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. 

Apple Pie Caramel Apples

Apple Pie? Caramel apple?  It’s the best of both worlds!  For me anyway. I get the apple pie taste but not the mushy fruit texture that all to often goes along with it plus  there’s homemade caramel.  See? Win-win! You with me?

I got the idea to turn my caramel apples into an apple pie version after visiting a local farmer’s market.  There was a vendor selling caramel apples and I got to sample her apple pie one.  It was really good and I was tempted to buy one but I knew I could make my own.  :)

I googled for a good caramel apple recipe but only found  adaptations of Kraft’s, which uses their caramel candies. Nope, ain’t happen.  It was those candies and jar caramel sauce that had me believing I didn’t like caramel and I wasn’t about to ruin perfectly good apples.  Eventually I found a few recipes but it wasn’t until I saw Jonna’s  caramel apple post that I made my decision.  I’m so glad I did.  It was very good and it makes plenty of caramel.

For the caramel apple recipe you’ll need to click here (or use one you’re happy with) and visit Jonna.  If you wanna know how to make ‘em into apple pie caramel apples here’s how I did it.  This is more a method than a recipe.  After prepping my apples I crushed up a package of Maria cookies  (Thanks Eliana!) and added apple pie spice (add to taste) to the crushed up cookies.  I set it aside until I was ready to dip my apples. After dipping my apples into the caramel I popped them into the fridge for  about 5 minutes or so to get the caramel to firmed a bit.  Once the caramel firm up some but was still soft I rolled the apples into the crushed cookies.  I gently  pressed the cookies into the caramel and set aside on silpat lined pan to pop into the fridge. That’s it!     A couple of things I want to share.  My caramel didn’t really want to stick to the apples so I didn’t really get a nice thick layer of it on them.  I missed the part in the recipe that said to chill the apples while I made the caramel.  They were at room temp.  I don’t know if that was the sole reason the caramel didn’t stick so well but I wanted to make sure you knew.  The recipe makes a lot of caramel.  Also, I didn’t have apple pie spice and made my own. 

Bananas + Biscuits = Yum!

For those of you who have read my blog a few times know this post has several elements that are fairly standard to my blog.  Bananas.  We’re fond of bananas and you can find quite a few recipes here where bananas are key.  Another two are caramel and cinnamon which for me pretty much go hand in hand with bananas. Wait, who am I kidding?  There isn’t much those two don’t go with. (Am I right, Grace? Monica?) But the last two are quick and easy.  I love pretzels and cinnamon rolls but I really, really love quick and easy especially when it’s full of flavor! These upside down banana pecan biscuits, that I found on Monica’s blog  deliver on quick, easy, AND flavor. 

Wait! It gets better.  There’s no wrong way to make these and customize them to your tastes.  You don’t like bananas?  Want  walnuts instead?  Play with it…make the recipe yours!  My two suggestions for maximizing the flavors are to lightly toast your nuts especially if you’re adding them straight from the freezer (They’re not in the oven long enough to get nice a toasty.) and to use the canned (Make your own if you’re so inclined but did you catch the key words, quick and easy?) biscuits that are your favorite.  Don’t go with ones you hate but they’re on sale and you think you won’t mind them in this recipe.  You will.  (I made that mistake with this pie and bought the cheapy crust. Learn from my mistakes.  :))

I think I’ve made these once a week since I first saw them on Monica’s.  Needless to say my crew loves them.  The Twins top theirs with vanilla ice cream but Babygirl likes her plain with no nuts.  (Click here for a printable recipe!)

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Upside Down Apple Pie

Except for the apple peeling this a fun, easy, and forgiving recipe.   No worrying about perfect crusts or crimping ‘cause after it’s baked you’re gonna flip it over and all the wonderful pecans and caramel that were on the bottom now make a lovely and delicious top. 

I saw this on both Tidy Mom’s and Noble Pig’s blog a month or so ago.   At the time I didn’t realize that their recipes weren’t the same.  It wasn’t until I decided to bake one  and tried printing out the recipes that I noticed.  The recipes are close but there are some differences.   I elected to use what elements from each that suited me best and have posted that recipe here.  (To see their recipes just click on their names under the recipe title.)

