Happy And Flappy

So sweet, this girl of mine.  Gracie is looking for songs on YouTube on my phone that she can dance to.  One song was completely annoying, but it got her going and she loved it so much that she starting hopping.  Pretty soon, she was flapping her hands in the air as fast as she could.

Here she was, bouncing and flapping to a song that I suddenly no longer found annoying, and I said,

“You sure look like you’re having fun! How flappy!”

While still bouncing and flapping, she smiled and said,

“It feels so weird! It is WEIRD!”

“Weird is awesome, huh?”

“It is WEIRD!” ::giggles::

And she kept on flapping.

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Joy To Gracie… Please!

Cottingly Fairy topped with Christmas hats because Gracie loves fairies

This morning it’s very clear that the vacation “routine” (or lack thereof) is getting to Gracie.  She’s overly sensitive, agitated, moody, grumpy, argumentative, bouncy, and flappy.

It’s always difficult for her when she’s out of the school routine even though she would almost always rather be home.  This time is more difficult because I’ve been sick since the middle of the night on Christmas.  At least it waited, right?

She’s testing her sisters’ patience this morning, so they’re going back and forth between having some fun at her expense and trying to teach her life lessons.  In the life lessons they go back and forth between taking a hard tack and being gentle.  No matter the angle they take, they get the same result: screeches and shouting and nothing for their efforts.

Anneliese finally simply said, “Gracie when we make you mad no matter what even when we aren’t trying you just have to ignore us.”

Gracie: “No I do not.”

Anna: “Gracie, you just have to learn to ignore us.”

Gracie, clearly disgusted and incredulous: “That is not something you can ‘just LEARN!’ You can not ‘learn’ to ignore! That is hard!”

Anna: “I don’t know what to tell you.  You just have to.”

Gracie: “Brat!”

Now the trick will be getting her to allow me to get her to do some sensory activities.  She hasn’t been receptive so far.  I got a kick in a shins and a swat toward the face for my efforts several minutes ago.

It’s time to go re-teach the sisters that when their sister is on the verge of a meltdown, you back away.  It’s the whole Burning Building comparison.  If a building is on fire, would you run into it? No? Well, when your sister has days like this she’s a burning building.  Move away from the burning building.  You likely won’t teach her anything, because it will just burn up.  Wait until the fire is out and it’s been rebuilt.  And she stops using the very literal, “Wwaah” to get across the point that she’s upset and to start her wailing.

I probably should have said, “It’s time to go rescue the sisters…” and I said, “re-teach” instead ha ha.  It’s because they really are so good about teaching her.  They’re wondering teachers for her, and she pays exceptional attention to them.  Most of the time they actually can calm her down without using sensory tools.  She doesn’t want to be upset with them, and she doesn’t want to hurt them.  When things like this morning happen she comes away from it feeling like a bad sister.  In fact, yesterday she accidentally-on-purpose-but-really-accidentally ruined something Anna had set up.  It could easily be redone with some patience, but the look of hurt and annoyance on Anna’s face made it clear to Gracie that she had done something wrong even though Anna told her that it was all right.

Gracie: “I feel like I must be a bad sister.”

Anna: “No, Gracie, you’re not.”

Gracie: “I feel like I must be always doing the bad thing.  I am a bad sister.”

Anna: “No, Gracie, you’re not.”

Gracie: “But… I feel like I always hurting my sister! I not acting like loving my sister!”

Anna: “Gracie, I know you love me.  I love you.”

Mom: “Awww, girls, why don’t you hug and make up?”

Anna: “Mommy, I’m just not ready to hug Gracie yet.  She did upset me.  Gracie, you need to help me fix this.”

Gracie, sniffling: “Okay.”

Related articles

• Gracie Feels Better (littlefallofrain.wordpress.com)

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Gracie Feels Better

I left work late today.  While I was waiting for the car to warm up, I called home to find out everyone had eaten already except Frou Frou. She wasn’t interested in anything in the house.  She was probably detoxing after going back to school from two days home sick.  This morning was a mother of a meltdown because she didn’t want to go back to school.  She’s ready for a vacation, but just had to get through today and now tomorrow.  I did manage to get breakfast into her even though she insisted she wasn’t hungry.  I got her dressed in spite of flailing arms and legs landing bruises in my right side and arm.  I’m fairly certain that my ear drums were blown out and my neighbors could hear the early mornings screams of,

“I AM NOT! GOING TO! SCHOOL! I AM SICK! AAAHHH! YOU SUCK! I HATE YOU!”

