My plan was to make salted caramels, fudge, popcorn balls and peanut brittle.

Things don’t always go according to plan in my life.

My Food Network magazine made it look so simple:

There was the Barefoot Contessa, happily brushing oil on her parchment paper. Only four easy steps, and then “Voila, caramel!”

Or not…

First, Ezra was extremely unhappy about my cooking without him. He wanted to “hold you.”

Then, once I had my two pots going, one of sugar mixture, one of cream, the waiting began. Despite the warning in the magazine…this stuff does not darken quickly!

And wouldn’t you know it, by the time it was just getting dark enough, all chaos broke loose in our house. Cora knocked Silas over, Silas started screaming, and Ezra informed me, “I pooped!” Worrying that my opportunity to see how quickly the caramel would darken had now presented itself, I put Cora in her room, comforted Silas and changed Captain Beefy-Pants.

Quickly washing my hands before I returned to the candy-making (you’re welcome all who are soon to partake), I rushed back to the stove to discover a perfectly warm-brown-colored caramel.

Then I burned myself.

You’d think I’d know better than to turn the candy thermometer upside down as I carried it to the sink. And you’d never think that one tiny drop of caramel could scald so awfully! I opened the freezer to grab an ice-cube to numb and soothe the pain, but found only water in the bottom of our ice bucket.

Water should not be in the freezer…

Come to think of it, the butter had been a tad warmer than usual when I took it out of the fridge earlier…

Instantly I panic, because I had just come home with 9-1/2 gallons of milk the previous night; not something you want to go bad. I pulled out the fridge from the wall, checked the plug, and then flipped the breaker switch. The small light bulb in the corner of the fridge worked when I opened the door, but it was definitely not the proper temperature in there.

Oh, and did I mention I was still in my pajamas and didn’t have a phone to call anyone for suggestions? Yeah, there was that.

With nothing to do but keep the fridge closed to preserve the coolness, I decided to finish the caramels. Two pans were filled with the molton-hot sweetness, and I left them on the counter for a little while, so they wouldn’t heat my fridge. After dressing myself and the kids to go pick up Eli from school, I checked the freezer again.

Still warm.

As a last-ditch effort, I thought that maybe turning the temperature gauges in the fridge would jump-start the cooling system. I adjusted the freezer temperature; nothing. Moving on to the fridge temperature, I noticed that someone {Cora} had turned the dial all the way to Warm. Praise the Lord my fridge was fine. It leapt to life with a mighty rumble as I readjusted the temp to cool, and I quickly put the pans of caramel in to harden.

Later that afternoon, while the kids were napping, I threw together the fudge with much less drama and excitement.

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Around 10 PM, after returning home from Josh’s work party, I decided to give the fudge and caramels a taste-test. Peeling the caramel out of the pan, the consistency was much softer than I had anticipated. Oh it tasted delicious, though! It was much too soft, it practically melted in our mouth.

Trying the fudge next, which Josh wouldn’t do because he doesn’t like walnuts, I was instantly transported back to my childhood. Growing up my grandma made fudge, popcorn balls and peanut brittle every Christmas. I would sneak into her kitchen and steal pieces out of the pan while everyone was in the living room. It was wonderful!

Thinking I hadn’t cooked the caramel long enough, I melted it all back down and once again brought it to a boil. This time I managed the whole process without burning myself. Four hours later, the caramel had hardened to an almost brittle-like state. It actually cracked as I cut into it. Once I took a bite, it slowly melted once more. Still delicious!

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The popcorn balls and peanut brittle are still to come…

For those of you who wish to take on the challenge of holiday treat making, here are the recipes that I am using. The caramels are from the Food Network’s Ina Garten and the fudge is from my grandma. Enjoy, and good luck!

Grandma’s Fudge

• 4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 large can sweetened condensed milk
• 7 oz marshmallow creme
• 2 Hershey’s chocolate bars
• 12 oz chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and condensed milk in a large sauce pan. Slowly bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Boil for 4 minutes, or until temperature reaches 234 degrees F.

Add marshmallow creme, chocolate bars, chocolate chips, salt, and vanilla. Stir until all is melted and well combined. Stir in nuts.

Pour mixture into a well-buttered 9 x 13 pan. Cool in fridge for a couple of hours.

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Fleur de Sel Caramels

by Ina Garten

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon fine fleur de sel, plus extra for sprinkling (I used kosher salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Prep the pan. Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing it to drape over 2 sides, then brush the paper lightly with oil.

Boil the sugar. In a deep saucepan (6 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches deep), combine 1/4 cup water, the sugar and corn syrup and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil until the mixture is a warm golden brown. Don’t stir — just swirl the pan.

Heat the cream. In the meantime, in a small pot, bring the cream, butter and 1 teaspoon of fleur de sel to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Finish the caramel. When the sugar mixture is done, turn off the heat and slowly add the cream mixture to the sugar mixture. Be careful — it will bubble up violently. Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until the mixture reaches 248 degrees F (firm ball) on a candy thermometer.

Fill the pan. Very carefully (it’s hot!) pour the caramel into the prepared pan and refrigerate for a few hours, until firm.

Cut the caramel. When the caramel is cold, pry the sheet from the pan onto a cutting board. Cut the square in half.

Roll it up. Starting with a long side, roll the caramel up tightly into an 8-inch-long log.

Cut into pieces. Sprinkle the log with fleur de sel, trim the ends and cut into 8 pieces. (Start by cutting the log in half, then continue cutting each piece in half until you have 8 equal pieces.) It’s easier to cut the caramels if you brush the knife with flavorless oil like corn oil.

Wrap the candies. Cut glassine or parchment paper into 4-by-5-inch pieces and wrap each caramel individually, twisting the ends. Store in the refrigerator and serve the caramels chilled.

I hope you have a little better luck with the caramels than I did!

So now I’m curious, what family recipes bring you back to your childhood?