I made this Friday evening when my parents came over for dinner and everyone really enjoyed it.  I did learn one thing after baking this pie; crust matters so don’t use the store brand of pie crusts.  It was tolerable but just barely.  Next time I’ll spend the extra dollar and buy Pillsbury. :)

Upside Down Apple Pie

adapted from Noble Pig & Tidy Mom

Ingredients
1 cup chopped pecans (heaping)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
6 TB of butter
1 box of Pillsbury All Ready Pie Crust *
1 tsp flour
5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored & cut into 1/2" slices
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg  (Don’t use much more than this amt.)

Directions

Heat oven to 375°F.

In 9" deep pie plate, combine pecans, brown sugar, and butter; spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. Prepare the pie crust according to package direction for a two crust pie.  Place bottom crust evenly over the pecan mixture in your pan. Press the crust down around sides of the pan.

In large bowl, combine the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Toss gently to coat apples.  Spoon the apple mixture into pie crust lined plate.

Top with the second pie crust.  You can  flute edges but my bottom crust barely met the top so I pinched the two together as best I could.  Cut several slits into the top crust to vent.

Place pie plate on a cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 40-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Mine took about 45 minutes.  I cooked my pie on the middle rack but Noble Pig cooked hers in the lower third of her oven.

Cool pie upright in pan on a rack for 5 minutes.  Place a rimmed serving platter that is larger than your pie over it  and invert.  Your pie is still going to be hot so be careful.  I used a large folded dish towel to hold the hot pie plate. Carefully remove the pie pan. Some nuts may remain stuck to the pan.  simply remove them with a knife and gently replace on the pie.  Allow pie to cool pie to desired temperature.  I cut into it after 35 minutes or so and  it was still very warm.  Top with whipped cream or better yet vanilla ice cream. Maybe even more caramel, mmm!?

 

Technorati Tags: apple,caramel,pecans,pie

Banana Bread

I’m sure that most of you have a “go to” banana bread recipe but I hadn’t been  fortunate to find one until now.  As a matter of fact I’ve made many an unsuccessful recipe before this one.  Sadly all of my recipe attempts have been over browned and undercooked but not this one.  This one was perfection. 

For months now every time I mentioned banana bread Monica told me about this terrific recipe she had  (She got the recipe from Dawn at Vanilla Sugar.)  and even when Monica told me this recipe converted her from being a banana bread hater I just nodded yeah, yeah and never made a move.  I’m kicking myself now for waiting so long to give it a try.  Learn from my mistakes.  :)

I followed the recipe but baked four mini loaves instead of one large one.  Although I didn’t alter the recipe I did kick things up a notch with two of the mini loaves.  You ready?  I swirled in some left over caramel  from this caramel corn recipe and topped one of the caramel loaves with walnuts!  While the caramel ones were beyond good, the plain ones were also very good so don’t think you have to “supe” this up.  Three out of four loaves were gobbled up before the end of day and the fourth went to our football commissioner as “just because”.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread 

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 3 tbsp. sour cream
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional) I left these out!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl with an electric mixer or a spoon, cream shortening and sugar together. Beat in eggs one at a time; then mashed bananas, sour cream, and lemon juice.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet mixture, then fold in chocolate chips. Pour into greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes.

NOTE: If your bread is getting too dark, loosely cover bread with foil. I did this for the last 15 minutes of baking time.

I did have one tiny issue with my bread though it wasn’t due to the recipe.  It was with  my addition of caramel.   My caramel sunk to the bottom and some of it stuck to the pan. (Check out my bottom photo.  I scrapped out the caramel bits and hid them from the kids.  They were THAT good!) My first mistake was swirling it in which gave it a head start to the bottom.  The next time I’ll try layering in the caramel and see if that keeps it from diving straight to the bottom.  I’m not sure I could have kept the caramel from sticking but next time I’ll remove the bread after its cooled 10 minutes and allow it to finish cooling on a rack. My last change……more walnuts.  I added what I thought was plenty but once the bread started baking up I realized it really wasn’t. 