“That’s okay, honey.  I know I’m a terrible mom.  But if you don’t go to school when you’re feeling well, that’s called truency and that’s against the law.  But you won’t go to jail, I will.”

“NO! YOU CAN’T GO TO JAIL!”

“Are you sure? I’m a terrible mom, after all.  You hate me.”

::squeaks:: “No I do not. Shut up.”

The bus came a couple of minutes before I was expecting it this morning, and I didn’t see it.  Miss Gracie did see it.  Suddenly, she shouts and grabs her backpack and starts to race out the door shouting,

“THE BUS! I WILL BE LATE! I CAN NOT BE LATE!”

I don’t know if it was the fear of truancy or she really did want to go to school after all, but it was like her butt was on fire.

I did have a productive conversation with her while I cooked supper last night, though.  She was distressed at having to go to school today and kept insisting she wanted to stay sick and would make herself sick if the germs were really gone.  I kept thinking how it was ironic, somehow, that THAT was the long conversation my often-non-verbal daughter was choosing to have.  Since she was chatty, albeit in a foul mood, I took advantage of it.

It’s not really school or her teachers she hates.  She loves her teacher and her friends.  She enjoys most of the subjects.  What frustrates her is that the day is not full of playing.  The work is hard.  Well, yeah… it’s fourth grade!

Worse than hard work and homework is the sensory overload.  It smells different than home.  It sounds different than home.  It’s louder than home.  There are people sounds.  Breathing sounds.  Echoes.  The lights are too brights.  The smells at lunch mix in a gross way.  There are eating sounds at lunch.  There’s shouting and screaming in the hallways.  It’s too cold and windy at recess.  People have eyes and use them to look at her.  She has to keep her coat on so that certain things don’t touch her arms in the wrong way.

And even harder than all of THAT? Is having to hold it all together at school and pretend that everything is all right.  Not wanting to seem different than the other children she refuses to ask for sensory breaks but will accept them when the teacher or her para offer them.

After she unloaded all of this burden last night, she was clearly much more relaxed.  This morning we had round two of that conversation, and I made sure she knew I would tell her teacher about it in the morning e-mail.  That eased her mind, and could be another reason why she willingly got on the bus.

The Mister said that when she got home, she was happy and went to her room.  She didn’t even notice that I wasn’t home.  I’m always the one who gets her off the bus.  She didn’t come down to eat, so on my way home from my late day, I stopped at Subway for the two of us.  She actually ate a fully stuffed Blackforest ham sub.  She’s now sitting and watching My Little Pony with her Daddy and chatting cheerfully about the show and history of Ponies and the types of  Ponies.  I’m grinning ear to ear, because it’s a beautiful sight.

Now I can go to bed, both of us stuffed, and take some Advil for my hurting, aching self.  I “get” to stay home tomorrow with Eldest Girl, who came home early with a fever today and the Worst Cold Ever.  Oh, that was a soap opera all on its own but I’ll save that for later.  The school nurse is on my shit list, suffice it to say.  The Mister said she’s been asleep since 3:30.  It’s almost 8:00.  I’ll wake her at 10:00 for Mucinex, Advil, and melatonin.  :-)  Hopefully, The Littlest won’t have a turn at this fever thing.

Related articles

• Mommy Asks Too Many Questions (littlefallofrain.wordpress.com)

 

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Dilemma Of The Day

For the second day in a row, I had to keep Frou Frou home because of a fever.  Don’t worry, the fever broke and she’s (hopefully) going back to school tomorrow.  That’s hoping that the fever doesn’t come back and spike again tonight.  That’s not the dilemma.

Over the past weekend Frou Frou received a jewelry box with a little spring lock on it.  It’s the kind of lock with a tiny key.  She filled the box with memories and she loves this box.  Except…

She also locked the key inside the box.

