Salted vanilla caramels

A few weeks ago, while cleaning the apartment, I came across (translate: had misplaced earlier, but found) an Amazon gift card that I received as a gift.  I knew I had to spend it or risk misplacing it again, so I ended up shopping and spending more than the amount on the gift card...But I gained four candy and baking cookbooks.  Four!

The first night I got them I read one from cover to cover, and placed little ripped up pieces of paper to mark the recipes I wanted to try (spoiler: there were a lot!).  One book was late to arrive, and came the other day.  This one was called "Artisan Caramels" (I'll write a different post about this book another time), and it had tons of different caramels in it.  Ones with crusts, ones with toppings, and some interesting flavored ones, too.

With Halloween right around the corner, I had a bunch of candies and candy-related things I wanted to make now.  Some caramels, I figured, would be perfect for a Halloween get together that B and I might attend.  So I started with the salted vanilla caramels, the most basic of flavors in the cookbook.

These caramels were so tasty that I ended up eating the caramel off of the spoon while I was sitting at the computer doing work.  I would've gone back for more but I had already start soaking the pot (damn!).  Clearly, I have no shame.

And with B out of town this week, and Halloween right around the corner, my goal is to make one new flavor of caramels each day this week...wish me luck, since I'm on the schedule at work for 44.5 hours this week and making caramels is quite time intensive... 

Salted Vanilla Caramels

From "Artisan Caramels"

Ingredients:

4 cups heavy cream

4 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter

2 cups light corn syrup

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 Tbsp coarse sea salt 

Directions:

Spray a jelly roll pan (17.5" x 12.5") pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, making sure you get the sides as well as the bottom of the pan. 

Using a clean, dry paper towel, wipe off the excess. 

Trim a piece of parchment paper so that it covers the bottom of the pan, leaving a 2" overhand over either the handles or the sides.  

Spray the parchment paper again with a light layer of cooking spray and wipe the excess off. 

Set aside. 

Combine the cream, sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a 8-quart stock pot. 

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Be careful -- it can bubble over very quickly if you aren't paying attention. 

Cook over medium-high heat, and continue to stir until a candy thermometer reaches 248 degrees.  This takes about 45 minutes.  

Remove from the heat and very quickly stir in the vanilla and sea salt. 

Pour the caramel into the prepared pan. 

Let it cool completely before cutting.  This takes about 8 hours. 

Remove caramel from the pan. 

Remove parchment paper.  

Cut into squares. 
Top with sea salt.

Wrap caramels in either cello wrappers or parchment squares.  Wrapped caramels have a shelf life of about 3 weeks; those wrapped in parchment tend to get stale faster.

Salted caramel popcorn

I can't be the only one who has had one of these moments in the kitchen.  You're following a recipe to a T and then all of a sudden you have an 'oh crap' (I usually use a different four-letter word) moment.  Where you fear something has gone terribly wrong (and it usually has)?  Like the burning caramel in the bottom of the pot.  Well in this case, it was what I thought was burnt caramel and actually wasn't (or maybe it was?  As compared to the popcorn in the original post, my caramel is way darker).  But I ended up pouring some of what I thought was burnt caramel out, and my popcorn didn't get totally and completely covered in delicious salted caramel. Which is actually ok.  But I was more impressed with my disaster-averted.

But let me get back to this salted caramel popcorn.  Because first, it's the best combination of salty and sweet.  And secondly, it's really easy (as long as you don't burn the caramel)!

I ended up seeing mimi popcorn kernels on the shelf at the supermarket and I decided that they would probably be the best for caramel popcorn since their surface area to popcorn ratio was high -- meaning more caramel per kernel for a better bite. B thought that I had overthought the popcorn size, but I guess that's the science nerd in me coming out.  Plus, he got a tastier popcorn so I really don't think anyone lost out on this deal!

Salted Caramel Popcorn
From Cookies & Cups

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels (about 16 cups popped corn)
1 cup salted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1.5-2 tsp kosher or sea salt, divided
2 cups of nuts, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300F.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Set aside.

Pop popcorn kernels using air popper into a large bowl (I don't have an air popper, and popping it the old fashioned way in a pan with a little bit of oil worked nicely...just move it to a bowl before proceeding).
If using nuts, add them here.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and 1 tsp of salt together of medium heat.
Bring to a boil.
Boil for 4 minutes without stirring.

Pour caramel mixture over popcorn.
Stir to coat evenly.

