Last Thursday I heard an interview on Morning Edition with the author of the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, Deb Perelman. She writes a blog by the same name. How have I not heard of her before! She has millions of blog readers and I am now one of them. (FYI – I've added a link to her blog in the list of my favorite blogs.)

The interview was so good that I visited her blog right away and found the best candy recipe ever. I made it up yesterday and the results were perfect. This is not a hard recipe to make. I ordered the cookbook and am really looking forward to more great recipes.

TIP: I got cocky and turned my back on the apple cider near the end of its boiling time. I turned back to it just as it was boiling over. I hadn't realized that when most of the water had boiled off it might do that. I took this as a sign that I had cooked enough of the liquid off. Here's what my caramel looked like in the pan, cooling.

I chilled it in the fridge for an hour or so, turned it out onto a cutting board and, as per Deb's clear instructions, I oiled my knife and cut the candy into 64, 1" squares.

The only thing I would do differently is cut the waxed paper 4" x 5". TIP: use your rotary cutter for this. 

This is my new favorite sweet treat. It may be that the only way to improve would be to dip half of each one in dark chocolate and I think I'll do that for Christmas.

Everyone who has tried these – adults and kids alike – love them. As my friend Laurie said, it's like the essence of apple pie, with caramel. I wish I could give one to each of you. But only one :-).