Salted Caramel Pecan Turtles Fudge

Do you like fudge?  Do you like the classic turtles candy, you know, chocolate, caramel and pecans?  I decided to combine them together and came up with this super easy, tasty fudge!  Decided to add a little salt on the top and think it’s a great addition if you like salted caramel. 

Do you have all your Christmas baking done?  I don’t.  But I never really do.  I always have things I run out of time to make or that I want to try for the first time.  I’ve made plenty of my “signature” Chocolate Chip Cookies, also made the same recipe and threw in a bunch of chopped up Andes Chocolate Mints.  Everyone has loved these, I probably haven’t made enough of them. 

Anyway, I whipped up the easy fudge that is just made with melted chocolate chips and a can of sweetened condensed milk, then decided to add the caramel and pecans.  A friend of mine gives us a nice square of real, homemade, cooked-like-grandma-used-to-make fudge every Christmas.  Even since I’ve been off gluten and refined sugar, I usually take a little taste.  It is divine!  My fudge is delicious, but much easier, and so I suppose I’m lazy.  Really I think it’s just because I’d rather bake cookies than spend time cooking fudge over the stove.

  Salted Caramel Pecan Turtles Fudge, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

12 ounce package semi sweet chocolate chips

14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

6 ounces caramel, chopped (or unwrapped caramel squares)

2 tablepoons heavy cream

3/4 cup pecans, lightly toasted, rough chopped

Flaked sea salt, optional*

Line an 8x8 inch square baking pan with non stick foil, leaving the edges overhanging a bit, spray it lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.  In a glass microwave safe bowl, combine the caramel and cream.  Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each.  It should only take 1-2 minutes.  Let the caramel cool to room temperature.  In a medium sized saucepan over medium low heat, combine the chocolate chips and condensed milk.  Stir until melted and smooth.  Add the vanilla and salt and stir until combined.  Add the pecans and stir well.  Take a few spoonfuls of the caramel and carefully stir it into the fudge, without combining it completely.  The fudge thickens quickly, so spread it evenly in the pan.  Pour or spoon the remaining caramel over the top, then swirl it in and around the caramel with a knife.  *Lightly sprinkle salt over the top.  Feel free to leave off the salt if you’d like.  I was out of course, flaked salt and just used a little sprinkle of sea salt.  Refrigerate the fudge for at least an hour.  Remove from the pan using the foil edges and peel the foil off the back.  Cut the fudge on a cutting board into squares. 

I think it has just the right amount of caramel and salt and again, tasted a little for quality control.  Christmas is almost here!  Are you ready?

 

  

Healthy Peanut Butter Caramel Chocolate Truffles

Another pretty darn healthy treat!  Underneath that Enjoy Life chocolate is some pretty darn tasty peanut butter caramel—all natural, no sugar added.  Did you know if you blend dates in a food processor long enough, it becomes like a paste, or even better—like caramel.  No joke.  Sure you might think it’s not the same caramel you’re used to, you know, the kind made with lots of sugar, cream, butter and some kinds even high fructose corn syrup and other unmentionables.  And while it’s not just like your favorite caramel, it’s a darn good and much healthier substitute.

So next you’re thinking, “Ew, dates, I don’t like dates.”  Well, I’m being honest here and telling you if I gave you one of these truffle candies and didn’t tell you what was in it, you’d never know!  I’m super happy about this.  I’d seen a few other places on the internet that have made “homemade refined sugar free caramel” and just used my own decided measurements until I was happy with it.  I’m so happy I might need to forego this post right now and go make some more candy!

Oh, okay, I’ll share it with you first.  So first I made the caramel.  Then I knew I wanted peanut butter involved with the candy, so I added some natural, organic peanut butter.  Then just threw in a little salt, vanilla and coconut flour.  The coconut flour probably wasn’t necessary, but I wanted to make sure it would all bind together and I’d just be able to form the dough into balls.  I am happy with the results, so I plan to just leave it as is.  After the peanut butter caramel balls were formed, they spent a little time in the freezer just to make sure they were good and ready for a quick dunk in a chocolate bath.

 Healthy Peanut Butter Caramel Truffles, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1  1/4 cups pitted dates, soaked in water (not cold, but doesn’t have to be hot) for 30 minutes, then chopped (save the water)

1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 tablespoon water

4 tablespoons natural, unsweetened peanut butter

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon coconut flour

4 ounces Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or chocolate of your choice)

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Put the soaked, then drained and chopped dates in the bowl of a food processor.  Let the processor go for about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Turn it on again and let it keep chopping up the dates.  Add the coconut oil and water and let it process for another couple minutes.  You’ll know when it is a paste caramel-like texture.  (It is not quite as smooth and liquid runny like some caramel, but it’s good!)  Add the peanut butter, salt, vanilla and coconut flour.  Pulse until well combined.  Remove the blade from the processor bowl and scoop the filling into balls.  (I used a small cookie scoop, it’s probably about 1 tablespoon.)  Lay them on a waxed paper lined plate or small baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. 

Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe glass bowl in 30 second intervals on 7-8 power.  Stir after each 30 seconds, it only takes about 1  1/2 minutes, add the coconut oil before the last time.  Stir until smooth.  Let it sit for a few minutes before dunking the candy into it.  Using a fork, set the candy on the fork and dunk it into the melted chocolate.  Spoon chocolate over the top until it is all covered.  Tap the fork on the edge of the glass bowl, letting the chocolate smooth over the surface.  Using another fork, push the chocolate covered candy onto a wax paper lined plate.  They start to harden immediately but once you have the all coated, put the plate in the refrigerator for a few minutes.  Makes about 16.  Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  They are great cold, but you can have them out of the refrigerator before serving for a while, too.   