Pour popcorn onto lined pan.
Sprinkle remaining salt on top (I skipped this part).
Place pan in the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Allow popcorn to cool on a parchment lined counter.

Salted caramel sauce

I just made the most delicious salted caramel sauce.  Granted it was part of another recipe that I'm working on now, but it's just so tasty, and has so many uses, that I decided it needed it's own post (truth be told, so did the original blogger, so I'm not that far off).

Hell, this would probably go really well on ice cream, maybe even with some of that coffee syrup I made earlier today.  Oh man, I might be onto something!  A caramel macchiato ice cream sundae?  How awesome would that be?!

I didn't have fancy salt at home, so I used regular salt, but cut down on the amount.  It came out perfectly salty and sweet and gooey and awesome!  I keep going back into the kitchen to taste a spoonful, and I'm not a huge caramel fan.  Although B is, and when he gets home from work today, I think he might just love me a little bit more ;-)

I actually cut the recipe in half because I only needed it for a cupcake recipe, but I'm really regretting that now...

Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
From Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature (oops....mine was cold)
1 Tbsp fleur de sel (or any other flaky sea salt) -- I didn't have, so I used regular salt, but went down to 2 tsp

Directions:

Get all of your ingredients ready and set aside -- this who recipe comes together quickly and a few seconds can be the difference between heavenly salted caramel sauce and a burnt mess!!

Add the sugar in an even layer over the bottom of a heavy sauce pan (make sure it can hold at least 2-3 quarts).
Heat the sugar over medium-high heat, whisking it as it begins to melt.  You'll see that the sugar will begin to form clumps, but that's OK.  Keep whisking, and as it continues to cook, they will melt back down.
Stop whisking once all of the sugar has melted.
Swirl the pan occasionally while the sugar cooks.

Continue cooking until the sugar has reached a deep amber color -- this happened WAY quicker than I thought it would.  So watch.  it.  CLOSELY.  It should look almost reddish-brown, and have a slight toasted aroma.  This is the point where it can co from perfect caramel to burnt in a matter of seconds, so keep a close eye.  If you're using a instant-red thermometer, cook until the sugar reaches 350F (a good tip for beginners).

As soon as the caramel reaches 350F, add the butter all at once.  Be careful as the caramel will bubble up when the butter is added.
Whisk in the butter until it is completely melted.

Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour in the cream.  Again, be careful because the mixture will once again bubble up ferociously.
Whisk until all of the cream has been incorporated and you have a smooth sauce.
Add the salt and whisk to incorporate.

Set the sauce aside and let cool for 10-15 minutes.
Pour into your favorite glass jar and let cool to room temperature.
You can refrigerate the sauce for up to 2 weeks.  You'll want to warm the sauce before using.

Rolo cupcakes

I'm obsessed with those bags of mini candies they have now.....Miniature versions of classic candies that come unwrapped in bags -- which means they are easily addictive (unwrapping those snack sized candies really puts a damper on how quickly you can shove them in your mouth) and utterly adorable because they're mini, and, well, you know how I feel about all things mini.

So for my friend's bar's 3rd birthday party, I decided I'd bake up a few cupcakes for my friend and our trivia team (I LOVE bar trivia, and how fun that the birthday party coincides with trivia night?!).  I had bought a bag of mini Rolos candies to make cupcakes with, and I figured this was the perfect time to make them!

I made dark chocolate cupcakes, and put a Rolo in each before baking.  Then, I topped each with homemade caramel buttercream, a caramel drizzle, and finished with another mini Rolo on top!

I have to say, these turned out pretty darn cute.....and tasty!

Rolo Cupcakes

Dark chocolate cupcakes 

from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used semisweet since the store didn't have bittersweet.  They're basically the same thing anyway).
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup sour cream

12-18 mini Rolos for cupcakes, plus an additional 12-18 to top the cupcakes (or full sized for stuffing in the cupcakes, if you feel like unwrapping them all....I used mini for both)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F (325F if using a nonstick pan).
Line standard-sized muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a medium heat proof bowl.
Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water, and heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted.
Whisk until smooth and combined.
(...or you could microwave the mixture at 50% powder, stirring every 30 seconds, until completely melted.  Which is exactly what I did.)
Set aside to cool until just warm to touch.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl to combine.

