Pumpkin Pie Spice
Here is a basic pumpkin pie spice mix. The fresher your spices, the better. Grating your own whole nutmeg will help a lot. Feel free to adapt this to your own taste. Personally, I like a lot of ginger. This mixture would also be good in coffee, muffins, and for making spiced nuts.
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Mix together, and store in airtight container in a cool place for up to six months.
Caramel Apples
To make caramel apples you need a good heavy bottomed pot, not a flimsy aluminum one. If you are going to make this with small children, make sure their hands don’t get near the edges of the hot pot. Alternately, this mixture can be heated in a microwave for approximately two minutes in a heatproof Pyrex bowl.
Makes 6 to 10.
6-10 very clean fresh apples
6-10 thick skewers, tongue depressors, or craft sticks
1 bag (14 oz.) Kraft caramels, unwrapped
2 Tbsp. milk
Have ready a buttered piece of parchment paper or silpat mat on a baking sheet or large platter. Remove stems from apples and stick skewers or sticks into apples most of the way.
Use either a heavy bottomed pot or metal bowl placed over saucepan with boiling water. Either way, keep over low heat. Add caramels and milk to bowl or pot and stir frequently until melted. Take off heat and dip apples into hot caramel. Place them on buttered paper and let cool. Once cool, you can dip into additional toppings like chopped nuts, rainbow Jimmies, melted chocolate, or toasted coconut.