Posts Tagged ‘caramel’

This morning I woke up and was just not feeling so hot.

My body quickly reminds me I am no longer in my 20s.

The kids were starving, the hubs was wondering around the kitchen.

So I just grabbed a bunch of stuff I knew everyone would enjoy, tossed it all in a bowl and cooked it.

Lucky for them it all made sense.

We even got to use some of the Salted Buttermilk Carmel instead of syrup. BONUS!!!!

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes

Makes about 8 average sized ones

Ingredients

• 1 cup pancake mix (I like trader joes multi grain)
• 2 pkgs (1.5 oz each) Maple Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tsp oil (veggie)

Directions

1. Toss all ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.
2. Heat and butter pan/griddle. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter on and cook (until bubbles form). Flip and cook a bit more.
3. Remove, stack and pour on syrup.
4. Devour

Ever since I had my first taste of salted caramel, I like many other peeps, became an addict.

Hello, my name is Lauren and I am a salted Caramel addict (among other things….food related )

Remember this stuff…..

Trader Joes started me on my addiction. They start me on a lot of addictions.

Rather than break the bank (on caramel sauce) every time I went grocery shopping, I thought I would try to make some.

And to my surprise it was super easy, and beyond super tasty; we all like easy don’t we? I thought so.

Man I could just take a bath in this stuff….to much? sorry

Please ignore my shadow puppet hand

Salted Buttermilk Caramel Sauce

Adapted From: Our Best Bites

Ingredients

• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup butter, cubed
• 2 Tbsp Corn syrup
• 1 tsp Fleur de sel Salt (can be hard to find, I found it at Williams Sonoma)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. In a large pot (make sure it is large as while this cooks it bubbles), combine buttermilk, sugar, brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt.
2. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
3. Cook until nice a caramel-ly rich brown. About 10 min. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon.
4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Continue to stir to cool.
5. Enjoy. (Store in fridge)

I am going to start this post of with a warning….

WARNING: These little treats are insanely addictive!!! Before you know it they will be all gone.

The salty pretzel, chewy caramel and sweet chocolate is sure to please anyone and everyone. (did i paint a good picture? )

Oh yea and there is peanut butter

A little something for everyone.

P.S. These were gone with in a few hours.

Chocolate PB Caramel Pretzels

Ingredients

• 1 bag (8 oz) pretzel thins (72 whole pretzels)
• 1 jar (10 oz) Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce (or any thick caramel sauce)
• 1 ¼ cup creamy Peanut Butter
• 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 Tbsp shortening

Directions

1. Lay out ½ of your pretzel thins (18 whole pretzels) on a lined baking sheet
2. Place 1 Tbsp caramel on to the pretzels. Top with remaining (non-caramel) pretzels.
3. Pop in freezer for 5 min (so caramel will harden). Remove and top with 1 tbsp peanut butter. Pop back in freezer for 5-10 min.
4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl melt chocolate chips and shortening in microwave (in 30 second increments) until smooth.
5. Remove PB caramel pretzels from freezer and dip into chocolate, letting any excess drip off. Pop back in freezer once more to firm up chocolate.
6. Devour. Makes 36 pretzel sandwichs.

So after my attempt at making caramel, I wanted to try and incorporate it into my infatuation with cookies.

I know, I know I really need to diversify.

I found these the other day at the store. A much faster way to get caramel into my body (rather than make it my self)

In the words of my 4 year old, “These are stupendous.”

The only tip I have for these is to make sure to not mix the caramel in to much. Just gently fold it in. That way you will have a more marbled effect. Oh and to store in a air tight container. Guess that is two…;)

Carmel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup caramel bits
• 3 tsp butter
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream sugars and butter together. Add eggs, vanilla mix well.
3. Mix in flour, salt, baking soda.
4. In a small microwave safe bowl, microwave caramel bits and 3 tsp of butter in 30 second increments; stirring after each. It should take about 2 min total. Butter should be incorporated into caramel.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Fold in caramel.
7. Drop by the tablespoon onto a lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 min.
8. Remove and let cool.

So my incredible goddess of a sister-in-law was just plain evil the other day. For my birthday she got me (among tons of other amazing things) these….