Whisk eggs in another bowl to combine.
Add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated.
Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
Sift about 1/3 of the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
Whisk in sour cream until combined.
Sift the remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is thick and fully incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners.
Place one Rolo, upside down, into batter.  Do not press in, just make sure that the top is flush with the top of the batter.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on a wire rack until they are cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.
Place cupcakes on a wire rack.
Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

Caramel Buttercream 

adapted from here

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup caramel topping, plus more for drizzling
1 pound powdered sugar (about 4 cups), more as needed to thicken icing for piping
2-4 Tbsp cream or milk

Directions:

Cream butter until fluffy.

Add in vanilla extract and 1/2 cup caramel topping.
Add 2 cups powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
Add in the rest of the caramel topping.
Add in the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar.
Add in 2 tablespoons of cream and beat on high.
If icing is still too thin add a bit more powdered sugar, and if it's too thick, add in some more milk or cream.

Assembly

When the cupcakes are cool, pipe on the icing.  I use a piping bag with a large tip.
Drizzle with caramel topping (I find that putting it in a small squeeze bottle makes the drizzling easier and prettier).

Top with a mini Rolo candy.  
Keep refrigerated until 30 minutes before serving.

Samoa Rice Krispie treats

It's fairly common for me to have all the ingredients on hand for a new recipe.  Chocolate chips, flour, butter, sugar, salt...those usually grace my fridge and cabinets day in and day out.  Other ingredients are less common, but still make a regular appearance: dried fruits, marshmallows, coconut, Rice Krispies.  But it's not all that common that I have homemade caramel sauce just chilling in my fridge.  So when I came across this recipe earlier today, I knew it was fate that I make them tonight!

I made a few modifications -- first, I toasted the coconut.  Samoas are ubiquitous with toasted coconut in my book.  Then, I also added some of the toasted coconut to the Rice Krispie treats, because I thought that would elevate the coconuttiness of the Samoa Rice Krispie Treat (and they were delicious and I may, or may not, have eaten at least 3 4 of them while I was prepping the rest of the stuff for the Samoa treats)!  I actually didn't have as many Rice Krispies as I thought I had, so I halved the recipe and used a 9x9 inch pan, so my Rice Krispie Treats are a little thinner than I had hoped, but they're still delicious!

Samoa Rice Krispie Treats
Based on (but adapted a lot by me) this recipe (makes a 9 x 13 inch pan)

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp unsalted butter
40 large marshmallows, about 1 bag
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 1/2 cup PLUS 2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes, cooled
3/4 cup caramel sauce, preferable homemade (I used the caramel from the salted caramel apple pie, which I know I still owe you the recipe for, and will link to this as soon as the pie is up!!)
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray.

Toast the coconut.
Place coconut on a foil-lined baking sheet and toast at 350F for a few minutes.
Mix/stir often.
Watch coconut very closely as it burns quickly.
Allow coconut to cool.

Measure out the Rice Krispies and add in 2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes.
Toss to mix.

Melt butter in a large microwave safe bowl (be sure to use a bowl a lot bigger than you think you'll need....the marshmallows enlarge....a lot!).
Toss marshmallows in butter to coat.
Microwave marshmallows for about 45 seconds.
Stir the mixture.
Microwave for another 45 seconds or until marshmallows are completely melted and the mixture is well blended.

Add the Rice Krispie-Coconut mixture to the marshmallows and stir well.
Pour into the pan.
Press firmly into the pan (a piece of wax paper lightly sprayed with cooking spray works well).
Allow Rice Krispie Treats to cool.

Once cool, cut into 24 bars (I made mine a little smaller)

Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, stirring frequently so that they don't burn.
When completely melted, dip the bottom 1/3 of each Rice Krispie Treat into the chocolate (I skipped this part because my treats were a little thin, but look down below for the * and I'll tell you what I ended up doing myself).
Let them dry, upside down, on a piece of wax paper.
Mix together the caramel sauce and coconut in a small bowl.
Place a small spoonful (I used my small scooper, and then flattened it out with a fork) of the coconut-caramel mixture on top of each Rice Krispie Treat.
Drizzle with melted chocolate.
Let the Rice Krispie Treats set.

Try not to eat all of them at once!

* Because my treats were a little thin, I did the following:
I mixed together the caramel and coconut as above, and placed a small spoonful (scoopful) of the mixture on top of each Rice Krispie Treat, and the flattened it with a fork.
Then, I put them on a cooling rack with a piece of wax paper beneath.
I spooned 1-1.5 tsp of the melted chocolate over the caramel-coconut mixture.
I debated -- but ended up not actually -- sprinkling some additional toasted coconut on them, which I might do the next time I make them

Allow them to harden.

Halloween treat #3: Caramel-filled chocolate chip cookies (with a chocolate spider surprise!)

