Everyone's favorite fall flavor — pumpkin spice — teams with buttery caramel in this pumpkin spice caramel corn. Easy to make. Impossible to put down. This caramel corn might be everything you're looking for in a snack this fall.

Pumpkin spice caramel corn Image Credit: Trisha Sprouse for Demand Media

Things You\’ll Need

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1/2 cup light corn syrup

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

• 8 cups popcorn, popped

• 1 1/2 cups roasted pumpkin seeds

• Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spread 8 cups of popcorn on the paper and add 1 1/2 cups of roasted pumpkin seeds. Set aside.

Place popcorn and pumpkin seeds on cookie sheet. Image Credit: Trisha Sprouse for Demand Media

Tip

You can buy roasted pumpkin seeds, often called "pepitas" in the snack aisle of the grocery store. Or, roast the seeds from your own pumpkins here. Full instructions here.

Place 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of light corn syrup into a 2-quart saucepan. Stir frequently as butter melts.

Combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Image Credit: Trisha Sprouse for Demand Media

Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.

Add pumpkin pie spice. Image Credit: Trisha Sprouse for Demand Media

Bring caramel mixture to a full boil, stirring occasionally. Let boil for 5 minutes. Watch carefully and stir occasionally so the caramel doesn't scorch or boil over. At the end of 5 minutes, stir 1 teaspoon of vanilla into caramel.

Boil caramel mixture for 5 minutes. Image Credit: Trisha Sprouse for Demand Media

Carefully pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes to evenly distribute the caramel.

Pour caramel over popcorn mix and stir. Image Credit: Trisha Sprouse for Demand Media

Enjoy the crunchy goodness all to yourself, or package some of it up in mason jars and share.

Pumpkin spice caramel corn Image Credit: Trisha Sprouse for Demand Media

Boiled icing is especially suited to light, delicate cakes. Image Credit: BananaStock/BananaStock/Getty Images

Most types of icing are very high in fat, containing either butter, shortening or margarine. Seven-minute icing, also known as boiled icing, is different. It's a light, frothy, pure-white icing that contains no fat at all, though it's still high in sugar. It was popular decades ago, and is just old-fashioned enough now to qualify for "retro-chic" status. The recipe incorporates egg whites, but can safely be held at room temperatures for a day or two.

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Preparation Methods

Seven-minute icing or boiled icing is essentially a well-sweetened meringue. Some versions call for the egg whites and sugar to be whipped together in a double boiler until they reach a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, while others heat the sugar separately in a syrup and then drizzle the hot syrup into the egg whites as they whip. In either case, the egg whites reach a food-safe temperature during the preparation process. If your icing won't be eaten immediately, it's prudent to gain an extra measure of food safety by using pasteurized egg whites.

Using the Icing

When it's made successfully, boiled icing makes a light, snowy-white marshmallowy topping for your cakes. It's very soft and spreads easily, rather like whipped cream. use it between layers of your cakes, inside a Swiss roll, and to coat your cake thickly around the top and sides. Like the meringue on top of your lemon pie, it can easily be piped or swirled into peaks and mounds on top of the cake for an attractive appearance. It's also soft enough to hold other decorative elements such as colorful "jimmies" and sprinkles, or toasted coconut.

Storing the Icing

It's always best to use seven-minute icing as soon as it's made and cooled, when it's at its smoothest and most malleable. Still, it can be refrigerated for a day or so if necessary. Spoon the icing into an airtight container just large enough to hold it, and seal it tightly. If the icing doesn't fill the container completely, press a piece of plastic film wrap to its surface to block out any air. Otherwise, the surface of your icing will become hard. If your icing hasn't reached the correct temperature during preparation, refrigeration will make it break down and become runny. If that happens, your icing can't be salvaged.

Food Safety

It's important to use a good-quality thermometer to verify that your icing reaches the correct temperature, to ensure both a reliable icing and food safety. As long as your icing has reached a food-safe temperature during cooking, it's safe to keep your iced cake at room temperature. The high level of sugar in your icing acts as a preservative, just as it does in jams and jellies, and keeps the egg proteins from deteriorating. However, your boiled icing will begin to deflate steadily after a day or two, so it should be eaten quickly to maintain the best quality.

Corn syrup gives lolipops their smooth texture.

Corn syrup is a food product derived from corn starch and either glucose or dextrose syrup. Corn syrup appears in a variety of confectionery treats, like lollipops and hard candies, caramels, toffees, jellies, chewing gum, hard creams, butterscotch, marshmallow and fondant, among others. Corn syrup affects candy texture, volume, flavor and color.

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De-Crystalizing and Protein Interaction

Corn syrup replaces sugar in candy making. Its syrupy consistency means no crystals form in the candy. Instead, you have chewy or hard candy. Corn syrup is primarily glucose. This keeps sucrose, another type of sugar, from clumping and crystallizing. Corn syrup also keeps ice crystals from forming in ice cream. Corn syrup also reacts with proteins in candies containing milk, changing the confection's texture, color and flavor.

Texture and Sweetness

Corn syrup is used in a variety of candies to add either a thick, sticky consistency or a smooth, hard texture. Lollipops are made primarily of corn syrup, as are chewier candy bars. Confections and baked goods like pecan pie and certain fudge brownies get their body and thickness from corn syrup and eggs. Corn syrup also acts as a physical bonder for dry ingredients in candy and confections.

Corn Syrup vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup

Candy manufacturers sometimes use corn syrup for its culinary purposes. But it costs much less than sugar, as well, so it's typically used to cut costs. Food manufacturers may add fructose to corn syrup because it's sweeter than glucose, and they can save money by using less corn syrup. Many foods, including candy, contain high fructose corn syrup. Its health effects are being debated as of the publication of this article.