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Those of you who have read my blog a few times know that the Twins are super active and play various sports and you may also remember that Babygirl was cheerleading this year. WELLLLL, Devon’s Jr. Midget football team went 8-0 in the regular season!  They were the first team in the FOURTEEN years of our league’s history to go undefeated! As a matter of fact they won their conference in back to back years, another first!  One of the things I may not have mentioned was that Babygirl was cheering for her brother’s team.  WELLLLL, Babygirl’s squad won first place in the Mid-Florida cheerleading competition this weekend!  Not only were they competing against girls a couple of years older than them, half their squad has never cheered before, Babygirl included.  Both Winter Springs Jr. Midgets football team and cheerleaders were winners this season!  Unfortunately, the boys lost their first playoff game but they did have a good run.

Here are photos of my two in their uniforms!

Technorati Tags: banana,bread,caramel,walnuts

Cinnamon Caramel Popcorn with Pecans & White Chocolate Drizzle!

Is that not a mouthful or what, but boy was it good!  On Wednesday my buddy, Michelle from One Ordinary Day made some cinnamon popcorn that she claimed was quick, easy, and delish!  Unfortunately as quick and easy as it may have been the kids’  homework and studying this week has left no time for baking. Lucky for me the next afternoon I found this recipe, for cinnamon caramel popcorn with pecans and white chocolate on Our Best Bites.  Was it coincidence?  I think not! Sara’s recipe even had the pecans and white chocolate I thought of adding to Michelle’s.  Fate and a break in homework had me making a batch of this last night. 

I only made one change to this most delectable popcorn and that was to use Ghirardelli white chocolate bars instead of the almond bark.  While incredibly good the next time I make this and there will be a next time, I am going to change things up.  These changes are to satisfy MY taste and  not necessarily yours.  My first change will be to double the pecans added and leave them in bigger pieces.  My second change is a biggie.  Next time I’m not going to bake it, at all!  Both the twins and I agreed that it was equally if not more yummy with the caramel mixture still sticky and warm just poured over the popcorn and pecans. Because I’m not baking it I’ll toast my pecans before adding them.  The last change is again, one of personal preference but I’d leave out the white chocolate drizzle.  I don’t think it needed it.  The bites that had white chocolate seemed too sweet.  I just noticed that Sara changed her recipe and left out the salt (1/4 tsp) but I think the popcorn benefits from the salt (sea) and could probably stand another 1/4 tsp of it to cut through the richness of the caramel. 

Cinnamon Caramel Corn with Pecans                      & White Chocolate            Recipe by Our Best Bites

12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)
1 C pecan halves, roughly chopped
1 C brown sugar
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 C karo syrup (or honey makes a good substitution)
1 stick real butter (1/2 C)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 squares almond bark (about 4 oz)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees
Place popcorn and chopped pecans in a large bowl and set aside.
Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a 4 C capacity microwave safe bowl.  Mix well.  Chop butter into chunks and place on top of sugar mixture.  Pour corn syrup over the top of everything.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds and then stir to combine.  Return to microwave and heat for 2 minutes.  Remove and stir and then microwave for 2 minutes more.
Remove from microwave and add in vanilla and baking soda.  Stir to combine.  Mixture will foam and rise.  Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and pecans and stir very well so everything is well coated. 
Spread popcorn mixture onto a foil-lined jelly roll pan.  Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. 
Remove from oven and spread out on a large piece of parchment, waxed paper, or foil.
Melt almond bark according to package instructions.  Drizzle over popcorn mixture.  When almond bark is hardened and popcorn is cool, break into chunks and enjoy!  (I might have topped some vanilla ice cream with the last of the it! :))

Here’s Michelle’s recipe for cinnamon popcorn. 

Cinnamon Popcorn

• 8-10 c. of popped popcorn
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/3 c. granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 hefty pinches of kosher salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Pop popcorn and spread onto a large cookie sheet.  (Michelle used a hot air popcorn popper.)  Melt butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a microwave-safe bowl until sugar is dissolved and butter melted, 1 – 2 minutes.  Stir in vanilla extract.  Spoon butter mixture over popcorn and sprinkle with salt.  Toss to coat as many pieces of popcorn as you can.  Place in oven for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely.  If storing {not likely!}, place in an airtight container

**Speaking of Michelle she participating in Cupcake Hero this month and created the very delicious looking (& I’m certain tasty) Banana S’mores Cupcakes.  I haven’t made them yet but they are at the top of my “to make” list.  Check them out and if you think they are as delish looking as I do you can vote for her here!    Go Michelle!  :)

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Over the last six months or so I’ve received several blog “awards”.  I want to take a moment to thank all of you for thinking of me and my blog.  I know that the “award” rules say I need to chose 5, 6, 7, or 10 other bloggers to pass them along to but if you’ve been reading my blog awhile you’ll know how I feel about calling out a select few.  ALL of you have a unique voice and something special about your blogs.  I apologize if  my not passing along the awards offends anyone but there it is.  Thanks, again and I’m sorry it took me so long to say it!