The other day I wandered into the store and found these new, delicious sounding chocolate chips -- filled with other flavors.  Unable to resist a new baking find, I bought all 4 flavors, including one that didn't even sound all that appetizing to me.

Tonight, I decided to play around with the milk chocolate chips filled with caramel.  I had a few ideas for the other flavors, but I thought I'd go with a classic chocolate chip cookie with the added bonus of the caramel filling.....and a chocolate spider (but I'll get to that later....).

A while ago, I had seen somewhere that someone made the chocolate chips in their cookies to look like spiders.  I thought it was the most fantastic idea ever, but then I was afraid that the caramel filled chips wouldn't work that well, so I baked the cookies with one regular chocolate chip in the top of each, but when they came out of the oven, the chip wasn't liquid enough to make it into a spider, so for the second batch, I pressed a chocolate chip directly into the just-out-of-the-oven hot cookie, let it melt a little bit, and then worked my magic.  I used a tooth pick to draw legs (pulling chocolate from the melted chocolate chip -- and yes, I realize that spiders have 8 legs and most of mine only have 6, but I was having a hard time, and figured 6 legs were enough) and a little head.

And then I went a little overboard with the Halloween decorations:

Nestle Toll House Caramel Filled Delightfulls Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from the bag of the caramel filled delightfulls (chips))

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups of flour (all-purpose)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar (granulated sugar)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1.5 cups (9 oz package) Toll House Delighfulls caramel filled morsels
1 cup chopped nuts (if omitting nuts, add 1-2 Tbsp all purpose flour -- which I didn't see until I typed up the recipe, but I thought the cookies were fine without the additional flour)

About 50 chocolate chip cookies, for spiders
Toothpicks, for making legs

Directions:

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. 
Beat butter, both sugars, and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. 
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
Gradually beat in flour mixture. 
Stir in morsels.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets (I used parchment paper-lined baking sheets)
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown -- 9 minutes was perfect for mine!

As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press one chocolate chip upside down into the cookie.
Using a toothpick, draw legs on the spider by pulling away from the melted chocolate chip.
Make a head for your spider, if you so choose.

Let cool on baking sheets.

Birthday sticky buns

Last year I made a week of birthday treats leading up to my birthday.  This year?  Well....that's not happening.

Honestly, I'm feeling kinda "blah" about the day.  I can't really put my finger on why.  I did want to bake something for my birthday, but the weekend before I couldn't come up with anything to bake.  So with just 5 days until my birthday, I was not only without a birthday treat, but without an idea of even what to bake!

 (before and after the second 'proofing')

This lead to sleepless nights*, which lead to late-night TV watching, which lead to a fluke encounter...and my birthday treat inspiration!  (* I wasn't sleepless because of the thought of not having something to bake, rather I was just up late one night watching the Cooking Channel, but it sounded so much more dramatic the first way.)  While I was mindlessly watching TV, I heard Bobby Flay talking about the best sticky buns he had ever had.  I was intrigued.  Then they had the baker talking about them. She makes something called a "goo" for her sticky buns. Goo!  How fun!!  The only thing that didn't sell me 100%?  They had pecans.  You know me - not a fan of nuts in my baked goods - but then I saw one. Gorgeously golden, covered in a homemade caramel "goo."  I.  Was.  Sold!  Happy birthday to me!

Oh, and was it ever!! These sticky buns are heavenly.  No doubt partially related to the insane amounts of butter, but also that goo!!    Definitely got me out of my birthday funk long enough to enjoy one (...or two...or three...) of these!!

A thing about this recipe....it calls for enough dough to make double the buns but only one batch of goo.  This leaves you with options, people, plenty of good options.  

1. You can half the dough recipe (clearly the worst of the options...why half it?!).

2. You can make a full dough recipe and then freeze half for up to a week or use it for something else.  Not your best option, but clearly no one would fault you for that.

3. You can double up on the goo recipe, and make a double batch.  Because clearly extra brown sugar, butter, and cream are all good things!

4. You can make a full batch of the dough, make it into a double batch of buns, and then freeze half of them for up to a week!  Then defrost them in the fridge the night before and then bake them up "fresh" the next morning.  This is the only way my loved ones are gonna get freshly baked sticky buns in the morning.  I'm betting I'm not going to hear any complaints! (And in case you haven't already guessed, option 4 was my choice, but option #3 was a close second!)