Make yourself a healthy treat for Easter this weekend—or anytime year round!

Nutella Caramel Swirled Brownies—World Nutella Day

It’s World Nutella Day today!  You might remember back in August (or you might need this reminder), when I made and posted a bunch of recipes from Shelby’s blog, The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch for The Secret Recipe Club.  Normally, we were just to make one recipe for the blog we were assigned that month, but Shelby and her blog are one of my favorites and we are good friends, so just for fun, I spent that whole month after getting my assignment, making as many recipes from her blog that I could during that time.  Here's that post—look for something with Nutella among all the deliciousness. 

One of the recipes I made from her blog then were my version of her Peanut Butter Caramel Swirled Brownies.  After getting things measured and ready to make her brownies, I realized I was out of peanut butter, so I did what any smart person would do—I made the caramel with Nutella instead.  These brownies are so good.  You might be thinking that you thought I don’t eat sugar and gluten anymore.  Well, I don’t, mostly.  These brownies became an occasion where it was necessary (for quality control purpose, you understand) that I taste the caramel AND then ultimately a bite of the brownie that I then topped with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with chocolate syrup (next time save some Nutella caramel for the brownie sundae!) and some hazelnuts.  I only took a small bite….see….

Don’t be intimidated by the idea of making caramel, this is so easy, even more so if you measure out the ingredients first and have everything ready.  When I made these brownies last August, I made a full batch, which is a 9x13 inch pan.  For the remaking of them today, I halved the recipe—the ingredients are all perfectly easy to halve, so you decide how much Nutella caramel you want and how many brownies.

 

Nutella Caramel Swirled Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

Nutella Caramel Sauce:

½ cup heavy cream

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup water

½ cup (148 grams) Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread), warmed slightly

1 tablespoon corn syrup

Pinch of salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat cream on low heat in a small saucepan (or in a microwave safe measuring glass) until hot (just barely simmering). In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and heat over medium-high heat. Do not stir it. Let it cook until amber brown (2-3 minutes). Slowly whisk the hot cream into the sugar until smooth and let it cook for 1 minute. When you stir the cream into the caramelized sugar, it will bubble a lot. Don’t worry, just keep stirring. After 1 minute, remove from the heat and whisk in the warm Nutella (it combines better when it is heated up a bit—just microwave it in a small bowl for 20-30 seconds and stir), corn syrup, salt and vanilla. Stir together until well combined and smooth. Set it aside to cool while you prepare the brownie batter.

Brownies:

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

3 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9x13 pan by lining it with tin foil (I prefer nonstick foil). Spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well combined. Add vanilla extract. Set aside.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder and salt. Whisk together. Fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Drop spoonsful of the Nutella caramel in dollops over the brownie batter. Drag a knife through the batter and the caramel to swirl. Don’t do it too much or you’ll lose the swirled effect. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with crumbs on it and not wet batter. Cool completely before cutting. Serve individually or as a base for brownie sundaes with ice cream, chocolate syrup (or more of the Nutella caramel if you didn’t use it all) and some toasted hazelnuts.

I mean, come on, don’t these look like great brownies?  If you are a Nutella lover, like so many, you will love this caramel and these brownies, they stand alone great, but also make an awesome brownie sundae.

Thanks to Sara at Ms Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso for their inspiration and the start up of World Nutella Day.  Check it out for hundreds of mouth-watering Nutella recipes!

Check out all the Nutella goodness on my blog!

Salted Caramel Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello, Friends.  I know, it’s been over two weeks since I blogged anything.  I’m sorry.  I’m lame.  I’ve been busy.  I haven’t felt that great.  But you totally need a cookie.  Tis the season.  So cookies it is!

In all seriousness, I want to bring you lots of yummy things this month—the holidays are coming!  I made these cookies weeks ago and you need to know about them.  I take no credit for them—that’s how I seem to roll these days.  Have you been to Krista’s blog, Budget Gourmet Mom?  Well, shame on you if you haven’t.  How could you not love the blog of a mom with four boys, just saying.  AND, how lame is it that Krista recently moved to the same city in Utah that I live in and we haven’t met yet.  We could blame those eight boys!

I made these cookies and I think one boy and one husband ate one or two and I gave the rest away to a number of wonderful neighbors who recently helped us out making us dinner when life was crazy.  I didn’t taste the cookies, but I heard from more than just my family that they were delicious.  Besides that, I think they look GREAT!  So, if you’re looking for something just a little different from plain ol’ chocolate chip cookies, try these.  You can’t go wrong with caramel AND cheesecake.  I made a few ever-so-slight changes to Krista’s recipe.  I added some salt to the cookie dough and I made a different caramel swirl.  Therefore, I think you should try both to see which you like better.   You need to add these to your holiday cookies.

Salted Caramel Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Krista at Budget Gourmet Mom

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (I used the 1/3 less fat kind)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine ground sea salt

12 ounces (2 cups) semi sweet chocolate chips

Caramel Swirl

4 ounces caramel (I have a BIG block of caramel and measured out 4 ounces, you could use the caramels that need unwrapped)

3 tablespoons heavy cream

sea salt, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In the bowl of a mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese and beat until combined.  Scrape sides of bowl and add both sugars.  Beat to combine well.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.  Scrape sides of bowl again.  In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add to the creamed mixture and beat just until combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Scoop dough onto baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes.  Let cookies sit on baking sheets for a few minutes.  Remove to cooling racks. 

