Miso and Black Sesame Caramel Popcorn

This recipe entered my social media orbit earlier this spring and I just had to try it. Salty and sweet? Sign me up.

Verdict: It was OK. The fact that I only had miso with dashi (fish broth) in it made it taste kind of odd, but in general everything else was great. I will likely try again when I have miso without dashi in it.

 

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RECIPE: Miso Black Sesame Caramel Corn (Smitten Kitchen)

Apple Cider Caramels

I love me some apple cider in the fall, but the smallest size it comes in is often a half gallon, and because there are only two of us in the house and we have taken to drinking less juice in recent years, sometimes I end up with a large amount of cider that I need to use up before it spoils.

look how shiny it is!

Enter apple cider caramels. I saw these on Smitten Kitchen earlier this year and loved everything about them, and I just so happened to have a bunch of apple cider to use up so I gave them a try!

Notes:

• Definitely make sure to get apple cider (the cloudy kind with sediment on the bottom that must stay cold) and not apple juice. Mine was pasteurized and worked just fine, but I think the fresh-from-the-farm stuff would taste even better. If it has to stay refrigerated, that's a good sign.
• I reduced the apple cider a few days before I actually made the caramels because I started without having all the ingredients to make it (whoops). The reduced apple cider keeps great in the refrigerator. It's thicker when it's cold but it easily loosens once you put it back on the heat.
• My candy thermometer does not have exact temperature markings when it gets to the different ball stages range (weird) so I cooked it to what was marked on my thermometer as "firm ball" stage, which I think is technically just under the 252 degrees F that the recipe tells you to cook it to and it turned out fine. I would probably even make them a tiny bit softer next time.
• My 8x8" pan of caramel ended up about 3/8 in thick, for an idea of how much it makes. I cut them smaller than the 1x1 inch that the recipe suggests. I cut my pan into 6 rows (~1.25 in wide) and cut those into about 1/2 inch pieces (13-15 pieces per row), making about 78-90 pieces total.

Verdict: Way easier to eat than a caramel apple for sure. The cinnamon coated salt bits mixed throughout were better than I imagined they'd be. The cinnamon + salt are the flavors that I associate with the crust of an apple pie. They are apple pie in caramel form. I would definitely make these again.

On a related note, I tasted the reduced apple cider all by itself and it tastes like the best apple candy, sour and very distinctly natural apple. I have heard of people using it instead of maple syrup for pancakes and/or waffles and I am excited by this idea.

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RECIPE: Apple Cider Caramels

Turtle Cheesecake

My family was asked to make two desserts for my brother's wedding, and my new sister-in-law requested a turtle cheesecake. Neither my mom nor I had made a cheesecake before and we settled on this recipe because it looked relatively simple compared to others we found.

NOTES

• We used regular vanilla extract instead of clear imitation vanilla. (The clear stuff is only for looks, so that your cream cheese filling stays as white as possible.)
• Be sure your cookie crumbs are ground very finely and evenly. It will help the crust stay together. Definitely use a blender or food processor, and not just a rolling pin.
• We skipped the hot fudge sauce and used chocolate pieces to decorate the top instead.
• Our cake got a big crack in the top but we just filled it with caramel sauce since we were flooding the top of the cake.
• I think a from-scratch caramel sauce would really bring this to another level for just a small bit of extra effort. If you've never made your own, there is something incredible about how much flavor can result from something as simple as browning sugar. You could make it while the cheesecake bakes. I recommend this one, with or without the bourbon!

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RECIPE: Turtle Cheesecake

Bourbon Caramel Sauce

I first found this recipe on Pinterest several years ago and made it to bring to an ice cream sundae party, but have made it several times since. Pinterest can be really terrible but this is one of the best things I ever found there. This is simple and incredibly delicious. Every time I make it I am fascinated by how something as simple as browning sugar can make such a difference in taste, and how intense the flavor can get.

I usually put it on ice cream, but it's also good in iced coffee, and I put it on top of a caramel mocha roll cake once (which was delicious).

Tips from making it several times:

• Getting the sugar mixture to the point of browning takes a while but once the sugar starts to brown it darkens quickly, so keep a close watch on it!
• The mixture will spatter when you add the cream, so be careful (the recipe tells you to pour it in slowly and this is important).
• Use the best bourbon you have, or at least something you know you like the taste of. My husband gets mad when I use his good bourbon to flavor this, which confuses me because if I asked to drink that same amount (1 tablespoon!) he would be absolutely fine with it. My favorite so far has been New Holland's Beer Barrel Bourbon, which is aged in barrels that previously aged Dragon's Milk Stout.
• I sometimes add ~1 tsp of high quality vanilla in addition to the bourbon.
• I like to store it in a canning jar. It's easy to get a spoon inside to scoop out the amount you want.
• This will keep for months in the refrigerator, though its magical flavor diminishes a bit after a couple of weeks.