Technorati Tags: awards,caramel,cinnamon,pecans,popcorn,white chocolate

Banana Caramel Cake

Yes! It tastes as good as it sounds!  Better really!  This is another one of those recipes that was so good I made it twice within a two week period.  As a matter of fact I bought bananas that were past their prime so I could make this again.  As I’m typing this the photos are taunting me.  I had no intentions of baking tonight but find myself  eyeing up the the bananas on the counter and checking out the clock. 

I have to tell you. This is my favorite banana cake.  All of the ones I’ve made (except this one) to date I have been very good but for me, this is it.  While I won’t stop trying other recipe this is the one I’ll turn to when there’s bananas that need using up and no new recipe to try.

I found the recipe on Technicolor Kitchen after seeing a photo of it on Tastespotting.  The cake on its own is moist but the homemade caramel that is soaked in makes it even more so.  And, I just love the warmth of the cloves, cinnamon, and fresh grated nutmeg that are added to the batter.

Banana Caramel Cake

Cake:
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated)
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs
1 ¼ cups (300ml) vegetable oil (or canola oil as in the original recipe)
1 ¾ cups (350g) sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (75g) coarsely chopped walnuts (omitted)
85g (3oz) dark chocolate, broken into small pieces (size of chips)(omitted)
3 ripe bananas, diced (I pureed them in my mini food processor & mine were small)

Caramel:
½ cup (88g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 tablespoons (56g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Butter and flour a tube pan or a bundt pan that can hold 12 cups*; preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF. (I used a tube easier for me to get out)
Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking soda.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs, oil and sugar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the sugar has been incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and mix for another 30 seconds. (I added in the pureed bananas)
With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients a bit at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to ensure everything is incorporated.
Once the dry ingredients have been added, remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the walnuts, chocolate and bananas. Gently fold them in with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Don’t over mix.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes and then test the cake to see if it’s done by poking a toothpick or cake tester into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, bake the cake for another 5 to 10 minutes. In Ivonne’s oven, this cake took 55 minutes; in mine, 1 hour. (Mine was done in 45 minutes, I find more often than not everything is done sooner rather than later in my oven.  Adjust accordingly for yours.)
About 5 to 10 minutes before the cake is done, make the caramel by combining all the ingredients in a small pan. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.
Once the cake is out of the oven, poke holes all over the cake with a skewer. Immediately pour the caramel over the cake, stopping every now and then to let the caramel sink in. If the caramel pools in spots, poke more holes to allow it to sink in.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once it’s cool, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and then unmold it onto a plate.

The Twins have been out of town playing baseball in Cooperstown, NY since last Saturday which is why you haven’t seen me around.  I thought I would have a break but except for Sunday’s games all of their other games have been broadcast over the internet on the Cooperstown site! Of course that meant instead of having a baseball free week and blogging (& commenting) I’ve been watching and cheering on the boys and their team. 

They just lost making it their last game of the tournament. It was also their third game of the day.  A day which started off with warm ups at the field at 7:30am (after winning and finishing up last night at 9:30pm) in cold rainy weather.  Though they lost they have a lot to be proud of.  Out of a 102 teams they made it to the final four and were seeded third!  Not too shabby.  It’s back to work next week as they have the Elite 24 at Disney in July!  Go Fire!

Technorati Tags: bananas,caramel,cake,cinnamon,news

Ice Cream!