Flour's Famous Sticky Buns
I heard about 'em on TV, and googled the recipe

Ingredients:

For the goo:

1.5 sticks unsalted butter
1.5 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup cream
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the brioche dough:
(makes a double recipe.  See above)

2.5 cups all purpose flour, plus more if needed
2.25 cups bread flour (I used whole wheat, since that's what the store had....which makes them totally healthy, right?  ;-))
1.5 packages (3 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1/2 cup cold water
5 eggs
1 3/8 cups (2 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 10-12 pieces

For the filling:

1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup pecan halves, toasted and chopped, divided

Directions:

Start by making the brioche dough.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flours, yeast, sugar, salt, water, and eggs.
Beat on low speed for 3-4 minutes or until all ingredients are combined.
Stop the miser as needed to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all the flour is incorporated into the wet ingredients.
Once the dough has come together, beat on low for another 3-4 minutes.
The dough will be very stiff and seem quite dry.

With the mixer on low speech, add the butter one piece at a time, mixing after each addition until it disappears into the dough (each addition took a long time for me).
Continue mixing on low speed for about 10 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
It is important for all the butter to be thoroughly mixed into the dough.  If necessary, stop the mixer occasionally and break up the dough with your hands to help mix in the butter.

Once the butter is completely incorporated, turn up the speech to medium and beat until the dough becomes sticky, soft, and somewhat shiny, another 15 minutes.
It will take some time to come together -- it will look shaggy and questionable at the start and eventually it will turn smooth and silky.
Turn the speed to medium-high and beat for about 1 minute.  You should hear the dough make a slap-slap-slap sound as it hits the sides of the bowl.
Test the dough by pulling at it: it should stretch a bit and have a little give.  If it seems wet and loose and more like a batter than a dough, add a few Tbsp of flour and mix until it comes together.  If it breaks off into pieces when you pull at it, continue to mix on medium speed for another 2-3 minutes or until it develops more strength and stretches when you grab it.
It is ready when you can gather it all together and pick it up in 1 piece.

Put the dough in a large bowl or plastic container and cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of dough.
Let the dough proof in the fridge for at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
**At this point you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Next, make the goo.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Whisk in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, to combine (it may look separated, that's OK).
Remove from the heat and whisk in the honey, cream, water, and salt.
Strain to remove any undissolved lumps of brown sugar.
Let cool for about 30 minutes, or until cooled to room temperature.
You should have about 3 cups (I got just over two cups).
** The goo can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Toast the pecans.
I did this in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes.  
Watch them carefully to make sure they don't burn!
Let cool to room temperature.
Chop the nuts.
Divide into 2 half cups portions.

Using half the dough, roll it out on a floured work surface into a rectangle about 12 x 16 inches and 1/4-inch thick.
It will have the consistency of cold, damp Play-Doh and should be fairly easy to roll.
Position the rectangle so that a short side is facing you.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugars, cinnamon, and a half cup of the toasted pecans.
Sprinkle this mixture evenly on top of the entire surface of the dough.
Starting from the short side farthest from you and working your way down, roll up the rectangle like a jelly roll.
Try to roll tightly so that you have a nice round spiral.
Trim off about 1/4 inch from each end of the roll to make them even.

Use a bench scraper or chef's knife to cut the roll into 8 equal pieces, each above 1.5 inches wide.
** At this point, the unbaked buns can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen up to 1 week.  When ready to bake, thaw them -- still in the plastic wrap -- in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for 2-3 hours, then proceed as directed below:

Pour the goo into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, covering the bottom evenly.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of pecans evenly over the surface.
Arrange the buns, evenly spaced, in the baking dish.
Cover with plastic wrap (oops, I forgot to cover mine, but that's totally ok, because they turned out fine!) and put in a warm spot until the dough is puffy, pillowy, and soft and the buns are touching -- almost tripled in size, about 2 hours.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F.

Bake until golden brown, about 35-45 minutes.
Let cool in the dish on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes.
One at a time, invert the buns onto a serving platter, and spoon any extra goo and pecans from the bottom of the dish over the top.

The buns are best served warm or within 4 hours of baking.  They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, and then warmed in a 325F oven for 10-12 minutes before serving.

Ice cream cone cupcakes

The other day as I was meandering around the store (Target, naturally), I saw some ice cream cones.  And a delicious looking salted caramel sauce.  And maraschino cherries.  Perfect for an ice cream party.  Except I don't have any plans to have an ice cream party, and plus, ice cream doesn't transport well in this heat.  But somehow all of these ingredients ended up in  my basket.

