Cube decorating contest

Soooo, when your workplace decides to throw a cube decorating contest during the holiday season, what does your team of Early Childhood specialists do? Win, of course! 

I don’t think the Christmas party committee realized the monster they created when they opened up a contest to see who could decorate their “cubicle” area the most festive for the holiday. All of us at Child Care Aware have been in a situation where you are decorating your classroom or making an art activity for the kids with little to no budget money and LOTS of creativity. We know how to make anything out of nothing. Give us a little construction paper and glitter and we can make amazing things!

So, our crew consisted of seven highly competitive individuals who wanted to win. We got together and planned what our theme was going to be and started divvying out tasks to whoever had the right materials and the time/energy to devote to the task! We all came back to the office with boxes of construction paper, glitter, glue, cotton balls, scissors, Christmas trees, decorations, fishing wire, tape, cellophane paper, toilet paper tubes, brown sack lunch bags etc. You name it, we had it.

We decided to go with a gingerbread theme. We had two cubes to decorate but wanted them to be connected to each other visually. My work cube (which I share with Brittany) was going to be the main gingerbread house and the training department’s cube next door would be the outside/backyard area. 

                            

We covered the whole outside of our cube with brown butcher paper and then put up construction paper glittered lights, gumdrops on the bottom, and lollipops in the front (made of wrapping paper tubes and colorful plastic plates). Katie made tons of cute things out of construction paper, including the adorable snowmen, the windows with the wreaths, and the street signs. I managed to find some gigantic googly eyes that I placed on one of the snowmen. The rest of the colorful plastic plates were covered with clear cellophane wrap and put up as candies.

"Candy" made out of colorful plastic plates and cellophane wrap.

 We put up a trim of fake snow and covered the top with cotton balls all stretched out. The “roof” was made with wrapping paper tubes and a bunch of lunch paper bags arranged to look like shingles. A few more cotton balls on the top of the roof made it look like a fresh batch of snow had just fallen.

Brittany brought her Christmas tree and we decorated it with candy ornaments, candy canes, and lights. I brought a bunch of fake wrapped presents that Jon and I had created years ago. They looked perfect under the tree! We even found some cute candy decorations that went along perfectly with the theme! We made some paper chains ($1 section at Target!) to put up in the background.

Inside the gingerbread house, we created a fireplace with construction paper bricks, a real wreath, and a stocking for each of our co-workers. Emily created a realistic fire with toilet paper tubes and red, orange, and yellow construction paper flames. I brought my stuffed Santa and Brittany had her daughter write a note to Santa. She even brought a fake cup of milk from her kid’s dramatic play set at home. With a plate of cookies (felt gingerbread), our mantle was complete. 

We’re not quite sure who took a “bite” out of one of our gingerbread men. We’re pretty sure it was a member of a competing team! It was clever, whoever it was!

Our fireplace, mantle, stockings, and fire. Look what a little
construction paper and creativity can do!

Now, to connect our gingerbread house to the backyard. Emily’s kids helped color paper plates to look like red and white swirly peppermint candies and we taped them to the floor leading to the next cube. 

A few paper snowflakes, cut out candy cane decorations, and gingerbread also helped set the scene. Some light-up candy canes lead the way to the backyard area where there are a few more gingerbread people skating on an ice rink (aluminum foil with a border of fake snow). 

The gingerbread people were made by Katie out of cardboard and some markers and glitter! A few of us had small trees at home so we brought those in and placed them near the skating rink to look like trees outside.

                                

Some snow falling from the sky and snow drifts on top of the cubes.

Emily and I created the illusion of snow falling by using some fishing line and tying cotton balls in random places. Deanna used her dye-cut machine to create a bunch of adorable tiny snowflakes which we also strung on the fishing line and hung from the ceiling. A few evergreen trees cut from paper and other cute lil snowmen/stuffed animals were spread throughout the area.

When the time for judging came around, Katie had made homemade gingerbread cookies (a little bribe doesn’t hurt!?) for the judges to eat as they walked by. As if they needed any convincing. There were a few other cubes that were nicely decorated, but nothing quite like our theme. 

Of course, we won the best decorated cube contest, winning us the adorable ugly trophy for the year. Now, on to next year’s planning…. Can never start thinking too early… ;)

Katie showing off the ugly traveling trophy that isn't going to travel! :)

Deanna and Katie standing in their cube....errr....gingerbread backyard

Check out the Child Care Aware of ND facebook link for a few more panoramic pictures.

Check out the adorably hideous traveling trophy we won! Who am I kidding? Traveling trophy!? That would mean someone else would have to win next year and we aren't going to let THAT happen!

Old fashioned creamy homemade caramels

So, what makes a caramel taste so good? I believe a good caramel should be creamy, buttery, smooth and just the right amount of chewy. Not too hard so it turns into brittle. Not too soft that it never really sets. I've had some microwave caramels from co-workers and they just don't compare to this recipe. They were really grainy in texture. Years ago, I worked with a girl who made some AMAZING caramels. They literally melt in your mouth. I asked her for the recipe and she graciously shared it.

The first year, I made some for Christmas to share with friends, family, and co-workers. The next year, I was already getting requests to make some more of my caramels. I knew the recipe was a keeper! Although this recipe is pretty labor intensive, it is completely and totally worth it. It is usually a full day process.  I make a few batches every year around the holidays but have even been known to make it in the middle of the summer. One year, I made an entire batch for my brother-in-law for his birthday and mailed it to him in Tennessee. He likes it that much, too. :)

So, in the spirit of sharing, I give you my famous caramel recipe. I have learned some tips and tricks from making this recipe SO MANY times over the years. As I go through the steps, I will share these tips with you. Although you don't have to follow the tips, it will make the process much smoother if you do. Happy baking! 

