Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Squares

In trying to figure out how I could use up a bunch of random leftover baking ingredients, these brownies were born!

The idea is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my Home to Yours. Her recipe is for Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake. I stole the topping and used a regular brownie recipe because brownie cake sounds a little too cakey for me- I like my brownie-esque things to be fudgy and chewy.

I cut the sugar down in the brownie recipe because I thought the addition of the topping would make it too sweet. The topping was actually perfect- the salty peanuts contrasted with the fresh caramel very well and the chocolate brownie complimented the whole thing making it taste like a chewy, not-too-sweet snicker's bar. They were really yummy and the fact that they weren't too sweet made it possible to eat more than one...and two...and three...without feeling the need to stop...

If you like gooey fudgy caramel-y desserts this is probably for you :)

Brooke's Bombshell Brownies

Adapted for this recipe from Allrecipes.com

1 cup butter, melted
2 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.
3. Sift or just whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. 4. Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.

Caramel Peanut Topping

Dorie Greenspan Baking From My Home To Yours

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup salted peanuts

1. Put the sugar, water adn corn syrup in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir just to combine the ingredients and then put the pan over medium high heat. Heat, without stirring, until the caramel turns a deep amber, 5-10 minutes. Wipe down any splatters of sugar on the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. To test the color of the caramel, drop a bit on a white plate. Darker is better!

2. Lower the heat a bit and standing back from the saucepan- the caramel will bubble and spatter- add the cream and butter. When the spatters are less vehement, stir to calm down the caramel adn dissolve any lumps.

3. Stir in the peanuts and pour caramel onto the brownies.

4. Let cool about 20 minutes.

ESPRESSO ESPRESSO ESPRESSO (CARAMELS)

These are espresso caramels and they are my favorite candy that I've ever made in my entire life.

The first recipe I used was an espresso caramel recipe and it didn't set up correctly- I had a gooey delicious mess that I had no idea what to do with. I decided that I would reboil it and try to get it to the hard ball stage...of course that didn't work because of candy laws and the way candy works, so I ended up with espresso toffee. It actually ended up not being hard-break-your-teeth toffee, it was actually really good, melt-in-your-mouth toffee. But it still frustrated me because it wasn't what I wanted.

I then tried the apple cider caramels recipe from the previous post and instead replaced the apple cider with espresso and it worked out fantastically! I put about 1/3 cup of finely ground espresso into a coffee press and added maybe 3/4 cup of boiling water to it, let it stand for a few minutes and pressed out about 1/3 cup of espresso. There were grounds that got out but they actually make the caramels look prettier and give them a stronger taste. I'm sure you could use instant espresso or coffee instead as well.

With the amount of espresso and bits of grounds that are in these caramels, they taste strongly like espresso but still with sweet notes of caramel. They kind of taste like a strong caramel frappuccino maybe? They're delicious, try them! Now I might try subbing other liquids into that recipe...

Apple Cider Caramels and Pumpkin Pie Fudge

I recently started a Cuisine Club at my school so the other principal members and I decided to bring some Thanksgiving themed food to our first general body meeting on Tuesday. I decided on pumpkin pie fudge because another member stole apple pie and then caramels. I've been wanting to make these Apple Cider Caramels ever since I saw the recipe for them from the Sugarpunk blog a few years ago but I was too intimidated...and now it is time, because I've decided to trust my $5 candy thermometer from wal-mart and build a good relationship with it. So I'm in a candy phase now.

Candy candy I love you a lot
but I am afraid you will make my teeth rot

There's a little poem I just made up about candy.

Anyway, the caramels are RIDICULOUS! Ridiculously good.Well I'm actually not really a fan of caramel apples but that's what they taste like. EXACTLY. A little too apple-y for me though, but again, I'm not a caramel apple person. They're perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas or just for eating...and the directions are so clear that they're actually easy! I swear!

The fudge was okay ... I'm not sure if I'm overly critical of what I make or what but it just tasted okay to me. It had pumpkin and spice flavor and felt like fudge but I feel like something was off. Also, on medium heat the fudge scorched the bottom of my pot and I don't think it was supposed to do that... but if you're a big pumpkin pie fan then you should try it! It's not bad, it's just not for me. What I will be making that is pumpkin-y are these pumpkin squares that I tried at a potluck recently that were the most amazing pumpkin thing I've ever had in my life. ever. Will find the recipe and make it soon.

Apple Cider Caramels

Prepare an 8x8 inch pan that is lined with two oiled pieces of parchment paper.

2 c apple cider
Reduce to 1/3 cup, set aside.

2/3 c cream
6 tbsp butter
2 cinnamon sticks
Heat to boil, set aside, then rewarm right before adding it later

1 1/2 c sugar
1/4 c corn syrup
1/4 water
Cook to medium amber

Add cream, butter and reduced apple cider all at once, stirring constantly (it will foam up – use a good size pot).

Cook to 250 degrees, using medium heat – it should take around 5 minutes

Pour into your prepared pan. (I didn't have fleur de sal so I sprinkled a little salt and more cinnamon on top of the caramel for extra flavor) Cover and let sit (or refrigerate) until solid.

