Our Best Bites: Mormon Moms in the Kitchen

Meet Sara and Kate, two Mormon girls who love to cook. They're also wives and mothers balancing home management, part-time work, church and community involvement, and countless other things — just like you! As busy moms, their philosophy is that cooking really good food for your family doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, cooking at home can be a delicious, fun, and easy way to care for your family and friends.

Our Best Bites bring together more than 150 recipes for delicious, easy meals and snacks that are fun to make, include healthy, fresh ingredients, and are more popular with families. The authors share their tips and tricks (mixed with an abundant sense of humor), and step-by-step, full-color photographs for each recipe.

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.