Our Best Bites 2012 Calendar

You can never get too much of a good thing! From the authors of the wildly popular "Our Best Bites" cooking blog, this wall calendar is the perfect companion to their newly-released cookbook, Our Best Bites: Mormon Moms in the Kitchen. The calendar offers twelve all-new recipes to celebrate each month of the year, with mouth-watering photographs for each scrumptious dish and simple tips to make the preparation easier. Perfect as a hostess gift, a thank-you gift, a housewarming gift, or as a pick-me-up for the favorite foodie in your life, these seasonal recipes will delight every member of the family.

Salted Caramel Cashews with Dark Chocolate
This indulgent twist on an old family recipe is great for boxing up for friends and neighbors during the holidays. It is equally delicious with toasted pecans or walnuts in place of the cashews, or a mix of all three.

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup full fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 cups of roasted salted cashews, or toasted pecans or walnuts
about 2 ounces dark chocolate (that's about 1/3 cup of chocolate chips)
1/4 tsp sea salt

Cook sugar, sour cream, and 1/8 teaspoon table salt in a heavy saucepan on medium high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until temperature reaches about 245-248°. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can test your caramel mixture by dropping a small amount into a glass of ice water. You should be able to make a little ball that is soft and pliable, but firm enough to hold shape. Remove candy mixture from heat and stir in vanilla. Add nuts and stir to coat. Caramel will be very soft and somewhat liquid. Stir to coat and then spread out onto parchment paper. Using a rubber spatula, stir nuts as mixture cools, scraping caramel mixture from parchment. Caramel will solidify and after several hours will be dry to the touch with a sugary texture. Place chocolate in a heavy duty zip top bag and microwave for 30 seconds or until melted. Cut a small opening in the corner of the bag and drizzle chocolate over nuts. Sprinkle with desired amount of sea salt. Let chocolate dry (you can place nuts in the fridge to speed up the process) and then break into pieces.