See, I had a plan...a cupcake, that looked like an ice cream cone!  Complete with frosting "soft serve," chocolate or caramel sauce, sprinkles, and whipped cream....and even a cherry on top!

See, I had this memory of cupcakes baked in flat-bottomed ice cream cones from my elementary school bake sale days, and I figured I had to recreate it.  I'm sure the moms of my fellow schoolmates opted for the boxed cake mixes, but you know me well enough to know that that wasn't going to fly with me today.  Plus the ice cream cone cupcakes of my youth didn't actually look like a real ice cream cone, but I was out to change that :).

I went with my go-to yellow cake recipe.  I thought that since I used so little of the batter in the ice cream cones, that they'd bake up really quickly, but I was wrong.  It took 18-20 minutes for them to bake up.  But the plain cupcakes I baked at the same time took about 15 minutes.  Bizarre!  I digress.  But after they baked, I let them cool to room temperature.  Then I made some vanilla and chocolate buttercream icings.  I piped them onto the cupcakes with a star-tip to make it look like soft serve ice cream.  Then I drizzled either (store-bought....shhhh!!!) chocolate sauce or the salted caramel sauce I bought that day, topped them with some sprinkles, some whipped cream (I got lazy and used the canned stuff....but I also thought it would hold up better than homemade whipped cream in the heat), and the not-so-proverbial cherry on top!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Yellow Cake Cupcakes
My go-to recipe for yellow cake cupcakes from none other than Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients:

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (480 grams) cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt
2 sticks (1 cup, 1/2 pound or 225 grams) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups (400 grams) sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk (475 ml), well-shaken

24 flat-bottomed ice cream cones (I halved the recipe and had leftover batter when I made these....so I made some regular cupcakes, too.  If you wanted to make all ice cream cone cupcakes, you'll probably need 48+ cones)

Other things that you will need:

Icing (see below for chocolate and vanilla icing recipes)
Chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, or any other sauce you may like on your ice cream cone (I had thought of using a magic shell on top, but didn't this time....but would love to try it next time!)
Sprinkles
Whipped cream (from the can, or made from scratch)

Maraschino cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. 
Place one ice cream cone in each cavity of a cupcake pan.

Sift together the dry ingredients EXCEPT for sugar in a medium bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition.
At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled).
Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.


Spoon the batter into the ice cream cones.  I filled mine just to the top of the center cavity of the ice cream cone (NOT all the way up to the top -- the cupcakes rise and if you overfill them you'll have batter dripping out of the ice cream cone.  I ended up using a kitchen tablespoon [not a measuring tablespoon] and used about 1.5-2 of those to fill each cone).


Bake until golden on top and cooked throughout (the cupcakes took about 18-20 minutes).


Cool on a rack 10 minutes. 

Assemble the Cupcakes

First, decide which icing you want to use for your "ice cream."
I couldn't decide if I wanted mine to have vanilla "ice cream" or chocolate "ice cream," so I ended up going with both.  I used dark cocoa powder for the chocolate icing, and it came out a little darker than chocolate soft serve would look.  So if/when I do it again, I'd use regular cocoa powder.

Then, make the icing of your chosing.

Find the Chocolate Icing and Vanilla Icing recipes by clicking on the links.

Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes using a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
Pipe the icing on in a circular motion piling it up on itself so it looks like an ice cream cone filled with soft serve.
Drizzle the sauce of your choice on top, and sprinkle with sprinkles.

Put in the fridge for a few minutes.

Top with a dallop of whipped cream (you can be lazy like me and use it from the can, or make it from scratch) and a maraschino cherry on top!

Keep in the fridge until serving, removing them about 15 minutes beforehand so that the icing can come to room temperature.

Matzah candy

We call this matzah candy in my family.  I've heard this called a lot of different things: matzah toffee, chocolate toffee matzah, and even toffee buttercrunch matzah.  They're all slight variations on the same name, but one thing is for sure: it's AWESOME!  And frankly, the most buzzed about food at the Seder (except, of course, my mom's brisket, which is simply the BEST brisket ever.  EVER.).  My mom got the recipe from her friend, who got it from her daughter-in-law.

The other thing about this recipe, besides being delicious?  It's insanely easy to make!  Just be careful not to burn it.  Because burning all this deliciousness would just be a tragedy.  A tragedy, I tell you!