I love ice cream!  I mean, l-o-v-e it! BUT I don't love writing about it or even photographing it.  (It may be harder to do than savory foods.)  For the past several months I've been making ice cream along with the other desserts I've blogged about but have been unmotivated to share my experiences.  I couldn’t tell you how many times I tried writing this post, starting and stopping, starting and stopping.  So, instead of telling about and giving you one recipe I’ve decided to make this a three for one.  :)

I’m pretty sure you won’t be shocked to read that the first ice cream of the season I made was snickerdoodle ice cream.  I found recipe over at Our Best Bites.  My only changes were to cut back on the cinnamon and use ready made snickerdoodle cookie dough from the store.  A bit of  advice? Make your own cookies or better yet make your own snickerdoodle bars.  :)

 

Snickerdoodle Ice Cream

1 1/2 c. 2% milk

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 c. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. cinnamon (1 1/2 tsp.)

About 1 1/2-2 c. chopped high-quality sugar cookies, *snickerdoodles, or shortbread cookies

Combine milk and sugar in a medium saucepan.  Heat over medium until bubbles form around the edges.  Remove from heat.

In a small mixing bowl (or really big cereal bowl), whisk eggs thoroughly.  Very slowly, add 1/2 of the hot milk mixture, whisking the eggs constantly.  Return pan with remaining milk mixture to stovetop and then whisk the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan, whisking constantly.  Add whipping cream.  Over medium-low heat and stirring constantly, continue heating the custard mixture to 160 degrees.  It will start to thicken quickly; remove from heat when your finger leaves a track on a spoon coated in the custard mixture. 

Add in cinnamon and vanilla.  Place the custard in an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator several hours. 

When ready to make ice cream, pour chilled custard into ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.  When the ice cream is almost done (like maybe the ice cream maker's struggling a little...it looks like really firm soft-serve...), add chopped cookies.  Remove from ice cream freezer and place in another air-tight container and freeze an hour or two (at least...but not longer than a couple of days) to allow it to firm up.

*I used the grocery store’s ready made snickerdoodle cookie dough but would suggest that you make your own.  They really weren’t that good.

 

This next one isn't going to be much of a surprise either.  I made banana fosters ice cream which I found on Cafe Johnsonia. The texture of this ice cream wasn’t as smooth or creamy as others and I think it may be due to the homemade caramel that is mixed with the custard but we loved it. 

Bananas Foster Ice Cream
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream (not ice cold)
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 cups whole or 2% milk (I used 2%)
2 whole eggs or 4 egg yolks (I used 4 egg yokes)
1-2 ripe bananas (depending on how big they are) (I used 2.)
2-4 tablespoons dark rum (optional--can use 1 tsp. rum extract, too.) (I used 1/2 tsp. of rum extract.)

In a 2-quart pan, combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil and cook without stirring until the sugar becomes a deep amber color. Add the heavy cream and stir well. Add the lemon juice, vanilla extract, butter, and salt. (It may clump up, just keep stirring and it will smooth out.)

Transfer caramel to a heat proof bowl to cool.**
Once caramel is cool, whisk in the eggs (or egg yolks).
Prepare an ice bath. (You will need it to quickly cool the hot custard.)

In another pan, heat milk until very hot.** Gradually add the hot milk to the caramel/egg mixture. Whisk well and pour it back into the pan. Cook over medium heat until the custard reaches a temperature of 160 degrees F on an instant read thermometer. Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Place the bowl in an ice bath to cool.

Peel the bananas, break them into chunks and put them into a blender. Add some of the custard and puree until smooth. (I didn’t puree the bananas.  I just smushed them with the potato masher.) Add the puree back to the bowl with remaining custard. Stir well. Add the rum, if using.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until very cold. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer directions.
Makes 1 quart.

**Alternatively, you could add the milk to the caramel while it's still hot and then add it to the eggs that have been whisked in a separate bowl. It just depends on how you want to do it. It will work just as well either way. My caramel just happened to be cold, so I added the eggs to the caramel.**

Lindsey has this post on making custard base ice cream which I found very helpful. Per Whitney at Rookie Cookie, Lindsey is Utah’s very own ice cream whisperer.  If you’d like to see another recipe of Lindsey’s I’ve made please visit here.

 

This last recipe is for banana ice cream which I found at Spork or Foon.  (On a side note Teanna is attempting to recreate Top Chef recipes at home which I think is quite impressive!) I really, really liked this recipe which put to good use the overage of ripened bananas that I had on hand at the time.  Best thing?  No cooking!