How do I open the lock without ruining the box?

Related articles

• Froufy’s Paraprofessional (littlefallofrain.wordpress.com)

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Rumors Around Sandy Hook

I feel like I have an obligation to write about the tragedy of the Sandy Hook shooting.  I’m so overwhelmed that I’m not entirely sure where to start.  There’s not exactly a beginning… and I feel like some of the things I want to say will come off in a chastising manner.  I’m not really sure I’ll be able to temper that, to be honest.

I feel a responsibility to post because I live in Connecticut; because I have a seven year old daughter in elementary school; because I’m a mother; because I have strong feelings about this tragedy; because I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depressive Disorder;  and unfortunately, because news outlets are reporting that the shooter “may have” had some mental health issues and then that’s immediately followed by “and Autism.” Then it’s clarified that it’s thought that he may have had Asperger’s Disorder, a type of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

I feel as if I can’t express and write about what I need to write about until I get rid of the giant pink elephant in the room: that the shooter may have had Autism Spectrum Disorder and also been mentally ill.  First and foremost, let me state in no uncertain terms that Autism is not a diagnosis of mental illness.  Can it be a co-morbid diagnosis or diagnoses with other neurological disorders and/or Depression Disorders and/or Mood Disorders and/or Oppositional Defiant Disorder and/or Bi-Polar and/or Schizophrenia and/or Psychosis and/or ADD/ADHD and/or OCD and/or Anxiety Disorder and/or other Psychological Disorders? Yes.  I’ve written about this before.  It’s very possible and very common.

Except that just like the great majority of neuro-typical people don’t go out and commit mass murder or murder their loved ones or commit crimes that land them jail, neither do people who have Autism Spectrum Disorder and comorbid diagnoses.

I have a child on the Autism  Spectrum.  She has many developmental delays, including social delays.  It’s often like raising a toddler or a preschooler, especially with her emotional level and impulse control.  She’s not inherently violent and she’s not a bad girl.  She’s sweet, charming, intelligent, funny, beautiful, shy, talented, artistic, and vibrant.  I couldn’t imagine my life without her.  That’s not to gloss over the difficulties of raising a special needs child who will be a special needs teenager, a special needs young adult, and a special needs adult.  I’ve often shared our difficulties here, so I won’t go into great detail again in this post.

Mainly, I don’t want to keep feeling as if I will be put into a position of having to defend my autistic daughter.  I don’t want to feel as if I’ll be put into a position of having to defend my parenting of her to people who have never met her and only know that she’s autistic.  I don’t want to have to worry that people who already know her to suddenly become wary of her or fear her simply because she has Autism.

If that young man were mentally ill or had Autism Spectrum Disorder or any other neurological Disorder, then I hope that people will be smart enough not to paint the rest of the community that shares that characteristic with the same brush.  Because I can guarantee that his having any particular neurological disorder is not what “caused” him to do what he did.  While I will not blame his mother’s parenting or even his parents’ divorce, I WILL say that this young man’s entire life had to  have led up to the decisions that he made.  His world must have been a very dark one whether he was mentally ill or not.   Whether he had Autism had nothing to do with it.

But I will say this one last time in this post: It has NOT been confirmed that the Sandy Hook shooter had mental illness nor Autism of any kind.  This is only based on the speculation of gossip and comments that were supposedly made to the police by the shooter’s brother whom he hadn’t seen in two years.

Maybe now I can move on with the business of mourning and processing.

 

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Empathy In Autism

Empathy (Photo credit: TonZ)

One thing we’ve had some issues with regarding Autism is the issue of empathy.  In this instance, I’m not talking about other people trying to empathize with my daughter, but my daughter empathizing with others.  It’s not only been difficult for her to understand the phrase, “Put yourself in someone else’s shoes” since it’s a saying and she just doesn’t like sayings… but it’s actually difficult for her put herself in someone else’s shoes.  She fully expects for you to try to understand her and even read her mind sometimes, but the expectation doesn’t go both ways.

It’s part of the reason that she has trouble predicting how current behavior will affect future events in books and in real life.