First off, here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 lb of butter (I used Hornbachers sweet cream butter) DO NOT substitute margarine
1 lb (2 heaping cups) of brown sugar (light or dark)
1 cup of light corn syrup
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Smoked sea salt (can omit)
Dash of salt (if using unsalted butter)


Supplies you will need to have on hand: 
4 Qt pot (could get by with smaller but I like to have room to stir)
Spatula that will hold up under high temperature (my Zyliss silicone one is perfect!)
A digital meat thermometer (better than a candy thermometer because it is more accurate)
Pam cooking spray to prevent sticking
Jelly roll pan with a slight lip

First BIG tip: prepare everything before you even begin. When I say everything, I mean everything. Measure out your brown sugar and put it in a bowl. Open the can of sweetened condensed milk so it's ready to pour. Measure out the corn syrup (I like the Alton Brown plunger cup for sticky liquids like syrup because it cuts down on the time it takes to get everything out of the cup.)

Measure out the vanilla and put it in a little bowl. Spray your jelly roll pan. Put all ingredients close by the stove within reach. Have the thermometer and probe readily available. Take a bathroom break. Seriously. Once you begin the process of making these caramels, you CANNOT walk away.



























  You will be standing at the stove stirring constantly until it reaches the correct temperature. Do not walk away. Do not stop stirring. That is the biggest tip I can share to make this recipe a success.

So, now on to making the caramels: Melt butter in pan on medium heat. I usually let the butter sit on the counter to get to room temperature before melting. It goes faster that way. Throughout this entire recipe, the temperature on the stove should not be above medium. Slow and steady is the secret. My impatient husband once tried to hurry along the recipe by blasting the heat. The end result was not only disappointing, it was hardly edible.






Melt the butter completely and then add the brown sugar. If you used unsalted butter, feel free to add a dash of salt. I don't bother doing that part because I typically use salted butter.

Stir the brown sugar into the mixture until there is NO butter on top. It is important that each ingredient gets added only after the previous ingredient has had a chance to fully incorporate.

The brown sugar is NOT entirely incorporated in this picture.

Make sure it is completely melted before going on to the next step.

The butter and brown sugar is completely melted together and you are ready to add the corn syrup.

Add the corn syrup slowly, stirring the entire time.










Slowly add the sweetened condensed milk, stirring constantly. Notice that stirring has been a pretty important part of the instructions so far. I didn't even dare take a picture of this part because I didn't want to stop stirring that long. My sweet husband assisted in the photography.

Doesn't that look beautiful? Yummmmm.

Now that your main ingredients are all combined, it is time to stir. Hope you aren't sick of stirring yet, because you have a fair bit of stirring coming up. Cook until the temperature of the caramel reaches 245 degrees. When measuring the temperature with the probe, make sure you are moving the probe around so that you are still able to scrape the bottom of the pan constantly so nothing burns on.





The temperature rises pretty quickly to 230 degrees. Those last 15 degrees seems to take forever. Sometimes, the temperature will rise a degree or two, and then fall again. Another tip: make sure the tip of the probe doesn't touch the bottom of the pan - that will give you a false temperature (much higher than what it actually is.)

The caramel will quickly start to boil with lots of bubbles rising to the surface. This is what the caramel typically looks like at about 230 degrees. Be very careful stirring because this mixture is not only very hot, it is super sticky!

Once the temperature pretty consistently stays at around 243 degrees, I pull it from the heat and add the vanilla. It will bubble up and sizzle so stir quickly.

Pour entire contents of pot into the prepared jelly roll pan. If you wait until the thermometer reads 245, it will likely be too hot by the time you add the vanilla and pour it into the pan. That makes the caramels slightly crunchy, which I don't like. The temperature will continue to rise even when you pull the pot and add the vanilla, so I error on the side of pulling it a few degrees under 245. 

Now comes the secret ingredient. My mother-in-law found this amazing smoked sea salt and it is the PERFECT addition to these sweet, smooth caramels. I sprinkle some on the entire batch and let it cool for a few hours.

After the caramel has had a chance to cool for a few hours, it is time to start cutting and wrapping. Since you sprayed the pan beforehand, the caramel comes out quite easily. I start on one end and slowly peel it off the pan. Have some cutting boards/mats ready to put the caramel on. I use a sharp pizza cutter to cut thin strips of the caramel and then cut the strips into little chunks. Feel free to cut whatever size and shape you fancy!

 Don't cut too many pieces at once. Start off with a few strips and then immediately wrap them with pieces of parchment paper or wax paper. I once cut them all up in the beginning and put them in a bowl. Since the caramel is still pretty soft, the pieces began to melt together and I had a big mess. Cut one or two strips at a time and wrap up all of those chunks, then go cut another strip and continue the process.

I used wax paper because I think it is a little easier to work with because it isn't as stiff as parchment paper. But, use whatever you have on hand. The wax paper allows you to see the caramels whereas the parchment paper offers the opaque white look.

 It's slow going, but I promise it's worth it! Keep cutting and wrapping...the end is almost near!

The finished product (minus the couple of caramels my husband and I ate
while I was wrapping...have to do quality control, right? :)