RECIPE: 4 Ingredient Bourbon Caramel Sauce (from Minimalist Baker)

Holiday Bakeathon 2017

This year was a bit different from usual, marked most heavily by the absence of Sarah, one of our main Bakeathon participants. But it is for the best reason: she is cooking and helping out at her friend's bed and breakfast in Auros, France for 3 months. I invited my friend Paula to join this year in her place, and we scaled back the recipe list a little bit so that we wouldn't be working for quite so long.

However, Sarah was in our minds and hearts; we regularly sent photos to Sarah throughout the day, listened to Beyonce while we worked, and talked smack about white chocolate in her stead (even me, even though I like it). Sarah doesn't like white chocolate, so any recipe I suggest with white chocolate is usually met with some resistance. This year I included one because she wasn't around to nix it, and the white chocolate made the recipe difficult. She tried to warn me.

We've created a tradition of making some sort of a house or structure or diorama type scene with things from the leftover gingerbread dough that is too tough/saturated with flour from rolling (though I usually end up eating it anyway). This year was a tiny house, 2016 was a campfire and tent to which we added some of the ninja bread men.

RECIPES

• Spicy Gingerbread Cookies (Smitten Kitchen)
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Cinnamon-Sugar Rugelach
• Matcha Green Tea Spritz (Good Housekeeping) -- the white chocolate in this recipe completely hosed the shaping. It solidified in chunks when we mixed it in because the rest of the ingredients were cold, and the chunks clogged the piping tip and made me sad. I’d make it again but leave out the white chocolate. Save it for dipping or drizzling over the finished cookies instead :)
• Almond Spritz (Taste of Home)
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Bark (Two Peas and Their Pod)
• Salted Caramel Nuts (The Barefoot Contessa) -- We added a couple of teaspoons of bourbon whiskey at the same time as the vanilla, and loved the result. Once the nuts were mixed in, it solidified way too fast to get the nuts spread out. They’re definitely more salted caramel nut clusters rather than individual nuts. That said, they were quite good. I don't know whether or not this clumping is because we put bourbon in it.

BAKEATHONS PAST

• 2016
• 2015
• 2014

Caramel Mocha Swiss Roll Cake

This cake is heavily inspired by the Great British Bake-Off (known in the US as The Great British Baking Show). The first episode I ever watched was all about cakes and one of the challenges was to design and make a roll cake. I like cake and really wanted to try this challenge for myself. I bought a jelly roll pan just to make this cake and I'm not disappointed.

This cake idea started out as a mocha roll cake and the caramel elements were added at the last minute. I saw a bit of caramel sauce in a jar in my fridge while I was digging for cake ingredients and decided to use it. I also bought stroopwafels (Dutch caramel filled wafer cookies) to serve all by themselves at the party I made this cake for, but decided they would also make the cake look extra fancy.

Notes:

• Since it is a chocolate cake, I sprinkled the towel that holds the rolled cake with cocoa powder instead of powdered sugar (this is primarily for looks).
• I used 1 tsp of espresso granules in the buttercream when I made it and the coffee flavor was very subtle, and not quite strong enough for my liking. I wrote 1 1/2 tsp in the recipe below but if you really like coffee flavor, 2 tsp might be better.
• Adding 1 tbsp of butter at a time to the buttercream = 24 additions = ain’t nobody got time for that. I added 3-4 tbsp at a time and it was fine.
• I initially used 3/4 of the buttercream inside the cake and 1/4 for decoration and it was a bit much. I might consider cutting the filling with plain whipped cream or using a slightly different filling next time.