*I've seen some iterations of this with chopped nuts or toasted slivered almonds on top.  We make ours nut-free for two reasons: the recipe we got didn't call for nuts, and my cousin is horribly allergic to nuts.  But, in case you want to add nuts, I'd do it as the final step after you spread the chocolate.*

Matzah Candy
From my mom's friend B

Ingredients:

6 sheets of matzah
2 sticks butter (we used unsalted, but it didn't specify....I might use salted next time)
1 cup brown sugar
Semisweet chocolate chips
White chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Line a baking sheet with edges with parchment paper.
Place matzah on baking sheet in one layer without overlapping.
Break matzah sheets to fit on the baking sheet.

In a saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar over medium-high heat.
Boil for about 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour the mixture over the matzah and spread evenly.

Bake for 10-15 minutes -- WATCH IT CAREFULLY, IT CAN BURN!

Remove the tray from the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips and white chocolate chips.
Allow the chips to melt for a few minutes and then spread them over the matzah.  I personally like to stagger the white chocolate chips and then swirl them over, making it a marbled look -- unfortunately that didn't work that well this time.
*If you wanted to add nuts to yours, now would be the time to do it :-)*

Break into pieces and put in the fridge to allow to cool.
Once cool, transfer to an airtight container.

Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook

This year, I bought myself a Valentine's Day present. Well, actually two.  The day after Valentine's Day, while B was working, I treated myself to a a bowl of Ramen at Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop at the new (and awesome) Gotham West Market.  Then, I walked into The Brooklyn Kitchen (a cute kitchen-y store with supplies and food...and they even have classes!), and stumbled across some delicious sounding (albeit expensive) chocolate bars from a place called "Liddabit Sweets."  I debated buying one, until I saw the "Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook" just next to them, a little further back.  The old adage "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime," popped into my head.  Why buy ONE candy bar when I could learn how to make them, and a whole bunch of them, at that!

Let me tell you one thing: this cookbook has tons of recipes!  Literally, tons.  On quick count, I counted 70!  They have recipes ranging from homemade nonpareils to marshmallows to caramels to homemade candy bars.  Some of the recipes that I want to try just from skimming the book include, but are most definitely not limited to: salted soft chocolate (similar to a Tootsie Roll), cherry cordials, peanut butter & jelly cups, gumdrops, beer and pretzel caramels, salt water taffy, nougat, marzipan, and about 8 different candy bars...just to name a few!!!

I see a lot of candy in my (and your!) future...

Salted bourbon caramels

The other night B and I were cooking and I had said I had OCD.  Not the obsessive handwashing, checking-the-lights-500-times-before-leaving-the-apartment, super-duper-cleanly type of OCD (which there is nothing wrong with, it's just not me....just ask people who have seen the inside of my apartment lately, with it's intensely "organized chaos").  I should've specified better, I have cooking-and-baking OCD.  The I-won't-serve-something-to-others-the-first-time-I-make-them-and-must-make-a-test-batch-first, the I-won't-stop-until-the-recipe-is-just-right, and the you-said-dice-the-onion-and-so-I-will-dice-it-until-they-are-all-uniform-size-and-shape types of ODC.

So now that you know that, it should not come as a surprise that tonight I made my third batch of caramels in 6 days.  That's a batch of caramels every other day, on average!

First were the classic caramels.  They were delicious and a bit chewy, but a bit thinner than I had hoped, due to a smaller batch and a too-big pan.  So they second time, I made espresso caramels, from the same website as the classic caramels, but I'm pretty sure they got slightly overcooked.  They were more of a sucking-candy consistency; crunchy and not all that chewy, but still get-stuck-in-your teeth good like caramels.  So this time I decided to try a different recipe altogether, and made these Salted Bourbon Caramels.  I figured I'd try the recipe as is, even though I'm not a lover of bourbon, because caramels can be oh so temperamental.  Oh, and I still had some leftover bourbon from when I made those Pecan Potato Chip Cupcakes.

Now I have to say, the salted bourbon caramels were gooooood, even though I don't love bourbon.  But, I did think about adjusting them a little; maybe upping the vanilla and removing the bourbon altogether.  The bourbon flavor was kinda mild, so if you're a bourbon lover, I might up the bourbon a little.  See, this is where my cooking-and-baking OCD rears it's ugly head....

Just an FYI, these caramels are soft and chewy, and a little bit sticky, so I highly advise that you coat the knife with some cooking spray before cutting them.  I even wrapped mine in some wax paper so that they held their shape, since they were a bit soft.

Salted Bourbon Caramels

Ingredients:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2 Tbsp bourbon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp kosher salt

flaky sea salt

Wax paper, to wrap candies

 

Directions:

 

Lightly spray an 8x8 inch pan with vegetable oil (I used by 9x9 inch pan, and sprayed with Pam).