Banana Ice Cream Recipe:

makes 1 quart

You will need:

2 cups of half and half (I used 1 cup 2%milk & 1 cup of heavy cream)

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup of heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 very ripe bananas

2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

Mix together the first four ingredients until combined, making sure the condensed milk is well blended with the other liquids.* Chill until cold.

Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze accordingly.

Mash the bananas with the lemon juice and add to the ice cream maker 2 minutes before it's finished. Transfer ice cream to a freezer safe container, cover and freeze for at least 3 hours.

*I didn’t wait to add the mashed bananas.  I added it into the milk mixture and chilled it as well.

Technorati Tags: ice cream,snickerdoodle,banana fosters,banana,caramel

Pig & Whistle Cake

I loved the name of this cake though I'm not sure how it got its name. Definitely a stand out. 

I baked this one afternoon when I came home early from work after picking the Twins up from the bus stop.  On afternoons when it is raining either I or another thoughtful (Thanks Dawn & Kim!) mom picks up my guys along with theirs.

When I first saw this cake I knew it would just be a matter of time before I made it.  It was definitely a no brainer.  Unlike most chocolate doesn't do anything for us.  For my family and I, it's caramel and nuts that make everything better!  It didn't hurt that it would also be an easy one to put together.  (It was.) I'm not certain if we're alone in this.......we love nuts ON our desserts but no so much in the dessert.  Make sense?  Anybody else?

I found this gem on Sandie's  blog Inn Cuisine.  (I also have another tasty treat to tell you about that comes from her blog.)In her post Sandie says that her cake was dense and moist. My cake was moist but it was surprisingly light almost fluffy.  Maybe it was because it was still very warm from the oven?  As the day progressed the weight of the caramel and nuts weighted it down a bit but still, it wasn't overly dense.  Needless to say this cake didn't last until the next morning!

Pig & Whistle Cake (my changes)

Serves 6-8

for the cake

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup half & half (1/4 c. 2% milk & 1/4 c. heavy cream)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F for baking. Spray an 8×11x2″ or 9×9x2″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. (I used a 9x9 & lined it with nonstick Reynolds foil that I sprayed with Pam.)

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine butter and half & half; heat until butter is melted and mixture is warmed through. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat eggs until light yellow; add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. To eggs and sugar add warmed butter and half & half mixture; beat until thoroughly combined; add vanilla and mix again. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; blend ingredients. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients; blend well. Pour batter into a prepared 8×11x2″ or 9×9x2″ baking dish. Bake cake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake springs back when touched in the center. Remove cake from oven and prepare topping.

for the topping

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons half & half (heavy cream) 
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I added some pecans to get to the 1/2 cup)

Set oven to broil.

Mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined; pour (spread) onto hot cake and broil (in oven) until bubbly and browned (a few minutes will do). Watch cake closely; when mixture becomes bubbly throughout, remove cake from oven and allow to cool (set baking dish on wire rack). As cake cools, the topping will set. Slice and serve cake barely warm or at room temperature. (I went with nice and warm with the caramel still soft! Oh, yea!)

Technorati Tags: cake,caramel,pecans,walnuts

Monkey Bread Muffins

A couple of weeks ago Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod made these muffins for her hubby and if you remember this post you're not surprised I had to give these a try.  These were (are!) sooooo good.  Yes, they use *gasp* refrigerated dough but you know what?  I'm totally okay with that.  (sorry Maria :)) 

I've eaten and made monkey bread many times and used various recipes but this is my new favorite!  It probably has something to do with the fact that each muffins is covered in a generous amount of yummy caramel.  :) I also like the individual servings, mini monkey bread! 

Here's Maria's recipe .  I made my muffins a little different and have noted it in (red).

Monkey Bread Muffins

4 cans of refrigerated biscuits, I used Pillsbury (I only used 1 ten count can. You could certainly use homemade biscuit dough or whatever brand/type you want.)

Cinnamon (be generous, cinnamon is your friend)

Sugar (I have a cinnamon sugar shaker so I used it)

1 stick of butter (I used salted)

1 cup of brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. (Be sure to spray the top of the muffin pan as the caramel mixture bubbles up and over.)