Yesterday morning had a slow start, but she did really well once she got involved in the routine, as has been more typical lately.  During our wait for her bus, she discovered that her older sister broke a doll belonging to her younger sister and that distressed her a lot.  She’s very upset at the thought of Anneliese being upset over this particular broken doll.  It made me choke up to see her being so compassionate and empathetic, especially predicting how her sister would react and feel at finding out disappointing/upsetting news.  It made me think that the work her teachers have been doing with her on storytelling is really sinking in.  The way we’ve been working with her at home and trying to have to her think situations through and think ahead… teaching her empathy… we’re not always sure that it’s clicking.  Yesterday was some significant proof that it is.  She’s thinking ahead to how things will affect people and that’s very, very new.  I’m very proud of her.  It’s more than in just simplistic, basic ways too.  She was explaining to me in detail why it would be upsetting to her sister and therefore to her! It was clearly difficult for her to explain to me, since when she gets upset she tends to verbally shut down.  It was therefore a huge step in two areas.

She was so emphatic about it that she was crying.  She brought me to tears over how emotional she was for her sister’s sake.  Man, I love this girl.

Related articles

• Area of the brain that processes empathy identified (sciencedaily.com)
• Experience Empathy – Watch What It Can Be Like To Live With Autism (upworthy.com)

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Froufy’s Paraprofessional

When you have a child that has an IEP that requires a paraprofessional to be in the classroom, and that paraprofessional decides to retire, it would be nice if said para gave more than a day’s notice before she stops working.  It would also be nice to get notification that the para your child has had since the beginning of the school year won’t be with her any longer.  It would also be nice to know how the search for a new para is going a month after the old para essentially up and quit.

I found out by accident.  I should have found out at the PPT I had a month ago.  Well, more than a month ago now.

On a related note, it took my daughter a month to tell me that having a different paraprofessional every day (substitute paras) for the past more-than-a-month is upsetting is stressful to her.  She cried when she told me Saturday night.  If I take it from her she still has a different substitute para nearly every day and not a permanent one yet.  This is a child who relies very, very heavily on routine and sameness in the classroom.  I had noticed that her behaviors at home were acting out and anxious, and she couldn’t tell me why.  It was dumb luck when I told her that I was talking about about her “para situation” to a neighbor and the flood gates opened.  She finally had words to tell me why school was upsetting her.

It’s time to call the teacher and see what the updates are.  I need something concrete to tell Frou Frou.

 

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Mommy Asks Too Many Questions

Didn’t I recently blog about how much of a bad idea it is to ask my middle daughter to quantify and compare her feelings on things? I might not have.  Well, if I didn’t I will now.

It’s a bad idea to ask her to quantify and compare her feelings because I’m learning that it’s either difficult or impossible.  In some instances the choice is clear.

Mommy: Gracie, which do you like better: pumpkin muffins or rotted goat cheese?
Gracie: PUMPKIN MUFFINS! SHUT UP! That was a BAD CHOICE!

If I offer other types of choices where she has to quantify her feelings or how much she likes something, especially if she likes something over another something, she looks at me blankly or gets frustrated.

Mommy: Gracie, which do you like better: pumpkin muffins or apple muffins?
Gracie: I… but… YOU CAN NOT MAKE ME CHOICE THOSE! THAT WAS A BAD! CHOICE!
Mommy: Do you like both?
Gracie: I eat both.
Mommy: Do you like pumpkin more than apple?
Gracie: YOU ask TOO MANY QUESTIONS!
Mommy: If I make muffins right now, which muffins would you like me to make?
Gracie: Pumpkin.

If I ask her leading questions about her day, about new things we did or tried, it’s very similar.

Mommy: Gracie, did you have art class today?
Gracie: We did leaf impressions.  I colored them…
Mommy:  How much did you enjoy it?
Gracie: Ummmm… that is not a very good question.
Mommy: Did you like coloring with real leaves?
Gracie: I had fun.
Mommy: A lot of fun?
Gracie: I don’t know.
Mommy: Okay.  Did you like coloring leaf impressions so much that you would like to teach your sisters and me how to do them at home?
Gracie: NO! Never ask me again! Leaves belong outside!

