Pandagrub:Halloween Edition

This week on pandagrub we are going to be celebrating Halloween! The panda that we are using is a new panda. He is from China. We are going to show him how to celebrate Halloween.

 The panda in the picture above is named Professor Zhang. We named him this because of his professorial clothing. Professor Zhang is sitting with the ingredients that we are using to make caramel candies. The ingredients are vanilla, light corn syrup, heavy cream, and unsalted butter.

 Professor Zhang is melting the butter in a saucepan.  After the butter melts, just add the remaining ingredients while stirring continuously on medium heat.  (Sorry -- I forgot to take pictures of this step!)

 Now that we have finished making the caramel we are going to let it cool. Professor Zhang is pouring the caramel into a nine-inch pan.  And that's basically it!  It's so easy!  (And sooooo gooooood!)

 Now that the caramel has cooled,we are going to cut it into pieces. Make sure not to cool the caramel for too long or it will become too hard and impossible to cut. If you cool the caramel too long, you can melt it a little by putting in the oven. Don't put the caramel in the oven for too long or the caramel will melt.

We wrapped the caramel in wax paper squares. It took us a while to wrap them all but it was worth it because now they look like "real" candies. 

All of Professor Zhang's hard work has paid off! Now he gets to eat all of the caramels!  For Halloween, we are going to teach him how to trick or treat.  His costume will be...... you guessed it... a professorial panda!!!  For the full recipe for the caramels, click here.

I brought my candies to school and gymnastics and shared them with my friends and coaches.  Everyone said that they were delicious!

This year for Halloween, my best friend Maya and I are going to be peanut butter and jelly. Maya  is going to be peanut butter, and I am going to be jelly. We made our costumes together with things we found around the house.  We used cardboard, felt, aluminum foil, and lots and lots of glue.  What are you going to be for Halloween?  Are you making your costume?  Send us your photos!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!