Make the caramel swirl by putting the caramel in a microwave safe bowl.  Add the cream to the bowl and microwave in 20-30 second increments, stirring each time, until the caramel and cream have combined well and are smooth.  The consistency will be like a caramel ice cream sauce.  Let it cool slightly (10 minutes or so).  Pour the caramel into a plastic zip top bag, seal it, removing any excess air, then snip off a tiny corner of the bag and drizzle the caramel over the cookies.   Sprinkle sea salt over the tops of the cookies. 

You know you want to make these.  Get your holiday baking started!  I think I’m going to make them again for a shindig on Friday.

Chocolate Turtle Ice Cream—Secret Recipe Club

Chocolate Turtle Ice Cream

Ahhhh, it’s August already!  Awww, it’s time for Secret Recipe Club!  Yippee for heavenly ice cream!

Bet no one will ever guess whose blog I have for Secret Recipe Club this month.  I’ll bet at least everyone in Group A will be able to guess!  If you can’t guess, maybe you’ve been living under a rock.  Or here’s a hint, maybe you’re a lunatic………………..well, that doesn’t sound very nice…….but since my secret blog this month is none other than Kim Bee of Cravings of a Lunatic, it’s probably okay to say.  Kim has such a fun blog.  I love her writing and I love her food!  Check out her "about me" page.  She is a barefoot-loving, picky eater who hates pickles and tomatoes and is lactose intolerant, but love ice cream.  She likes it so much that she has devoted her Sunday posts to Ice Cream Sundays (though I think she posts about ice cream more than just on Sunday). ;)  No matter, I don’t hardly know Kim, except for recently discovering her blog through the Secret Recipe Club, but we have a lot in common—especially our love for ice cream.  I was torn on which ice cream to make from her blog, but finally settled on her Turtle Ice Cream.  Oh, that’s another thing we have in common, I love turtles—the chocolate caramel pecan kind, not so much the animal. ;)  Kim has turtle popcorn, and no-bake turtle cheesecake, and turtle bark just to name a few. 

I have not made enough ice cream this summer, so this was a perfect excuse for me to do so.  I ended up making a few slight changes to the recipe, since she has cut up turtle candies in her ice cream and I didn’t have those, so I put pecans and drizzled melted chocolate in the ice cream and made Kim’s caramel sauce that is part of her turtle bark recipe, which is some good stuff!  The caramel went on top of the ice cream, since I knew some in my family would not like it IN the ice cream (crazy people!).

I really like the chocolate ice cream recipe for how simple it is, with just cocoa powder, sugar and a mix of cream and milk.  I’ve made it twice.

Chocolate Turtle Ice Cream, adapted from Kim at Cravings of a Lunatic, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar (I’ve also used light brown as I’ve made the ice cream twice)

pinch of salt

1/2 cup 2% milk

1  1/2 cup half and half

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2  1/2 ounces toasted, cooled, chopped pecans

2 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, melted

In a medium sized saucepan, combine the cocoa powder, sugars, salt and 2% milk and 1/2 cup of half and half.  Stir with a whisk and let the mixture heat on medium until sugar dissolves, 2-5 minutes.   Remove from heat and add the mixture to a blender, as well as the cream and vanilla.  Blend for about 1 minute.  Refrigerate the mixture until it is cold, or put it in a bowl in an ice bath until cold. 

Churn in the bowl of an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, 20-25 minutes.  Just before it is finished, add the pecans and drizzle in the melted chocolate in a fine stream.  Put the ice cream in an airtight container and freeze for a couple hours. 

Serve with caramel sauce and more chopped pecans (optional—just the nuts), the caramel is mandatory for turtle ice cream! ;)

I had to do it.  I baked a chocolate chip cookie in a 4 ounce ramekin and put a little of the Chocolate Turtle Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce on top (and then I took a bite and gave the rest to Kevin and Scottie, sigh).  Dee-licious! 

Chocolate Caramel Chews—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

I’m not sure if these should be called candy or a no-bake cookie, but they are good and are my choice for this week’s 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  They were super simple to make and really would be something perfect to add to your holiday goodies.  The original recipe are just called Caramel Chews and as written, don’t have chocolate, but while I was rolling them into balls, I couldn’t help but think they should be dipped in chocolate, so they are Chocolate Caramel Chews.  I actually made some of them “plain” (no chocolate) and I covered some of them completely in chocolate and just drizzled some with chocolate as well.

I have a two sided sheet of paper with a bunch of no-bake cookie recipes on it, it looks older, like it was from years ago (70’s/80’s?) and says “Dorothy Dean’s No-Bake Cookies”, recipes from Dorothy Dean’s Taste Testing Kitchen, from The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington).  I have no idea where I got this sheet of paper.  I looked online for information about Dorothy Dean and found an obituary (just from this past April) for someone who was dubbed “Dorothy Dean” as she was the head of the Homemaker’s Services for the Spokesman-Review.  The thing that sort of baffles me about this paper full of recipes is that I really have no idea where it came from and even why it just showed up here.  Did my mother give it to me years ago?  Hmmm.  Whatever the case, it’s got a number of fun recipes on it and I do like that it is a good no-bake go-to page.  Some of the recipes are Chinese Ting-a-lings, Skillet Date Cookies, No-bake Brownies, Porcupine Cookies and the Caramel Chews were among them and some others as well.