Mommy: Gracie, did you have pizza?
Gracie: I had pizza! It had pepperoni!
Mommy: Was there cheese pizza too?
Gracie: Yes. I had pepperoni.
Mommy: Do you like plain cheese pizza too?
Gracie: It is PIZZA.
Mommy:  Which flavor do you like better? Plain cheese with nothing else? Or pepperoni?
Gracie: I like PIZZA!
Mommy: If I ordered you a pizza right now, what kind would you want me to order?
Gracie: Pepperoni.

She must think I have this weird obsession that requires her to quantify everything.  I’m learning how to rephrase and break the habit of adding, “how much” and other qualifiers onto questions with her.  I think that’s really what throws her off.  I should probably simply present two choices and ask her which one she wants and let HER be the one to choose to clarify as needed.  She also doesn’t necessarily see where I’m going with a line of questioning, so she sees things as pointless.  I have to also learn to just get to the point and be a lot more direct with her.  I would save her a lot of frustration.

Thinking about it, she doesn’t use very many qualifiers in her speech.  She doesn’t use “a lot” or “a little” when she talks about liking things or disliking things.  She simply says she likes it, dislikes it, loves it, or hates it.  That’s it.  Four descriptors.  When she loves someone, she just loves them.  She doesn’t love someone MORE than someone else unless it’s her baby cousins.  Because, duh, she clearly loves babies MORE than anyone else.

I really look forward to more expansive conversations when she’s older, if she’ll allow it.  I have to be careful right now because if she gets too upset by too much questioning I risk triggering a meltdown or overly frustrating her enough that she’ll shut down and refuse to speak for a while.

Or maybe I have it all wrong.  Any insight?

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Pants, Pokes and Pumpkins

Pumpkin Muffins With Streusel Topping

This morning was a rough morning.  We usually stretch out the summer skirts for The Girl as long as possible since she loves wearing them so much.  This year seems cooler sooner than the last couple of years, so we’re transitioning her a little sooner into pants.  She’s not happy.  Part of the bribery process was telling her I would make something with the can of pumpkin that I bought for her a few days ago.  She kept asking for Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies but the chips have milk in them, so I kept trying to get her to choose a pumpkin recipe.  For pants? She wants chocolate.  I told her that if she can wear pants every single day this week without having a meltdown then I’ll make her a batch of Tollhouse on Saturday.

I was going to research a pumpkin recipe after the girls got home from school so that she could help me find something and expected her to ask for the Libby’s Iced Pumpkin Cookies, but I got a call from the pediatrician asking why I didn’t bring the two youngers in for their flu shots yesterday.  Oops.

If you ever read my entry from last year’s flu shot drama, you’ll understand why I enlisted help from my husband this year.  It still wasn’t pleasant but at least I had some muscle with me this time for The Girl.  The  Eldest already had hers last week at her physical, and The Youngest took hers like a champ.  It was Meltdown City for The Girl, however, and she was the Meltdown Mayor.  It still wasn’t as bad as last year.  I think it’ll be difficult to ever top last year.

When it was over, he sort of looked like a dear in the headlights.  He sat in the car, looking a little stunned to me.  I chattered on and on about how well it went and how good the girls were.  The Eldest and The Youngest commented on how that was the easiest, least dramatic year ever.  Again… stunned.

When we got home, The Girl decided on pumpkin muffins and I found the best recipe ever.  She ate three already, maybe four.  The recipe made 24, for crying out loud.  I think that’s a pretty good reward for being so good (relatively speaking).  I mean, this year I came away without any bruises from the event.  That’s a win.  No one bled profusely.  That’s a win too.  Only one child cried.  Another win.  The child that cried is still talking to me.  All around win.

Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

Submitted By: BRETTNSHARA
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes
Ready In: 55 Minutes
Servings: 18 (actually it’s 24)
“Moist and hearty pumpkin-oat muffins are topped with a brown sugar and oat streusel perfect for a quick breakfast or a holiday brunch.”
INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil (replaced with 10 tsp melted butter with excellent results)
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Topping (double this or you’ll be short):
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons rolled oats
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease or line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup oats, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Whisk pumpkin puree, 1 cup brown sugar, white sugar, vegetable oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract together in a separate large bowl. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture; mix well. Fold in raisins.
3. Beat 1/4 cup brown sugar with butter in a bowl until creamy and smooth. Whisk 2 tablespoons oats and 2 tablespoons flour, using a fork, into sugar-butter mixture until streusel topping is crumbly.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle each muffin with streusel topping.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2012 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 10/9/2012

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Lactose-Free Chewy Caramels

 

I made some lovely lactose-free chewy caramels last night.  They’re to die for, and I only had to adapt a recipe a little bit, as opposed to making it 100% unrecognizable.  They’re definitely not vegan nor are they safe if you have a whey allergy, and I’m not sure what the adjustments to make should be in that case.  My apologies.  But if you’re looking simply for “Lactose Free Chewy Caramel” then this may be an option.

What started out looking like this:

Caramels:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) heavy whipping cream (has a 36-40% butterfat content)
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
1 cup (210 grams) packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Butter an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) baking pan.

In a heavy medium sized saucepan, stir together the cream, sugars, and salt. Place the saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture boils, with a heatproof pastry brush that has been dipped in warm water, wash down the sides of the saucepan to remove any sugar crystals that may have formed. Clamp a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. Boil the mixture over medium high heat (do not stir) until the temperature reaches 245 degrees F (118 degrees C). (If sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan, wash them down with a heatproof pastry brush that has been dipped in warm water.)

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the caramel into your prepared pan and let cool, undisturbed, for at least eight hours, or overnight.

With a sharp knife, (oiled with a tasteless vegetable oil, like safflower), and with a sawing motion, cut into squares or rectangles. These caramels can be stored at room temperature, between layers of wax paper, for several days. Caramels make a nice gift, especially when wrapped in wax paper or cellophane.

Makes about 48 pieces. Preparation time40 minutes. 

Adapted From:

Rosen, Michael J.Baking from the Heart. Broadway Books. New York: 2004.

Source for Recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/candy/Caramels.html

Now looks like this:

Lactose-Free Caramels:
Ingredients
1 cup Lactaid whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick or 8 TB) salted butter
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3-to-4 TB cornstarch

Butter an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) baking pan.

Mix sugars and cornstarch together until well blended in a mixing bowl.  In a heavy medium sized saucepan, stir together the milk and butter until the butter is melted.  Add the sugars and stir until melted.  Place the saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture boils, with a heatproof pastry brush that has been dipped in warm water, wash down the sides of the saucepan to remove any sugar crystals that may have formed. Clamp a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. Boil the mixture over medium high heat (do not stir) until the temperature reaches 245 degrees F (118 degrees C). (If sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan, wash them down with a heatproof pastry brush that has been dipped in warm water.)

If you don’t have a candy thermometer, watch the color and thickness of the mixture.  The mixture should be foamy as it boils, and darken in color over the space of 30-40 minutes.  It should also have thickened noticeably but still be bubbly and foamy.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  Pour the caramel into your prepared pan and let cool, undisturbed, for at least eight hours, or overnight.

With a sharp knife, (oiled with a tasteless vegetable oil, like safflower), and with a sawing motion, cut into squares or rectangles. These caramels can be stored at room temperature, between layers of wax paper, for several days. Caramels make a nice gift, especially when wrapped in wax paper or cellophane.

Makes about 48 pieces. Preparation time 40 minutes.

Adapted From:

Rosen, Michael J.Baking from the Heart. Broadway Books. New York: 2004.

I made the caramels with great success! I replaced the CREAM in the recipe with LACTAID WHOLE MILK.  I used one cup of milk and 1 stick of butter.  I also increased the amount of brown sugar by 1/2 cup and ended up having to add 3-to-4 TB of cornstarch to help it get to the right consistency.  I forgot to use an 8X8 so it came out too thin, but DELICIOUS.  Definitely  nice and chewy, but not stuck-in-your-teeth chewy.

And my children, even the ones without lactose-intolerance, can’t get enough of these caramels.

 

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