
• 2In large bowl, place popcorn, pretzels and peanuts; set aside.
• 3In 2-quart saucepan, heat ale over medium heat, stirring frequently, until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 6 minutes. Pour into glass liquid measuring cup to confirm measure. Add back to saucepan. Stir in brown sugar, syrup and butter. Cook over medium heat until bubbly around edges, stirring occasionally.
• 4Reduce heat to medium-low; cook about 5 minutes longer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and syrupy. Remove from heat; carefully stir in salt. Pour over popcorn mixture in bowl; toss until evenly coated. Spread popcorn mixture in pans.
• 5Bake 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, to caramelize mixture. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Break into pieces. Store in airtight container.
• Alexis Notes: I used the popcorn in the microwave trick that I posted here.  I doubled the pretzels and nuts to give it a little more crunch.  I picked all these up in the bulk section of my Winco.

Perfect for the beer lover and I know what I'll be making my dad this Christmas!

For the Beer Lover, A gift!

My friend's birthday was the other day, I wanted to do something special for her.  She is so sweet and always shows up to events thrown for me.  I knew she liked beer but that is so not my specialty (Give me baking any day).  So I thought why not make up a gift basket of things I know my dad would like since he is a beer lover also.  I've seen other baskets on Pinterest but not exactly what I was looking for so I ran with it.  I of course wanted to add something to do with baking (kind of my signature ... lol).  I found on The Good Wife's blog a recipe for Beer Bread that you can put in a mason jar, add the directions and they can bake it.

I started out with the gift jar:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic and herb seasoning

12 once beer at room temperature

Directions to make:

~Mix all the ingredients and pour into greased pan.

~Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Serve warm.

I put all the dry ingredients in the mason jar.  Typed up a little note with the directions and all she needed was a 12 oz beer (which was included in the basket I was making).  Found a nice glass of beer picture in the clip art and printed on card stock, added another card stock behind it to make it have a nice little flair to it :).

For my gift basket I made, You Need:


Basket - found it at Walmart for $5
Beer (your Choice, I picked up Raspberry Shock Top - Found out it was her fav!)
Peanuts
Pork Skins
Pretzels
I made some Homemade Caramels
Added in my Beer Mix Gift Jar
(You can switch it up, I just grabbed some fun things that remind me of a good bar)

Have a wonderful day, and hope you have someone you could make this for.