Here’s the recipe and my only adaption was just adding the chocolate to some of them

Chocolate Caramel Chews

36 caramels, unwrapped

3 tablespoons cream

1 cup crushed corn flakes

1 cup Rice Krispies cereal

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

4 ounces chocolate, melted (I used almond bark, but any chocolate would be good)

Melt the caramels and cream in the top of a double boiler, stirring frequently until smooth.  Put the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.  Pour the caramel over the mixture and stir well until everything is coated in the caramel.  Shape into 1 inch balls and set on a waxed paper lined baking sheet.  Melt the chocolate in 20 second intervals in the microwave in a glass dish, stirring in between each time.   Dip the chews one at a time in the chocolate and spoon it over to completely cover them.  Set on a lined baking sheet until chocolate is hardened.   Put a small amount of the melted chocolate in a plastic zip top bag and snip off a little corner and drizzle chocolate over some of the chews.  Optional—set each in a mini muffin paper liner to serve them.  Makes about 3 dozen.

I love the combination of flavors in these and the texture with the crunch from the corn flakes, Rice Krispies and nuts and the chewiness from the caramel and coconut.  If you don’t like coconut, you could leave it out and just add an extra cup of Rice Krispies.  I think it would even be good to just use all Rice Krispies.  These make a great 1-2-3 bite treat!

Try them with your upcoming holiday goodies!  This is Week 6 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies!

Carmelita Oatmeal Cookies

This morning Sam woke up with the best bedhead.

The little bugger wasn’t happy about having a camera pointed at him first thing in the morning.

I never did get a very good shot, but darn—it was a good ‘do.  My boys are in terrible need of haircuts.  But that’s no fun, so it keeps getting put off—we have a few more weeks until school starts.

Best shot—still, it was the best view front on.

I made granola this morning.  I do often.  I seem to run out fast.  I must eat a lot of granola as I’m the only one around here that eats it.  Though I do put it in baggies and give it away and we’ve had company lately that appreciated it in a yogurt parfait.  This is the granola I always make since seeing this recipe on Barbara Bakes a couple months ago.  Oh, sometimes I change up some of the things I put in it and I often double the recipe, but what I love about Barbara’s recipe is the method.  Mix it up, bake it for just 20 minutes, then leav it on the pan until it’s totally cool.  That’s it, it’s clumpy and perfect.  In fact, it stays almost like a big, thin sheet of granola until you break it up, but it’s not rock hard and is chewy and almost caramel-like. 

Ahh, see where I’m going with this and the title to this post?  While putting away the granola, I sometimes taste it (Who am I kidding, I ALWAYS taste it!).  The granola has brown sugar and honey, sometimes I change the honey with agave nectar.  This morning, when I tasted it, I thought of Carmelita Bars.  Also known as Danger Bars or Chocolate Caramel Bars.  Whatever you call them, they are good—perfectly chocolaty and full of caramel, yet good and healthy with wholesome oats (ha!).

I decided to make oatmeal cookies and thought it would be fun to add a little chocolate on top and drizzle them with some melted caramel.  It turned out to not only be fun, but very tasty!

  

I used a recipe from Pillsbury’s website for some Oatmeal Cookies we’d made for Cookie Carnival last year.  I’d remembered that they were a great, chewy oatmeal cookie.  I doubled the batch, but actually only drizzled a dozen cookies with caramel and sprinkled mini chocolate chips on the top.  After that, I just added some chocolate chips to the cookie dough and baked them without adding the caramel after they baked. 

I don’t even feel like typing the up recipe as I made them.  I’m lazy, no really, Kevin and I are going out tonight in just a little bit and I don’t have time.  Then he’s going out of town tomorrow for a week.  Should be quite the week!  I’m sure the boys will just be little angels for me while he’s gone. 

If you go to the link I’ve left there for Pillsbury’s Oatmeal Cookies, I doubled the recipe and used Best Life Buttery Baking Sticks instead of butter and I used whole wheat pastry flour, oh and I added 1/2 cup more flour than the recipe called for because I didn’t want them to be too flat and they were perfect.  I also left out the cinnamon.  Then just for some of the cookies, I sprinkled them with mini chocolate chips after they came out of the oven.  Once they cooled I drizzled them with some caramel, which I made with 4 ounces (15 caramels) of Kraft caramels (don’t forget to unwrap them! ha) and 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of heavy cream.  I just melted the caramel and cream in a glass dish in the microwave in 30 second intervals until it was all melted together.  It only took about two minutes.  Maybe three.  Once the caramel cooled a little, I put it into a piping bag with a small round tip and piped (drizzled) it over the cookies. 

I got my Carmelita, Danger, Gooey-Oaty-Chocolaty-Caramel fix in with these and that is what I was aiming for!  I know, I could have just made the bars in a pan, and maybe that would have been easier, but I wanted cookies.  And to think, it all began with making some good, healthy granola to go with my yogurt this morning.  Must go now!  Later.

TWD—Caramel Pots de Creme

I made the Caramel Pots de Creme for this week’s pick for Tuesdays With Dorie EXACTLY as written (except I only made 1/4 of the recipe).  It made three small (cute little heart shaped) ramekins of creme. 

