Pecan Caramel Clusters

Since I've been gotten back from visiting my family down in PA, I have not once gotten into the kitchen to bake something (well, there were some cookies, but the dough was hanging out in the fridge from a time previous, and they weren't quite up to blog standards).  I'm going to be honest here.  It's not even because I haven't had time; it's more so that I've had almost too much time, so I've been really taking advantage of it in other ways..

There has been lots of online dress shopping for summer weddings and such (and I finally found one here).  Lots of reading has been going on.  I finished A Dance With Dragons finally, and then I read Rick Riordan's newest book, A Serpent's Shadow, in his series, The Kane Chronicles (it's a children's series, but if you're interested in Egyptian mythology or Greek mythology, check his books out.  They're wonderful quick reads).  Now I'm reading To Marry an English Lord, which is the book that inspired Julian Fellowes to write Downton Abbey.  It's Non Fiction about the era all of the American heiresses took England by storm, and it's such an interesting read so far.  I'm really enjoying it.

With all my reading and online shopping, I've also been working, biking (or doing yoga - I've been taking it easy lately), playing with the kitties, and trying to catch up on Mad Men.  We're just finishing up the 4th season, so we're so close to being up to date!  I'm obsessed with it.  Anytime I look at an ad in a magazine, now, I debate whether it's worthy of Don Draper, haha!

So, really, it seems that I've been finding absolutely everything else to do other than baking.  But don't worry, I've got some things planned, so the blog won't be silent!

When I went home, I took a treat for my mom for a belated mother's day gift:  pecan caramel clusters.  My mom loved the caramel I made for the salted caramel buttercream for the pupcakes, so I wanted to make something for her that included caramel.  She loves pecans, so I figured making some sort of candy would be perfect.  I ended up making it almost like a candy bark, and then I cut it into pieces and put the pieces in mini muffin cups.

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