2. Cut the biscuits in half and roll the dough into little balls. (I cut mine into quarters and didn't roll them)

3. Combine the cinnamon and sugar. I use extra cinnamon:) Roll the balls in the mixture.  (I tossed the dough into a bowl and generously sprinkled cinnamon sugar over it.  Toss well to make certain the dough is adequately covered with the cinnamon sugar.)

4. Place four balls in one muffin cup. Fill the pan.  (In all but three of the muffins before placing the dough I added some chopped pecans and then filled the cup with four pieces of dough.)

5. Melt the butter and brown sugar in a small pot on the stove. Stir until melted and bubbly.  (You could use a different "caramel" recipe, store bought, or melt down those caramel candies (sorry, Julia) but I suggest just using this one; works fine, taste good!)

6. Pour the gooey sauce over the muffins. (I made the whole caramel recipe yet only made 10 muffins so, I saved a little bit for another use.  I also topped the dough that had pecans on the bottom with more pecans.  Besides the pecans you could add in chocolate chips or in my case cinnamon ones. )

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes. (I checked mine at 10 but they weren't done.  Though I did notice that some of the caramel mixture was precariously close to bubbling over the pan's edge and onto my oven floor so I hurriedly put the muffin pan onto a cookie sheet and baked for about 5 more minutes.)

8. Cool for a minute in pan. Remove muffins from pan and enjoy. (With my one can of biscuits I made 10 muffins which was perfect for my family of five but you could certainly use a smaller can of biscuits or as many cans as you'd like.  Just adjust the recipe accordingly.  This recipe is very forgiving!)

**If you don't want to make muffins, you can do a big monkey bread loaf in a bundt pan. Just layer the balls and pour the gooey sauce over them. It will take longer to bake, 35-40 minutes.**

Joe thinks everything is better with vanilla ice cream so he added some to his muffin.  Speaking of ice cream..... I've got a mega ice cream post I'm working on.  Stay tuned!  :)

Awhile back I made Maria's cinnamon syrup but unfortunately I didn't get any photos.  I kept thinking I'd make another batch and take some pics but it hasn't happened. I made the syrup for the kids to top their school morning Eggo waffles.  It was a hit and a nice change from their Hungry Jack syrup.  The recipe doesn't say but it will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Answer this question and enter my two book giveaway!

Technorati Tags: monkey bread,cinnamon syrup,cinnamon,pecans,caramel

Couldn't be any quicker or easier monkey bread

This is one of those recipes that I found by following the link of a photo on Tastespotting.  The link landed me on the blog Jenny Mac's Lip Smack, where I found her Quickie Stickies. When I saw  and read how quick and easy these were I went ahead and printed the recipe.  My kiddos are prone to requesting a midnight snack at about 8/9 o'clock each night.    So this recipe was ideal.

While I printed out the recipe I didn't quite follow it but instead used it as a guide. 

Here's the recipe.  (My adaptations)

Quickie Stickies or Couldn't Be Any Easier Monkey Bread
*PREHEAT OVEN: 400 degrees
*Combine:
2 Tbsp. melted butter (4 Tbsp.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 c. maple or dark corn syrup (1/8 c. didn't want a strong maple flavor)
1 -1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. chopped nuts (optional) (heaping 1/3 c. whole pecans)
*Pour mixture into cake or pie pan.
*Top with 10 refrigerator biscuits. (I used crescent rolls.  I left it rolled up and cut the dough into 1 inch thick rounds.  I then cut the rounds in half. After cutting them in half I added them to a medium  bowl.  Once they were all cut in half I sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top and tossed well so that all the dough was coated.  I then place the pieces of dough on top of caramel pecan mixture.)
*Bake for 10-12 minutes.
*Turn upside down onto plate.

Technorati Tags: monkey bread,pecans,caramel,dough

It's not about the cake but the frosting!

This is all about the frosting and this frosting is too  good to not pass  along.  Some of you may be like, duh, Ingrid where have you been and others, hopefully one, will be like, hey, thanks!  :-) I found this  caramel frosting recipe on Erin's Food Files.  (Check out her candy coated marshmallow heart pops.)