Line with parchment both ways, and spray the parchment.

Set aside.

 

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup.

Bring to a boil, gently stirring to dissolve the sugar.

 

Once the mixture reaches a boil, let it cook relatively undisturbed (swirl occasionally) until it is a deep amber-brown.

This takes about 10 minutes, give or take a few.

 

Remove from the heat and add the sweetened condensed milk and butter.

It will bubble furiously AND STEAM (oh, did it steam!  I got a mild steam burn from it, so be uber careful), so whisk and be careful!

Whisk until it is completely smooth again, then return to medium-low heat.

 

Cook, whisking continuously, until the candy thermometer registers 240 F.

Remove from heat and whisk in bourbon, vanilla, and ½ tsp salt.

Whisk until smooth, then pour into your prepared pan.

 

Liberally sprinkle sea salt over the top, and let cool before cutting and wrapping in wax paper.
I highly advise coating the knife in cooking spray before cutting them, since they are a bit sticky and soft.

Espresso caramels

So I kinda became obsessed with caramels since I made them last week.  Mine came out pretty awesomely last time given the fact that I didn't have enough corn syrup and had to adjust everything else by decreasing by 20%, which was doable because I'm kinda a math nerd.  But they came out a little thinner than I had hoped, because of the adjustment, and while I knew I should've used a smaller pan, I didn't actually use the smaller pan. 

So I had in my head that I needed to make caramels again with the proper amounts of ingredients.  I debated making the plain, classic ones again because they were so delicious (but do you really want to see me post the same recipe twice, less than a week apart?!).  Then I thought about the sesame ginger ones (yum!) that I had seen on the same website, but I didn't have any candied ginger (and the frigid NYC temperatures and remaining snow on the ground made going outside to buy candied ginger just because seem, well, kinda silly).  I settled on the espresso orange caramels also featured on the same website, but of course I had to adjust them just a little and leave out the candied orange because, well, I think the combination of orange and espresso sounds kinda gross.  And I don't generally like orange flavored things, anyway.

And you know what happened when I went looking for the sugar that I bought at the store the other day in preparation of making some more caramels?  I found the cream that I bought that same day.  Yup, it had been sitting out literally for days.  So then I had to toss that (obviously!), and use the cream I had at home, since I already voiced how silly going out in this weather would be, and had to half the recipe....which, in all honesty, was easier than making 80% of the recipe like I did last time.

Espresso Caramels
Adapted from Ms. Martha Stewart

Ingredients (adjusted due to the amount of usable cream I had here):

Vegetable oil, for baking sheet (or Pam, because I used Pam -- let's face it, it's just easier sometimes)     

1 cup heavy cream

1 cups sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 + 1/8 (5/8 total) cups light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/8 cup instant espresso powder

 

Directions:

 

Lightly brush bottom and sides of a 9 x 9 inch rimmed pan with oil.  Or use Pam, like I did.

Line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides.

Lightly brush parchment with oil.

 

Bring cream, sugar, butter, and corn syrup to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Reduce heat to medium-high.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until caramel reaches 248 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 15 minutes.  You NEED to be VERY quick and take it off at exactly 248 degrees and add the rest of the ingredients.  I took mine off of the heat and moved it and by the time I added the rest of the ingredients, the temp had crept up to 250-251.  When I went to check on the caramels an hour and a half later, they were pretty hard -- I think it's because the caramels were over-heated.

 

Immediately remove caramel from heat, and stir in salt, vanilla, and espresso power.

Pour caramel into/onto lined sheet, and let stand, uncovered, at room temperature at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.

 

Lifting by parchment overhang, transfer caramel to a large cutting board.

Cut into 3/4-by-1 1/4-inch pieces.

Wrap each piece in waxed paper or cellophane.

As I stated above, mine got a little too hot, and when I went to check on them an hour and a half later, the caramels were already really hard.  I went to cut them and they kinda broke as I cut them, so they're oddly misshapen.  BUT...they're super flavorful, and have a little crunch to them (translation: not chewy).  I still advise this recipe but be really quick about removing them off the head and adding the rest of the ingredients.  It helps if the burner behind or next to the pot is open for easy access....I had to move mine to the other side of the kitchen, and that probably allowed the caramels to cook even more than they should've.

I guess you'll have to stay tuned for another caramel recipe in the near future, just working on perfecting my caramel skills ;-)