The most annoying thing is that I thought I’d try covering the pan with the ramekins ready to bake with plastic wrap just as the recipe suggests, even though I knew many complained about the plastic wrap melting AND when we made the Chocolate Pots de Creme I didn’t cover it with anything and it was fine.  I should have just gone with my gut, but I wanted to see for myself if the plastic wrap did anything.

It melted.  By the time I checked on it part way through the baking, it was already melted quite a bit, so I didn’t think we should eat them.  So glad I only made 1/4 of the recipe!  I decided to taste one, so I scraped off a good part of the top layer of creme, sprinkled a few mini chocolate chips on top and tasted it. 

  It was good.  Probably not something I’d make again.  I really like the Chocolate version—better.  I was happy that the whole making caramel thing worked, even with such a small amount of sugar since the 1/4 recipe is so small. 

I was able to peel this off the edges of the pan.  sigh  If you’d like to make this, Peggy from  Peggy the Baker chose the recipe and will have it on her blog. 

Is it just me, or anyone else find it really hard to believe June is here?  Totally crazy.  Now, if the weather here would just act like it’s springtime.  Actually, I think we’re finally done with snow, but now it just keeps on raining and it’s windy and cold.  Enough already. ;)

Dulce de Leche Brownies

It was Kevin’s sister, Cindy’s birthday yesterday and her daughter told me she likes all things caramel.  I made her a few treats that showcase caramel.   I made David Lebovitz' Dulce de Leche Brownies.  These caramel swirled brownies are all you can imagine they would be since they are David’s creation and since their super rich fudgy texture is practically swimming in dulce de leche.

Dulce de Leche Brownies (Caramel Swirled Brownies), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from David Lebovitz

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

6 ounces good chocolate, chopped (I used a 60% cacao chocolate)

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Oops, I forgot it!)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus a little more for sprinkling the finished brownies

1 cup all purpose flour (140 grams or 4  7/8 ounces—per DL—I measured out 140 grams)

1 cup Dulce de Leche (Nestle canned Cajeta)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8x8 inch square pan with non-stick foil with enough foil to hang over the edges.  Spray with cooking spray.  Set aside.

Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat.  Once melted, add the chocolate and whisk until fully melted and incorporated.  Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.  Add the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, flour and salt.

Add half the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Drop half the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced, over the brownie batter, then swirl it with a knife.  Spread** the remaining batter over the caramel layer (**or as I do, put the rest of the batter in a plastic zip top bag, snip off about 1/2 inch in one corner and pipe it evenly over the caramel until it’s all used.  Drop the remaining Dulce de Leche in spoonfuls over the top and swirl it in the batter with a knife. 

Bake for 35-45 minutes (mine took 35 minutes).   A toothpick inserted in the center will come out almost clean.  Sprinkle the brownies with some sea salt, if desired.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Chill the brownies for a few hours.  Cut into bars.

  

These are quite the ultimate brownie!

TWD—A Tourtely Apple Tart-Not Really (Chunky Applesauce with toppings)

I wanted to make this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, I really, really did.  But with two layers of Dorie’s Sweet Tart Dough, I just couldn’t afford the calories, carbs and fat.  (I’m most annoyed about that!)  Jeanette from The Whimsical Cupcake chose A Tourtely Apple Tart (She’ll have the recipe on her blog.)

Well, I decided to play along as much as I could, so I made the applesauce filling—with a few changes, mostly things I omitted from the recipe.  I left out the browned butter, almonds and raisins and forgot the vanilla, which I was going to put in.  After the apples cooked on the stove, I put them in the food processor and pulsed it a few times until they were broken up, but still chunky.  I used five large Cameo apples and half a Fuji apple to equal the 2 pounds. 

Dorie’s recipe instructs that after the apples cook with the lid on, to cook them another five minutes with the lid off, stirring constantly until all the liquid evaporates.  It took almost another 15 minutes for the liquid to be gone and I did not stir them constantly, but did still quite a bit.  I knew this was cooking the apples more than you’d want them for the tart, but since I was just making applesauce, I knew it would be okay.  I think I may not have had the heat on quite high enough.

I thought the applesauce turned out great.  Especially after I found some unbaked crisp in a baggie in the fridge and decided to bake it on a baking sheet and crumble it on top of some applesauce.  I overbaked some of it, but salvaged enough of it for one serving and it was really good.  I don’t even know what the crisp was for and how long it had been in the fridge (a month or two?).  Usually I label things, but I hadn’t done so with this. 

What a snack this was going to be!  I definitely thought a little scoop of fat free vanilla frozen yogurt was perfectly acceptable and appropriate for this!

Since the apples are cooked with a little brown sugar, my mind turned to caramel—and I remembered a jar of homemade caramel sauce in the fridge.  (Again, I have no idea when I made it or for what, but I know it’s homemade since it’s in an apricot preserves jar.)  It was perfect as a little drizzle on top of this.  What seems like such a decadent dessert is really just a little applesauce with some crumble on top and a little fat free yogurt and a teaspoon of caramel.  I have no idea what the calories and carbs were for this, but I know it hardly had any fat!

Thanks for the tourtely tart pick, Jeanette.  Here’s a little write up of the applesauce I made.

Chunky Applesauce, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s A Tourtely Apple Tart

2 pounds tart-sweet apples, peeled, cored and cut into 2-inch chunks (I used Cameo apples)

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons apple juice

pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

pinch of ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

Put the apples, brown sugar, apple juice and nutmeg in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Keep it cooking at a steady boil with the lid on for about 10 minutes.  Remove the cover and stir frequently, cooking until the liquid evaporates, 10-15 minutes. 