I had a layer of banana cake in the freezer that needed to be used from when I made this cake.  When I froze that sucker and even before tasting it I knew I wanted something caramel-y. 

Don't make the cake but do make the frosting. It was actually pretty easy and just a little time consuming.  You make your own caramel sauce (yay,me) and use it in the frosting which is a cream cheese buttercream concoction.  Did I mention it's goooood? No? I'm talking GOOD!  I thought I didn't like caramel growing up then I started blogging and realized, oh, what I don't like is that yuckiness they put into jars and label caramel sauce.  After making my own it's been confirmed I LOVE homemade caramel sauce and Julia, you're right this is even better than those caramels you unwrap and melt down with cream or whatever.  I know better now.

I  "frosted" the middle layer with caramel sauce then once it set up I added the caramel cream cheese buttercream. For top I  drizzled caramel sauce on it.  Everyone who had a slice only talked about the frosting an even my nonfrosting loving son said that it was great.  Yeah, make the frosting forget the cake!

On a side note I just finished the book Emma & Me by Elizabeth Flock.  I really enjoyed it.  Lately I haven't had much luck at the book store.  I can't seem to find anything that makes me want to stop what I'm doing and read!  Emma & Me was really good and I didn't even guess the end until the end which I really liked.  It's tiresome when midway through a book and you already have it all worked out.  I'm moving on to Wally Lamb's  She Comes Undone my friend, Wendy suggested it to me. Anybody else read it? Recommend it? Or anything else? 

Okay, just one more thing.  A few people have asked where did I purchase my cake stand.  I purchased it at Target on clearance for 5 or 6 dollars. 

That first photo is courtesy of Miss Karolyn.

Technorati Tags: caramel,cream cheese,frosting,buttercream,books

Cheater Snicker Brownies

Yup, I did it again I cheated and used a boxed brownie mix.  Yes, they probably would have tasted a bit better if I had made the brownies by scratch AND a whole lot better if I  had made homemade caramel sauce but I needed a quick something for the Twins to take to baseball practice this is what I came up with.  I'll be honest I was initially going to make Dianne's Peanut Butter Mousse Bars but I ran out of time as I had already made another dessert, a tropical pound cake (a la The Crepes of Wrath).  That one was for the kids could take to school for lunch. 

It starts with one box of brownie mix whichever you prefer.  Follow the directions as written on the back.  Once poured into the pan I topped it with chopped up pieces of snickers bars.  I then baked it as called for on the box.  Once the brownies were baked I noticed that the snicker pieces had sunk and left (interesting) holes in my brownies so I chopped up more snickers bars to plop in the holes once the brownies had cooled completely.  After filling the holes I nuked some caramel bits with cream and drizzled it over the brownies.  I also melted some semisweet chocolate chips and shortening and drizzled it over the brownies.  (I'd love to give you exact numbers but it was after 11:30 & I was TIRED so I kinda winged it) 

I personally didn't care for the brownies  but the Twins, their teammates, and the other parents ate them up without complaint so I'll take that as they were at least edible.  Actually there wasn't even a piece of fallen off snickers bar left in the pan. The butterscotch marshmallow brownies with butterscotch ganache was waaaaaaaaaaaay better.  As a matter of fact I made them again last night.

*On a non-baking note: 

Baseball season kicks off this weekend for the Twins.....GO STING!  They have moved up to the "big" fields.  Should be fun, wish us luck!  

Can I take a moment to brag a bit on one of the twins?  Devon is receiving an academic award from Mid Florida Pop Warner on the 28th of Feb.   At that time he'll find out if he's also been selected to receive a scholarship!  (I don't know all the details.) It's not going to pay for school but I'm thinking maybe books?! Still that's not too bad for 12 yrs old! (Jalen, I  LOVE and am proud of you as well!  You just don't play football! { I have to say this otherwise the one thinks I favor the other one which means I love one twin more than the other one. To answer you question, yes!})

I also wanted let you know that I've been reading a terrific book called The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan.  The book is both touching and funny.  I definitely suggest reading  it if you haven't.  I've also found quite a few clips of Kelly reading excerpts from the book.  I guarantee it will have you laughing out loud and tearing up!

LiveJournal Tags: bars,brownies,chocolate,caramel,snickers,news,books