When ready, used a well oiled sharp knife to cut caramels.

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 generous cup canned pumpkin
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
9 oz white chocolate, chopped
7 oz jar marshmallow cream (fluff)
1 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir together first 6 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer registers 234 degrees.

Remove pan from heat; stir in remaining ingredients until well blended. Pour into a greased aluminum foil-lined 8-inch square pan. Let stand 2 hours or until completely cool cut fudge into squares. Fudge will last a week or two in an air tight container

Dulce De Leche Macarons

After months and months of reading about macarons and different techniques to make them work i finally decided to try them... and it worked! I sort of mixed and matched recipes for these... i used A la Cuisine!'s list of ingredients, measurements and directions while at the same time taking into account Tartlette's directions for macarons [stirring the better especially]. I also let the egg whites sit out on the counter for 24 hours before i made them. I made the cheater version of dulce de leche, recipe below. I've never had a real macaron but according to the description i think theyre about right...

Macaron Batter

- 1 ¼ cups icing sugar
- 4 oz (1 cup) almond flour or finely ground almonds
- ¼ cup plus 2 tbsps egg whites at room temperature
- pinch of salt
- ¼ cup granulated sugar

Allow egg whites to thicken by leaving them uncovered at room temperature overnight.

On three pieces of parchment, use a pencil to draw 1-inch (2.5 cm) circles about 2 inches apart. Flip each sheet over and place each sheet on a baking sheet.

Push almond flour through a tamis or sieve, and sift icing sugar. Mix the almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and set aside. If the mixture is not dry, spread on a baking sheet, and heat in oven at the lowest setting until dry.

In a large clean, dry bowl whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Continue to whip to stiff peaks – the whites should be firm and shiny.

With a flexible spatula, gently fold in icing sugar mixture into egg whites until completely incorporated. The mixture should be shiny and ‘flow like magma.’ When small peaks dissolve to a flat surface, stop mixing.

Fit a piping bag with a 3/8-inch (1 cm) round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets, in the previously drawn circles. Tap the underside of the baking sheet to remove air bubbles. Let dry at room temperature for 1 or 2 hours to allow skins to form.

Bake, in a 160C/325F oven for 10 to 11 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door slightly ajar, and rotate the baking sheet after 5 minutes for even baking.

Remove macarons from oven and transfer parchment to a cooling rack. When cool, slide a metal offset spatula or pairing knife underneath the macaron to remove from parchment.

Pair macarons of similar size, and pipe about ½ tsp of the filling onto one of the macarons. Sandwich macarons, and refrigerate to allow flavours to blend together. Bring back to room temperature before serving.

Dulce De Leche

- 1 can of condesnsed milk

1. preheat oven to 425C. pour condensed milk into a 9 inch pie pan and cover tightly with foil. place in a waterbath and into oven. bake for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours [the longer the baking time, the more carmelized it will become]. after removing from the oven, beat with an electric mixer or whisk until smooth.

Brownie Caramel Cheesecake

I am a proud member of UCSD's Hawai'i Club and this club just so happens to have a lot of pot lucks. We had a potluck this past saturday and i decided to bring this cheesecake because it is one of the easiest yet most 'impressive' cheesecakes i have ever made. Sure, it's delicious brownie carmel-y cheesecake-y goodness but compared to white chocolate raspberry cheesecakes or dulce de leche cheesecakes (my personal favorite) it just doesn't seem as elaborate to make as it looks. It's a store bought brownie mix at the bottom, caramel, and then cheesecake drizzled with more caramel. It's a fantastic cheesecake to make if you don't want to go through all the trouble with crushing graham crackers and pressing them into the pan to make a crust- although i know that sometimes people's favorite part about cheesecakes and pies are the crust. This cheesecake can easily be dressed up even more by making home-made brownies with different flavors or mix ins, using special store bought brownie mix, or tweaking the cheesecake layer flavor. I used the larger family size 180z. package of brownie mix because i wanted a thicker brownie crust, if you use the 18 oz package prebake it for about 20 minutes instead of 7-10.

Brownie Caramel Cheesecake
- 9 oz. package Brownie mix (plus ingredients indicated on the back of the package)
- 1 package (24 oz) caramels
- 1 (5 oz) can of evaporated milk
- 3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. and line the bottom and edges with foil
2. In a small bowl, make the brownie mix according to directions on package. Pour into pan and bake for about 7-10 minutes until just set.
3. Melt the caramels with the evaporated milk over low heat in a heavy saucepan. Stir often, and heat until mixture has a smooth consistency. Reserve 1/3 cup of this caramel mixture, and pour the remainder over the warm, baked brownie crust.
4. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour cream cheese mixture over caramel mixture. Place cheesecake in a waterbath and put it into the oven.
5. Bake cheesecake for 50-60 minutes, or until just set. Turn off oven and leave cheesecake inside until oven has cooled. Take cheesecake out and refridgerate. When cake is thoroughly chilled, loosen by running a knife around the edge, and then remove the rim of the pan. Heat reserved caramel mixture, and spoon over cheesecake.