Carmelitas

If you're new here what I say next may change the way you look at me....I don't like chocolate.  Not when I'm emotionally distraught and not even when it's "that" time.  Chocolate just doesn't do it for me. Before blogging I thought I didn't like caramel either. In the years that I've been blogging I have learned a few things about myself.  I don't like milk chocolate, a piece of good dark chocolate isn't so bad, and that Smucker's caramel is NOT the same thing as homemade caramel! Who knew?! Well I know now and let me just tell you I love me some homemade caramel. 

I've drooled over photos of carmelitas for years but never made them because the recipes all called for caramel squares.  I still wouldn't have made them if I had not found a bag of caramels in the pantry this weekend.  Luckily I did as these bars are insanely good.  Not just good, insanely good and the only thing I would change, and remember this is coming from me, a non chocolate lover, is to cut back on the chocolate chips.  Other than that these are pure caramel perfection. Don't be like me and wait to find an expired bag of caramels.  Buy a bag and make them now! 

Carmelitas,Lulu the Baker

32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda (I added)

1/2 teaspoon of coarse sea salt

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, sea salt and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.

*A stint in the fridge will help them cool off if you're pinched for time. They shouldn't be served cold, but all of that molten caramel takes a long time to cool down. They should be stored and served at room temperature.

**If you want to use homemade or store-bought caramel sauce in place of the caramel/cream mixture, use 1 1/4 cups of sauce. (I'm gonna give homemade a try & will update the recipe.)
***To make a 9x13" version, simply double the amounts. 

Cinnamon Crisps

Short & sweet!  That's pretty much how I like my recipes nowadays.  Quick and easy are another two words that come to mind when looking for recipes to try and this recipe falls right into that category.

In keeping with today's short and sweet theme here's the recipe.  I didn't have any ice cream so I added a glaze. Heavy cream plus powdered sugar equals heaven. Just saying! Enjoy!

Funfetti (not so) Gooey Bars

I'm sure most of you guys have made or eaten some form of a "gooey" bar, but have they actually been gooey?  Not one recipe that I've made has been "gooey".  I've made the traditional recipe, a s'mores, and now these funfetti ones.  None of them were truly gooey and that's the word that catches my attention and draws me in.  That being said I still recommend you give these bars a try.  While they weren't gooey they were delicious.  May I make one recommendation?  Make sure you have plenty of milk.  They're wonderfully sweet.

I'm not going to type out the recipe as I didn't make any changes to it other than cutting back on the bake time (27 mins).  Oh and I noticed as I was grabbing the web address Dorothy (Crazy for Crust) has another gooey bar recipe up.  Kinda looks gooey too!

Club Soda Waffles

My children love breakfast just not the kind that comes out of a box.  During the week they're forced to eat ready made ones so on the weekends they expect me to really do it up.  While most weekends I don't mind, there are some mornings I just don't feel like being in the kitchen.  That's when this recipe comes in handy.

It's so easy and yet so good. Let me ask you a question?  Wanna spend all morning in the kitchen or do you wanna whip up a quick and delicious breakfast that meets your kiddos' high standards?  I'm thinking the latter.  And you know what?  These waffles are totally weekday friendly, too.

Club Soda Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cup biscuit mix
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 10-ounce bottle club soda, (1 1/4 cup)
• *Waffle maker (mine makes 7" waffles & I got 6 waffles from the recipe.)

1. 1. Preheat  your waffle maker. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until smooth. Slowly add club soda, stirring until smooth.
2. 2. Pour a portion of the batter into the waffle maker.  You'll want to follow the "general" instructions for making waffles that came with your waffle maker. 
3. 3. Serve with desired topping. (I topped mine with whipped cream & leftover bourbon butter sauce)
4. 
   
5. Note:  The batter will be thin. I found that it did not spread as much as other recipes that I've tried. 

Slightly adapted from, Myrecipes.com

1. 
   