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RECIPE:

Caramel Mocha Swiss Roll Cake

adapted from Hershey's (cake), The Pioneer Woman (filling), Minimalist Baker (caramel sauce)
Makes 1 cake, serves about 12-16

Chocolate cake:
1/4 cup cocoa powder plus 1/3 cup, divided
4 eggs, at room temperature, separated
1/2 cup granulated sugar plus 1/3 cup, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup water

Espresso Swiss meringue buttercream:
4 egg whites, at room temperature (reserve yolks for another use)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into tablespoons
1 1/2 tsp instant espresso granules mixed with 1 tsp very hot water, cooled to room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch fine sea salt

Vanilla bourbon caramel sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp bourbon whiskey
Pinch of salt (optional)

Decoration:
Chocolate covered espresso beans and/or mini stroopwafel cookies

Prepare cake: Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a jelly roll pan (15.5 x 10.5 x 1 in) with foil, and generously grease the foil with butter. Set aside. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sifted cocoa powder onto a clean cotton or linen kitchen towel (preferably a dark colored one with no pile/loops) that is at least as large as the jelly roll pan. Place egg whites in a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer until soft peaks form. Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar in several additions, until stiff peaks form. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks with the vanilla extract for about 3 minutes. Add 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in several additions, mixing briefly after each one, and beat for 2 more minutes. In another medium bowl, stir flour, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well blended. With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and water to the egg yolk mixture in several additions, just until the batter is smooth. Fold this batter into the egg whites gently until well blended. Transfer batter to jelly roll pan, distributing evenly, and place in oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back into place when touched lightly in the center. Remove from oven and immediately loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and invert cake onto the cocoa dusted towel. Carefully remove the foil from the cake, then roll cake and towel together from the short side. Transfer rolled cake to a wire rack to cool completely. While cake cools, prepare buttercream and caramel sauce.

Prepare buttercream: Find a medium saucepan that will allow your stand mixer bowl to sit atop it with at least 1 inch of room from the bottom. Fill saucepan with about 1/2 inch of water on high heat until it simmers, then turn heat to low. Put egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, then place the mixer bowl on top of the simmering pan of water, being careful that it does not touch the water's surface. Heat the egg whites and sugar to approximately 160°F, whisking constantly. If you do not have a thermometer, it is ready when and all the sugar is dissolved  (it is not grainy when you rub it between your fingers). The mixture will be hot to the touch. Immediately transfer the mixer bowl to the stand mixer and using the whisk attachment, whip on high speed until the mixture is thick and glossy and forms stiff peaks. Once it has reached this stage, continue to whip until the bowl has cooled to room temperature. This process takes roughly 10 minutes. Remove whisk attachment and switch to the paddle attachment. Set mixer to low speed. Drop in 3 tablespoons of the butter and beat until smooth. Repeat this process until all the butter is incorporated. If it appears clumpy or curdled during this process, increase speed to medium-high and beat until it is smooth again. Mix in the espresso, vanilla, and salt on medium speed, beating until smooth.

Prepare caramel sauce: Place sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, swirling occasionally (not stirring) until the mixture turns a deep amber color. Once it starts to brown, it will darken quickly! Be careful not to let it burn. Remove pan from the heat, turn off the burner, and whisk in the cream, whisking while pouring. The mixture may expand a bit and release a lot of steam when this happens, so be careful. Once the cream is fully incorporated, place pan back on the burner and whisk in the vanilla and bourbon. Mix for about 1 minute, then remove from heat and let cool slightly. Pour into a glass pint jar or other heat-safe container and let cool to room temperature.

Assemble and decorate cake: Carefully unroll the cooled cake and spread half of the espresso buttercream evenly onto the inner surface, leaving a small border on all sides. Warm 1/4 cup of the caramel sauce in the microwave for about 20 seconds, then drizzle back and forth across the top of the buttercream. Reroll cake as tightly as you can manage without it cracking. Place on a serving plate with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the cake so they have a nice flat edge. Drizzle about 1/2 cup warmed caramel sauce in ribbons over the cake across the short side. Fit a piping bag with a medium sized star tip and fill bag with remaining espresso buttercream. Pipe rows of shells or stars along the top center of the cake (mine is shown with one big spiral drawn with a star tip). Decorate with chocolate covered espresso beans and/or mini stroopwafel cookies. Cover loosely with saran wrap and let stand in the refrigerator for several hours to firm up. Remove cake from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. Store leftovers loosely covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Flan (Caramel Custard Pudding)

Epicurious calls this The Perfect Flan recipe, and while I'm pretty skeptical of people and websites that use superlatives in their recipe titles, I tried it anyway because the reviews were good. While I can't prove it's -the perfect- recipe for flan, it is certainly very, very good and I don't feel the need to try another one because I liked this one so much.

