After a long hot summer, fall can never come soon enough. Fall, after all, is my favorite time of year! There are just so many things about this season that I love. The food for starters, is amazing! Between apple picking and baking up sticky apply treats, pumpkin goodies, and simmering up delicious soups, you can’t go wrong! Then there is the smell of the first rain after summer, delicious smelling candles, and of course all of the decorations!!
We also have certain family traditions that we keep up year after year, that take place only in the fall. We almost always go apple picking up in the hills, to help us with all of the yummy baking we like to do. We always go to this adorable pumpkin farm that’s about 30 minutes away from home. They have a petting zoo, train ride, slides, piggy races, and more. Then there are all of the Halloween and birthday parties that require my skills in the kitchen.
To help me prepare for the upcoming festivities, M&M’s has come out with their fall-themed candies, which I have already put to good use. Between the new Candy Corn flavors, Peanut Butter, Peanut, and milk chocolate M&M’s, there are a variety of treats that my mind is working on. I thought I’d start out with a really simple one that anyone can throw together for a party, get together, or movie night: Fall Popcorn Trail Mix!
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The trick for super fun trail mix is all in the presentation. I like to make individual cones for everyone, using parchment paper. I have a diy tutorial for making the cones, via this Youtube video. You can throw in pretty much anything, but my favorite additions are popcorn, peanuts, and peanut butter M&M’s (my favorite). I even tossed some of the new Candy Corn M&M’s into some of the mix.
What movie night or party would be complete without a tasty beverage/dessert? I decided to use Mott’s Apple Juice to put a spin on the ever-so-popular root beer float. We didn’t need a fancy excuse to whip up these Hot Apple Cider Floats! I drank/ate my float with the intent of beckoning fall weather to return.
For Hot Apple Cider Floats, you need to start with a good hot apple cider recipe. I think mine was pretty darn tasty, so you can get the recipe here. When it calls for a clove studded apple, refer to the picture above. Pretty cool looking right?
- 1 green apple
- 2 tsp whole cloves
- 1 orange, thinly sliced with rind still attached
- 2 qts apple juice
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 Tbs light brown sugar
- 1 tsp allspice
- pinch of nutmeg
- Create a studded apple with the cloves.
- In a large pot, combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer over low heat. This may take a little while, but it's good to for having the flavors all sit together.
- Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and ladle liquid into mugs. Serve immediately.
After your hot apple cider is finished brewing, stick a couple scoops of ice cream into a mug and top with the hot cider. While I thought the idea of Hot Apple Cider Floats was pretty awesome, I wasn’t sure how tasty it would be. Oh my word, I was in heaven! I used one of those spoon straws so I could alternate between drinking and eating, and it tasted almost as though I was eating melty ice cream with warm apple pie.
The Hot Apple Cider Floats and Fall Popcorn Trail Mix went together nicely for the perfect movie night! All with help from the fall-themed M&M’s and Mott’s Apple Juice! Yum-O! Keep up with the latest from M&M’s on their facebook page.
For more great ideas visit the Fall Baking and Entertaining Pinterest Board.
The float sounds interesting…melty ice cream and apple pie is always a good thing! 🙂
Mm hmm – it was delicious!