I know mean huh…..

I could eat an entire box in the blink of an eye.

I think she is out to sabotage me trying to lose weight

So I ate about 1/2 the box and decided to try to make something with me. The creative juices were flowing….or was that the sugar rush?

It just so happens that my local grocery store was having a sale on brownie/cake mixes. And since they were on sale I had to buy them. Of course the were supposed to be for much much later.

Oh well…..

So lets do this.

Cut your remaining cookies into quarters (at least 1/2 a box worth or 2 cups). Look at my pretty baby….hey Im not sure I like the way she is looking at that box

Make your brownies according to the box. Only bake for 16 min. Remove and top with cookies and chocolate chips.

I only did half because the hubby doesn’t like coconut.  Crazy man (but he sure is hot)

Pop back in oven for 10 min (or until brownies are done).

Remove and smother with caramel.

Remove and let cool.

There you have it. Pure deliciousness.

I think I will forgive my sister-in-law.

Up close and personal.

Samoa Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 pkg brownie mix (I used the family size 13×9) (typical additional ingredients are eggs, oil and water)
• ½ box Samoa Girl Scout Cookies (cut in quarters)
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 ½ cup heavy cream
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup corn syrup
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Pre heat oven to 350. Make brownies according to package. Pour into a greased and floured 13×9 dish. Bake for 18 min.
2. Remove brownies from oven (when timer dings) and top with chopped cookies and chocolate chips.
3. Bake for 10 more min or until brownies are done.
4. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine butter, cream, sugar, corn syrup and slat. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Stir occasionally.
5. Mix will bubble and darken. Continue to watch and stir until temp reaches 245 on a candy thermometer (or until it forms a firm ball when dropped into a glass of cold water).
6. Remove from heat and stir in Vanilla.
7. Remove brownies and smother with caramel. Set aside to cool.

It all started with this stuff. Holly cow. If you don’t know about it….now you do. And please be warned, I went thru a whole jar in one day! It is that good.

So I finally got brave enough to experiment with caramel. This has always scared me; Im not sure why it just has. But I needed my fix

This was my first go and please excuse me as I toot my own horn here, it turned out AMAZING!!! Go me

I made these incredible cinnamon rolls (recipe by the incredible Pioneer Woman) and needed something to top it with.

I didn’t want boring old cream cheese frosting….so……..I made…dun dun dun dun…..Caramel Cream Cheese frosting. Something a bit different, but still the same enough for my husband and kids to want to eat.

This doesn’t have to be just for these fabulous cinnamon rolls. You can put it on and in everything (cupcakes, cookies, or just on a spoon and straight into your mouth).

First up make the caramel.

In a medium to large pot, combine brown sugar, butter, salt, corn syrup and vanilla. Cook until it is nice and bubbly. Add in cream and cook a bit more.

I don’t have a candy thermometer so I used a trick I learned back in middle school cooking class. Put some water in a small bowl and you can test the doneness of your candy (or in this case caramel) by dropping just a little bit in the bowl. Take it out and test it. You want what is called a Firm ball. The syrup is formed into a stable ball, but loses its round shape once pressed. It should be just like a nice soft chewy caramel.

In a medium bowl cream your softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and 1/2 stick of butter. Add vanilla and mix until nice and smooth.

Pour in your caramel and stir until fully combine.

There you have it. Not to hard to make.

It is crazy amazing on top of cinnamon rolls.

Give it a try. Have it on the weekend, so the calories don’t count

Caramel Cream Cheese

Ingredients

• 9 Tbsp. butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• ½ cup corn syrup
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ cup cream
• 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• ½ stick butter
• 3 Tbsp Powdered sugar

Directions

1. In a medium-large pot, over medium heat, combine 9 Tbsp butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, 2 tsp vanilla and salt.
2. Cook until mix begins to bubble. Add cream
3. Turn heat to low and cook until temp reaches 245-250 (firm ball stage on a candy thermometer).
4. In a separate bowl cream ½ stick of butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add remaining 2 tsp vanilla.
5. Stir in caramel until fully incorporated.
6. Enjoy!