Butterscotch Pumpkin Spice No-Bakes

2 C Sugar

3/4 C Butter (1 1/2 sticks)

2/3 C Milk

1 (3.4 oz) Box Instant Butterscotch Pudding Mix

1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

3 1/2 C Quick Oats

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

In heavy saucepan mix together sugar, butter & milk over MED heat.  Bring to boil; boil for 2 min.  Turn off heat and whisk in pudding mix and pumpkin pie spice until smooth.  Stir in oats & vanilla.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Drop by tsp onto waxed paper.  Let cool completely.  Makes approximately 55 cookies. 

Cinnamon Spiced Nuts

I love these fresh out of the oven... It's almost worth burning my tongue over!  They are sooo good and make your kitchen smell sooo sweet and they are sooo easy to make!  I found this same basic recipe on a couple of different Internet sites each with a variation here or there.

These make pretty simple gifts with a big bang when added to small mason jars and tied off with holiday ribbon.  I love giving these as hostess gifts.  The only problem I have is one batch is never enough.  :)

1/3 C brown sugar
2/3 C granulated sugar
1 tsp kosher salt (I used my sea salt grinders and it worked great)
pinch cayenne pepper (some used 1/4 tsp smoked paprika instead)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 lb nuts (whole almonds, walnut or pecan halves, etc)
1 large egg white, room temperature
1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In mixing bowl combine sugars. salt, cayenne, and cinnamon, working out any lumps with a fork if needed; set aside.  In small mixing bowl, beat egg white with water until frothy (not stiff).  With rubber spatula, fold in nuts and turn to coat evenly.  Add coated nuts to bowl of dry mixture and continue turning with rubber spatula until candy-coating is evenly disbursed.  Spread evenly onto prepared pan.  Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool, breaking apart pieces as necessary.  Store in airtight container.

Cake Balls

Thanks to my friend Holli for teaching me to make these delightful little balls! Truly, they are SIMPLE! Some recipes will tell you to bake the cake the day before, but Holli must know what a slacker I am, 'cuz her recipe is even easier! For this batch-o-balls I used Strawberry cake mix and store-bought strawberry frosting.

Step 1. - Bake 9"x13" cake according to cake mix directions. Let cool just enough to touch, but not completely cooled.

Step 2. - While cake is still warm, empty into large mixing bowl. Add 1 tub frosting and mix well until frosting has "melted" into cake mix. (At this point I usually place in refrigerator to let "set" a little while I clean up and prepare my baking sheets for the next step.)

Step 3. - Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, form cake into approximately 24 - 2" balls. Place on cookie sheets lined with waxed or parchment paper. Place in freezer and freeze at least 1 hour. *I have actually left a batch in the freezer for 2 weeks and they were just fine.

Step 4. - Melt 1 lb. bakers/dipping chocolate. Using fork or candy sticks, dip balls into melted chocolate, using a spoon to help as needed. Remember the "flat" side of the balls as they chilled on the paper? Return the dipped balls to the paper, again on that flat side. Let chocolate set up.

Step 5. - (optional) Decorate dipped cake balls as desired.

Helpful hints:

* If you desire to bake the cake a day or two beforehand, that is fine. However, when mixing in the frosting, it will take a bit more work. I recommend using 2 forks to really get everything combined well.

* Using the chocolate baking "discs" from Orson Gygi's, Michael's, or Robert's is probably much cheaper than buying the baker's chocolate from the grocery store and you will have a lot more colors to choose from.

* For my "double broiler" I simply place a glass bowl over my pot of boiling water. It fits right in the top half of my pot perfectly!

* You can use any cake mix and frosting flavors you desire. I have even used German Chocolate Cake and German Chocolate Frosting and those were some of my children's favorite cake balls!

* Look at some other cool ideas for holidays or parties -- (I googled "Cake Balls" under the Image tab). Get inspired and get your balls on! :)

Candied Pistachios

2/3 C cinnamon & sugar mixture*

3 Tbsp warm water

2 C pistachios, shelled

1 or 2 sprinkles of cold water

Line baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. In saucepan over medium heat mix together cinnamon-sugar mixture and 3 tbsp warm water. Stir until combined. Add nuts and stir to coat. Bring to boil, stirring frequently, until there is no excess mixture left on sides of bottom of pan. Add splash of cold water with fingertips, give it another good stir and quickly spread on prepared baking sheet. Allow mixture to set and cool on nuts. Break into pieces.

Try this with other nuts too! Makes great holiday gifts!

*The first batch I made of this, I used just under 2/3 C sugar and made up the difference with cinnamon. I think next time I will use maybe only 1-2 tsp cinnamon and the rest sugar. It was still good and very easy!