I have known what flan is for a long time because my mom once bought a Jello brand boxed flan mix by mistake when I was a kid. She never made it and for many years I saw it every time I looked through the pantry. Then in middle school I started learning Spanish, and I think some of our class materials, especially in high school, mentioned it and the teacher explained what it was. I thought it sounded pretty good. However, no one ever made it for class parties that involved cooking food, probably because you have to keep it cold and high school kids don't usually have access to a refrigerator at school.

My first taste of something like it was in Japan, oddly enough. Caramel custard pudding with liquid caramel sauce (purin) is a pretty common dessert option there. You can even buy it at convenience stores, which sounds sketchy, but the food at Japanese convenience stores is often reasonably good depending on what you get. I clearly remember the first time my host mother brought some home for us from a bakery because it tasted incredible. I enjoyed it a few other times I was there but didn't really seek it out once I came home.

What inspired me to try making flan is a recent potluck party. I work with a lot of people that are not originally from the US, and one of the graduate students I work with had the idea to have a potluck party where everyone contributes food from their respective country. One of my coworkers has relatives from Puerto Rico and she brought two things that often show up at her winter family gatherings: coquito (a coconut based eggnog-like drink, super yummy) and a large pan of homemade flan to the party. After trying hers and falling in love immediately, I needed more of it in my life.

Deviations from the above recipe:

• I used 2% milk instead of whole milk because it was what I had, and it was fine. As long as you're using milk with a decent amount of fat it should work properly.
• Instead of putting it in ramekins, I put it all into one 8x8 glass pan and baked it for 60 minutes but that was a little too much. It probably only needed 50-55 minutes.

Verdict: As I said above, this was absolutely delicious. The caramel sauce is incredible. It's wild how delicious caramelized sugar is for how very simple it is. Fair warning, if you make it in a glass pan it might look like the glass is cracked after you bake the caramel in it but it's the caramel, not the glass. It is dangerous to keep around :) I ate it too fast. I would definitely make it again.

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RECIPE: The Perfect Flan

Vanilla Caramels

I have made these several times for fall/winter holidays (mainly in the first half of the 2010s; these photos are from 2011) and liked them a lot. I'm posting the recipe here in case I ever want to make them again. I want to make pecan turtles at some point and I think this would be a good component.

Notes:

• I usually pour mine into an 8x8 inch square pan. It makes around 120-140 pieces. 

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RECIPE:

Vanilla Caramels
from Giverslog

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup (11.5 oz) light corn syrup
14 oz (1 can) sweetened condensed milk
2 1/4 cups (14.5 oz) brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Chopped nuts for mixing in or topping (optional; if using I recommend toasting them first for extra flavor) 

Before beginning, test your candy thermometer for accuracy. Clip the candy thermometer onto a pan full of cold water and bring it to a boil, ensuring the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan. Boiling water should read 212°F. Once the water is boiling, make note of any difference in your reading, and adjust your reading accordingly when you make the candy. For example, if thermometer reads 210° in boiling water instead of 212°, then remove the caramel from the heat at 242°F instead of 244°F.

Line your pan with parchment paper, even up the sides. Chop any nuts or other mix-ins/toppings and set aside. Cut butter into smaller, even sized cubes for even melting, then place in a saucepan and melt it over low heat. Carefully add the sugar by pouring it into the center of the pan. If any sugar crystals stick to the side of the pan, push them down with a damp pastry brush so they do not crystallize the entire batch. Stir slowly until the sugar is well combined with the melted butter. Add corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk (or cream) and mix in thoroughly. Cook on medium for 1 minute, stirring the whole time, then increase heat to medium-high and keep stirring until the mixture is boiling. Once boiling, attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pan, ensuring it does not rest against the bottom of the pan. By the time the caramel mixture is boiling, if you have been stirring enough, the butter should be fully blended into the caramel mixture and not separated.

Reduce the heat to medium, adjusting gradually so that you keep a moderate, steady boil. Stir frequently and consistently so as not to let it separate. The temperature of the mixture will not rise at a steady rate, so watch the thermometer closely, especially as it nears the target temperature (it tends to accelerate the hotter it gets). If you are even slightly unsure about the accuracy of your thermometer, periodically test the mixture by dropping a small amount of it into cold water to see how it behaves. When the thermometer reaches 244° (low end of firm ball stage), remove caramel from heat. Stir in vanilla carefully but quickly (it will sizzle and boil when you pour it in) as well as any nuts or other mix-ins, then pour the caramel into the prepared pan, taking care not to burn yourself.

Allow to cool for several hours and use a knife, kitchen shears, or pizza cutter to cut into small bite-size pieces. Wrap each in wax paper.