Put the apples in the bowl of a food processor and pulse in short 5-10 second intervals until the apples are the consistency you’d like.  Cool and serve.

Want to see some real tourtely tarts?  Head over to the TWD site to check them out.     

Caramel Filled Milk Chocolate Studded Brownies

Today was National Chocolate Caramel Day and just for fun when I saw that I thought it would be fun to try to make something with chocolate and caramel.  These brownies with Dove Milk Chocolates with Caramel were born.

I opened my baking stash cupboard and saw a bag of Dove chocolates that I’d bought for something else and ended up not needing.  I immediately started whipping up my favorite brownie recipe and put the unwrapped chocolates on the top of half the batter, then covered them with the rest of the batter.  After they baked, cooled, then chilled in the refrigerator for a few hours, they were sliced and perfect.

Caramel Filled Milk Chocolate Studded Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup natural cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 package unwrapped caramel filled milk chocolates

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8x8 inch pan with non-stick foil (or just grease well).  Lightly spray the foiled lined pan with cooking spray. 

In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter with the cocoa powder over medium heat.  Whisk together as it melts.  Once it is melted and combined together, remove from heat.  Let it sit for five minutes to cool slightly.  Whisk in the eggs until well combined.  Continue by whisking in the sugar and the vanilla.  Finally stir in the flour and salt just until the flour disappears into the batter.  Pour about half the batter into the prepared pan.  Line the batter with the chocolates.  Put the remaining batter in a zip top plastic bag and snip off about a 1/4 inch corner.  Drizzle the remaining batter evenly over the chocolates.  (I just do this as it makes the top batter much more evenly distributed than just trying to spread it across the chocolates.)

Bake for 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the brownies cool on a wire rack until room temperature.  Chill in refrigerator for a couple hours.  Remove from pan using the foil edges.  Peel the foil off the bottom of the brownies.  Place on a cutting board and cut into 16 pieces.  You can let them come to room temperature to get a more gooey caramel.

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This is my favorite go-to brownie recipe and I use it for any add-ins to my brownie creations.

Knock Ya Naked Brownies

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful day.  I must say that the holidays were great and we’re really blessed.  And I’m super happy to say that the boys go back to school on Monday!  Woot woot!

I found these brownies at Mommy's Kitchen, but they seem to be all over the internet.  I was intrigued by their name as well as the gooey caramel oozing from the center of the brownies.  Also, when I saw that the brownies are made with a German chocolate cake mix, I remembered that for some reason I have one in my pantry.  I also had a bag of Kraft caramels, so I knew these would be perfect to make for New Year’s Eve.

Knock Ya Naked Brownies, adapted from Mommy’s Kitchen

1 package German chocolate cake mix (18.5 oz.)

1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup evaporated milk (divided use)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 package Kraft caramels, (14 oz.) unwrapped

1 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)  (I used walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine dry cake mix, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and melted butter until mixed well.  Press half the dough into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan lined with foil with edges overhanging for easy removal from the pan.  Spray the foil lightly with cooking spray.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Remove to cooling rack.

While the brownie layer is baking, melt the caramels and 1/2 cup evaporated milk in a double boiler.  Once the caramel is smooth, pour all of it over the baked brownies.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the caramel.  Chill for about an hour. 

Using the remaining batter, crumble it evenly over the top of the caramel brownies.  Return the pan to the oven and bake for 25 minutes.  Cool completely.  Slice into bars. 

These are good, especially if you have a cake mix to use.  I think they would even be fine or maybe even better with a chocolate cake mix of any kind, that or I think they’d really be good all made from scratch, kind of like my Caramel Pecan Brownies.

We’re all tuckered out here from staying up past midnight last night.  Sam made it the whole night, but here’ he is about 6 o’clock tonight.

The holidays are over.  :(  May you have a blessed 2011!

Caramel Pecan Fudge and Hershey’s Cookies’n’Creme Drops Fudge

It’s fudge time!  I really like fudge.  I like it enough that it’s dangerous for me.  I only make it during the holidays.  And then I give most of it away.  You know, you have to square off those edges nicely. ;)

One of the things I find most enjoyable is making up different kinds of fudge.  I do that with brownies, too.  One of my favorite brownies are Caramel Pecan Brownies.  I decided I needed to make Caramel Pecan Fudge.

I love how it sliced with the chunks of caramel and pieces of toasted pecans.  I used Kraft caramels and cut each into about six pieces.  I just used the easy fudge recipe from Borden’s Sweetened Condensed Milk.  I always use the fat free condensed milk, so all my fudge is low fat. (bwah!)  I cannot tell a difference between the fat free and the regular. 

Caramel Pecan Fudge, by Katrina, Baking and Boys! (Adapted from Borden’s)

3 cups chocolate chips (18 ounces) I used 1 cup semi sweet and 2 cups milk chocolate

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

pinch of salt

3/4 cup toasted, chopped pecans

24 Kraft caramels, unwrapped and cut into six pieces each

Line an 8x8 inch square baking pan with enough foil to hang a little over the edge of the pan and spray it with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a medium sized saucepan, combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips and salt and melt over medium heat.  Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in the chopped pecans and caramels.  Spread the fudge evenly in the pan.  Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.  Lift the fudge out of the pan with the foil edges and set it on a cutting board.  Cut into one inch squares.