Alternatives

Various alternatives to corn syrup exist. You can try your hand at homemade cane sugar syrup, which is a bit less processed than commercial corn syrup. Rice syrup can prevent crystalizing, just like corn syrup. Its maltose and complex sugar molecules also keep other sugar molecules from bonding, but since it's less refined, it has a distinctive color and flavor that may be present in finished candy. Rice syrup is also made by fermentation, using enzymes derived from wheat, so it contains gluten. Other substitutes include molasses and maple syrup, both of which have different flavors and thickness.

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Sure, receiving flowers is nice. But nothing makes a heart go pitter-patter like a bouquet of rose cupcakes. It looks just like a real floral arrangement, but with a major difference — you can eat it. With this bouquet, you don't have to worry about how to keep it fresh in water. All you have to decide is who you're going to share the cupcakes with. This bouquet would be perfect for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, as well as a centerpiece for showers and birthday parties. It will definitely make the occasion that much sweeter.

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Things You\’ll Need

• Cupcakes

• Icing

• Gel icing color

• 2D piping tip

• Piping bag

• Styrofoam ball, 5 or 6-inch diameter

• Green tissue paper

• Planter

• Ribbon

• Hot glue

• Toothpicks

• Double-sided tape

Step 1: Bake Cupcakes

Bake cupcakes, either from scratch or with a box mix. I used a strawberry cake box mix, as the pink cake was a perfect backdrop for the roses. I also baked them in green liners that coordinated with the green tissue paper. For this project, I needed about 20 cupcakes.

Step 2: Prepare Icing

Instead of store-bought icing, I recommend making your own buttercream frosting because it works better in a piping bag. The recipe I use calls for one stick of unsalted butter and a half cup of vegetable shortening, blended in a mixer at medium speed for three minutes. I like adding the shortening instead of using all butter because it holds up better in warmer temperatures, and it hardens much better than icing with butter alone.

Sift four cups of confectioner's sugar, and add it in small batches to the butter and shortening mix. Add one to two teaspoons of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Test the consistency of the icing with your fingertip. If you touch the icing and it doesn't stick to your finger, it's too dry — add a tablespoon of water. I use water instead of cream so I can leave it out unrefrigerated. Test the icing again. A little bit of it should stick to your finger when you touch it. Add water a teaspoon at a time until it's the right consistency. This recipe will ice approximately 24 cupcakes.

Step 3: Color the Icing

Using the tip of a toothpick, add a few drops of gel icing color to your icing and mix with a spoon. I used pink icing color. Gel icing color is very concentrated, so you don't need a lot of it.

I wanted my roses to have two shades of pink to give them more depth. To achieve this effect, spoon a little of the pink icing into a small bowl, add additional icing color and mix.

Step 4: Prepare the Piping Bag

To pipe the roses, you will need a #2D piping tip. The tip looks like a star with the points curved inward. Slide the tip into a piping bag. Cut about an inch at the tip of the bag, and push the tip through the opening until it stops.

Spread the darker pink icing along the sides of the bag.

Spoon the lighter pink icing into the middle of the piping bag. It helps to place the piping bag in a glass to hold it steady as you fill it with icing.

Step 5: Pipe the Roses

Even if you've never piped roses from icing before, don't worry. The piping tip does all the work for you. Twist the top of the piping bag to seal it shut, and squeeze the bag to push icing through the tip. Squeeze a little bit of icing onto a plate until the two shades of pink appear. Then place the tip over the middle of the cupcake and squeeze the bag firmly. In one continuous motion, squeeze the bag slowly in a counterclockwise motion, going from the middle to the outside. Think of it like writing a lower case "e."

After you've piped all your roses, place them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to allow the icing to "crust" or harden. This way, if you accidentally touch the icing, the rose holds its shape.

Step 6: Tie a Ribbon

Select a planter with an opening of between five and six inches to accommodate the foam ball. Tie a ribbon around the planter that picks up the color of the roses.

Step 7: Prepare the Foam Ball

Wrap the styrofoam ball in green tissue paper. While the tissue paper provides a green background for the cupcakes, it also serves a more practical purpose. Styrofoam often sheds particles, and the paper keeps the particles away from your cupcakes.

Tape the ends of the tissue paper. Yes, it will look like a head of lettuce.

Apply some hot glue to the rim of the planter and press the foam ball into it.

Step 8: Create a Cupcake Template

To help you position your cupcakes onto the foam ball, create a template first so you can decide where you will place them. Arrange empty cupcake liners around the ball, securing them in place by inserting a toothpick in the middle of each one.

Step 9: Insert Rose Cupcakes

Starting at the top, remove the cupcake liner, leaving the toothpick in place.

Push the cupcake through the toothpick to hold it in place. Continue removing empty cupcake liners and replacing them with finished rose cupcakes.

When you get to the cupcakes toward the bottom that face out, you will need reinforcements so they do not fall off. Add a second toothpick next to the original toothpick; they should both point upward.

When you're done inserting all the cupcakes, you'll notice that even though they are butted up against each other, there is still a lot of space between them. We will be filling in these gaps in the next step.

Step 10: Fill Gaps

Cut four-inch squares of tissue paper. Stack three squares, fanning them out.

Wrap the tissue paper around the eraser end of a pencil. Place a piece of double-sided tape on the end.

Use the pencil as a handle to push the tissue paper into all the gaps. The double-sided tape will hold the paper in place. The tissue paper mimics leaves and gives the bouquet a finished look.

Real roses don't last that long, and these rose cupcakes will disappear even quicker!