S’mores Parfaits

When I was looking for the brown butter cinnamon spice rice krispy post on Let’s Dish I came across these yummy looking Individual S’mores Trifles.  I’m a sucker for toasted marshmallows so they were a no brainer. Danelle called hers trifles.  I called mine parfaits.  While I’m not sure what the difference is between a trifle and parfait, they both have layers of chocolate pudding, marshmallow fluff, and graham cracker pieces.  Either way call them delicious! My family did!  Oh, and besides being delicious the recipe is ridiculously easy.  You could, of course, complicate things by making all the layers from scratch but essentially all you need is probably sitting in your pantry.

Brown Butter Cinnamon Spice Rice Krispy

You know how people say they wish they had scratch and sniff monitors? Well this is one of those treats that makes me wish you did. They don’t look much but they smell and taste JUST.LIKE.FALL.

I thought Smitten Kitchen’s salted brown butter rice krispy treats were wonderful but the cinnamon spice takes these to a whole other level, a warm slightly spicy Fall level.  I’m not the only one who thought so.  Several of my co-workers said the same.

 

Monica  initially enticed me with her post but the recipe comes from another great blog, Let’s Dish.  I followed Monica’s adaption but made one change.  I whisked the spices into the browned butter instead of adding them to the marshmallows.  Having made them once there is one more change I’d make.  I’d add more marshmallows!  Just a handful, tiny bit more.  I LOVE rice krispy treats when they’re sticky and gooey with extra melty marshmallow goodness! 

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For those of you that have been long time readers of 3Bs and may have links to the blog or blog posts those are no longer good.  I’m sorry for the inconvenience.  Someone decided that they liked my domain name so much they bought it out from underneath me but I can buy it back for only $8,800!! 

 

Flickr Tags: brown butter,bars,cinnamon,spice,rice krispy,treats

Keeping my fingers crossed

Several months ago I had the unpleasant surprise of finding that someone had snagged my domain name.  I didn't get a courtesy email reminding me to renew or a "Hey, we've sold your domain for more money so you need to move your posts!"  I've attempted to contact GoDaddy but it appears they now wants $8800!!  What in the world?

I'm hoping that this works (blogspot) which means some of my posts have not been lost.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Oh,and I've got a spicy treat lined up if this does work!
~ingrid

Cookies & Cream Brownies

Hi.  It’s been a long time, too long.  Before I tell you about this super easy &super yummy brownie I’d like to say thanks to everyone who left comments & sent emails asking how I was doing.  It meant a lot and made my day every time I got one.   The kids and I are doing well.  Hopefully this will be a “quieter” year for us.  I don’t know how much I’ll be blogging but I’m not going to let it get to this point again. The awkward, I don’t know where to begin one.  I’m thinking we start with brownies………

Cookies & cream brownies to be exact.  :)  I made them to give as a thank you to a few of the lunch ladies at Babygirl’s school.  I was in charge of planning the teacher’s Welcome Back Breakfast this year and they catered it.  I don’t know if they liked them, but I can tell you these were a big hit with my three.

I adapted the recipe from one I made before that I found on Karen’s blog Mignardise.  I’m not going to give you a recipe for the brownie base.  Just use your favorite one or a  box like I did.  Are you shocked by my craziness?  Don’t be.  I’ve yet to have someone ask me if my brownies were boxed and I haven’t found a homemade recipe that rocked my world so, boxed it is. 

Cookies & Cream Brownies

*One batch brownies with chopped up Oreos added.

*Cookies & Cream Frosting, doubled :)

2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. heavy cream, plus a little extra
approx. 8 oreos, crushed well
Combine all frosting ingredients except the oreos and beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. You may need to add a bit more heavy cream to get a spreadable consistency. Mix in crushed oreos (more or less). Spread frosting evenly over cooled brownies.

You can fancy these up by topping each bar with an oreo cookie half like I did or you can top the whole thing with ganache thus smothering the “cream” between two layers of chocolate.

Enjoy!