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Have you seen the new Hershey’s Drops?  There’s milk chocolate and cookies’n’creme.  When I saw them last week, I had to grab a bag of each.

I decided to make fudge with the Cookies’n’ Creme Drops mixed in.  Again, this was really easy.

These have a great sweet crunch and contrast with the smooth, chocolaty fudge.

 

 Cookies’n’Creme Fudge, by Katrina, Baking and Boys! (Adapted from Borden’s)

2 cups, 1 pkg. (12 ounces) semi sweet chocolate chips (I used Hershey’s special dark chips)

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons butter

pinch of salt

4 ounces Hershey’s Cookies’n’Creme Drops (about half a bag) 3 ounces roughly chopped (a good heaping half cup)

Line a 9 inch square baking pan with enough foil to hang a little over the edge of the pan and spray it with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a medium sized saucepan, combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter and salt and melt over medium heat.  Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in the chopped Drops.  Spread the fudge evenly in the pan.  Add the remaining whole Drops evenly over the fudge.  Refrigerate until firm about 2 hours.    Lift the fudge out of the pan with the foil edges and set it on a cutting board.  Cut into one inch squares.

 

TWD—Caramel Pumpkin Pie (A super long post because this is why I started blogging and can’t put it off—family photos and memories—with some great pie added!)

If you just want to see the Tuesday’s With Dorie pick for this week for Caramel Pumpkin Pie, scroll down until you find it, it’s actually at the very end of the post.  I loved this pie.  But beware, this is a long post with lots of pictures.  This is the only way I can get the posts I really want to post about done for now.   The pumpkin pie was chosen by Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs and you can get the recipe on her blog.

The three youngest boys and I spent most of last week in Idaho visiting my parents.  The boys had two days off school for fall break and I kind of decided on a whim to make the trek and go home.  I’m glad we went.  (Kevin and Scott stayed in Utah.  Scott had a scout camping overnighter that he didn’t want to miss.  Then the morning of the campout, Scott ended up with a fever the rest of the weekend.  That’s a bummer.  So he missed the campout, but he and Kevin had some good time together.  Took Scott the the doctor Monday morning after he was in pain all the sudden that morning with his ear hurting.  He’s got a nasty ear infection.  Scott is 12 and I don’t think he’s had one since he was maybe four years old.)

The boys weren’t really all that happy when they got home from school on Wednesday and within ten minutes I had them in the car and on our way for the six hour drive.  They actually complained quite a bit and really, I don’t blame them.  That drive is not my favorite thing.  We made it through the sun blinding us in our faces by stopping in Burley, Idaho halfway through the drive right as the sun was at its worst and wandered around a Walmart until I knew the sun had gone beyond the horizon.  Sam had been really upset and screaming with the sun right in his face.  Then as we had just an hour left of the drive he really started complaining that he wanted out of his seat and that his back hurt.  (Me, too, Buddy.)  Too funny, but Sam was looking out at the darkness around that time and said so upset, “I guess since it’s dark, we’ll never find Grandma’s house now.”  I assured him that I knew how to get to their house.  He was just so adamant that there was no way since it was dark.  I explained to him that I grew up there and knew exactly how to get there.  He just sighed and said, “Well, if you say so, Mom.”

Still unsure of what in the world they would do at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and that it would be boring, the boys weren’t too thrilled.  But by the next day, Grandma had them beaming as they made Halloween edible necklaces.

The boys got a good laugh out of noticing that the hanging pots in the background made them look like Mickey Mouse.  You can’t tell, but their necklaces had all kind of round food with holes in them for stringing on them as well as some gummy teeth candy, white candy coated pretzels for skeleton bones and some colored spider rings.  Sam tried to avoid the group pictures, but I got him anyway.

 

Parker was goofing off and got bit by one of the green spiders. ;)

Taylor lost one of his top front teeth while we were home.  It kind of just popped out when he wasn’t expecting it to.  Thankfully, the tooth fairy still showed up at Grandma’s house! ;)

I think with the pots in the background, he looks more like Princess Leia in this one. hehe  My mom kept telling him with the missing tooth he looked like a Jack-o-lantern.

Love this picture of Grandma reading to Sam!

My parents have been vendors (and market managers and/or on the board in the past) at the Nampa Farmers' Market since it began in 1989.  There are still two weeks of the market left this season, so I HAD to check it out while we were home.  It is such a great farmers’ market and was great to get to go.  Since the season is coming to an end, they don’t have as many vegetables, but my mom bakes and sells the best of every kind of cookie, spends the summer making jams to sell and my dad keeps the whole thing running while maintaining their big garden.

Mom pretty much sells out of that many cookies every week.  She does themed sugar cookies each week that are just decorated so cute.

 

The blue cookies with the orange footballs are in honor of the fantastic Boise State Broncos!  There is some serious BSU lovin’ going on in the Boise area right now (and rightly so)!

They are down to last-of-the-season produce right now.

But at the peak of the season, their booth looks more like this---

 

And just a few of the cute sugar cookies from the past, Mom works really hard on these each week.

There are so many more, but I’ll stop there.  They have grown and sold everything in the past from spinach, chard and basil, lettuces, to potatoes, corn, tomatoes, carrots, beets, onions, cantaloupe, peppers.  You name it, they’ve probably grown it in the past.  Since my parents aren’t getting well, let’s say, any younger, this might be the last year they do the market.  If so, I’m glad I got to go one more time.  And the boys loved it, too.  They got hot dogs from one of the vendors and sat with their cousin, Zane, enjoying lunch.

Parker made a smoothie in a blender by pedaling a bike.

I loved these plush, homemade, stuffed pumpkins that one of the vendors was selling and bought three of them in different sizes.  I almost couldn’t choose.  I loved them all.

(I told you there was some serious BSU lovin’ here, even the pumpkins are dressed up!)

Cute sock monkeys from the same vendor, too!

My sweet, grand nephew, Gunner, (Zane’s new brother) showed up with his mom, Saharra, to woo us all at the market. 

Gunner was born 10 pounds 2 ounces.  He IS the Michelin man.  And so darn cute and cuddly!  Even Great Grandpa (my dad) had to have a turn holding Gunner.

Saturday night we had family over for a little dinner and a lotta dessert. ;)  My dad saw my recent post about the All Chocolate Boston Cream Pie I made for Kevin’s birthday and kept hinting to me how much he’d love that cake.  So I made it again—with the change in the chocolate cream middle that I mentioned wanting to make.  It’s the easy way out, but a great mousse-like pudding for the cake.

Creamy Dreamy Chocolate Filling, for anything that needs a cream filling

1 box (4 serving size) instant chocolate pudding mix (or any flavor you’d like)

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

Put cream and milk in bowl of mixer, add pudding mix and beat with wire whisk attachment for 30 seconds.  Scrape sides of bowl.  Beat on medium-high for 2-3 minutes.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

I put the filling in between two chocolate cake layers and frosted the top with my favorite, simple ganache which is just six ounce of chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet this time) and 1/2 cup cream, heated to just boiling.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips.  Let it sit for a minute, then slowly whisk it together until you have a perfect, smooth melted chocolate.  For frosting spreading consistency, let it sit for about an hour.  You can pour it on the cake immediately and let it drip down the sides, too. 

Everyone began devouring the cake and this is the only picture of it I took.  Little bit of chocolate heaven, I’d say.

My nephew, Jim, headed up a little wrestling match with all the boys.  They had a blast.

Jim’s little boy, Izaiah, is four, he’s in the gray sweatshirt.  Jim also has a new little guy, Vincent.  CUTE!

Love this shot of Zane in the air while the boys wrestled.  I believe the “match” ended shortly there after as he landed right on one of my boys and had already been told not to do that.  This wrestling probably went on for a good 30 minutes.  The boys were pooped!

See those Michelin arms on Gunner!  He’s only a few weeks old, but weighs more than his cousin, Vinny, who is three months!

And finally, for those non-chocolate eaters in the house (mom) and because I didn’t want to miss this week’s TWD just because I was home, I also made the Caramel Pumpkin Pie.  What a great, simple, (Yes, I said simple when it’s got homemade caramel in it!), different pumpkin pie.  I only veered off Dorie’s recipe by making a different crust.  A pate brisee that I love.  I really like how buttery, yet crisp it is. 

The caramel was easy to make, went off without a hitch, and tasted great.  I didn’t let it smoke too much because I’ve made Dorie’s caramel before and thought it was too bitter/burnt for my liking.  That’s the nice thing, you can take it as far as you want or make it as mild as you’d like.  I didn’t photograph the caramel, but should have.  It was a perfect amber brown.  I. followed. the. pie. directions!  It baked perfectly in 45 minutes.  I also added the streusel on top (but used pecans instead of almonds).

The only thing I was a little bummed about with the pie was that I didn’t take the time to make the crust look pretty before baking it, still it came out great.

The pie definitely had a distinct caramel flavor.  I liked it.  While I LOVE streusel on top of just about everything and it did taste good, I’d probably leave it off next time for more of that traditional pumpkin pie texture.  Only thing that made the pie even more perfect—whipped cream on top!

I wanted to come home from Idaho and make Kevin the pumpkin pie because he really likes pumpkin pie, but I just wasn’t able to get that done on Monday.  I’m sure I’ll make this one again.  There’s a big, certain pie-eating holiday coming up!  Thanks for the great pick, Janell.  And if you actually read this whole post, you rock.  Thanks.  I do these long ones mostly for my own benefit and my family.  We packed up, cleaned up and headed back home to Utah Sunday morning.  Thanks for everything, Mom and Dad!  By the time we were leaving, the boys had been having so much fun they asked if they could just live at Grandma and Grandpas and never leave.  They discovered a “giant” dirt hill out back of their garden that they had so much fun playing on.  I heard Parker say they even made a pledge that anyone who goes on the hill has to say each time.  Ok, truth be known, I never knew this hill of dirt existed, but my nieces and nephew say they even played on it when they were growing up and that they always thought it was a huge hill. 

 

Many ruined/thrown away pairs of sock later and priceless memories of fun visiting Grandma and Grandpa Scott—this is what it’s all about.  We made the long drive back on Sunday, stopped in Ogden to see my oldest friend (we lived across the street from each other when we were born, she’s exactly one month older than me.  I haven’t seen Sharon for years.  The boys just wanted to get home and didn’t want to make that stop either, but by the time we visited for an hour and  a half, they didn’t want to leave.  Sharon and her parents are wonderful and the boys had so much fun playing croquet and baseball in their backyard.  It was a perfect way to break up the drive.  Okay, I’m done, for now.    

Still to come this week—Taylor had a birthday, FFWD and 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  Stay tuned.