Chocolate Covered Caramel Macaroons

Coconut macaroons!  The perfect spring cookies.  Except you know, I live in California and it's halfway into May which pretty much means it's summer.  Oops?

I wanted to make and post these in February.  I had really cute Valentines Day ideas for them.  And then Spring happened.  Which meant February, March and April was spent going on lovely hikes with the puppies,  baseball games(go giants!) and enjoying the pretty view the outdoors had to offer.  And then it was May, which meant more baseball, rodeos, and trying to steal red pandas from the zoo.

So yes, I definitely made them too late to be springy.  No problem.  Let's cover them in chocolate and caramel and they are perfect for any time of the year!!!

Chocolate Covered Caramel Macaroons
Makes 30, bake at 325* for aprox 14 minutes

4 egg whites
Dash cream of tartar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
20 oz (1.5 large bags)  sweetened, shredded coconut

1/2 c. dark chocolate, melted for decorating

Caramel Filling
1/2 lb (8 oz) caramel candies
2 tbs. heavy cream

Directions for Caramel Filling
1. Place unwrapped caramels and heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Microwave on high for 1 minute and stir.  Continue to microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring each time.  Do not let caramels scorch.

Directions for Cookies:
1. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar on high until stiff peaks form.
2. Add in salt and vanilla while mixer is still on, after peaks have formed and then immediately turn off.  Don't over beat your eggs.
3. Fold in coconut flakes into egg whites.
4. Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
5. Using your thumb, make an indentation in each cookie ball.
6. Bake for about 14 minutes, or until the edges start to darken and the coconut no longer appears wet.
7. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
8. When completely cooled, fill indentation with 1/2 a tablespoon of caramel.
9. Drizzle melted chocolate (with a spoon or using a piping bag) over entire cookie.
10. Let chocolate and caramel dry a room temp for 1-3 hours and enjoy!

Now, I know I went a little crazy with covering these sweet coconut confections with more sweet things...  But you don't have to be as enthusiastic about sugar as I am.  You don't have to put caramel in them.  You are free to eat them plain.  Or covered in a lot of chocolate.  Or a little chocolate.  Make them your own. They taste delicious any way you make them.

But I suggest you make just a few with the caramel. Just because you want to take a bite of them now, don't you?

I will mostly likely be quiet the next few weeks.  Well, I HOPEFULLY will.   Mostly because I need to somehow find a way to get Shakira's abs in exactly 4 weeks. (Does anyone know how to do that, by the way?)  I am going to Colombia with the boyfriend in June (omg, so excited!!!) and i'm pretty sure positive that my baking is not even a little conducive to that goal...

Good thing you can make other sweet things in the oven.  Like oven-roasted plantains.  And I may try granola soon?  We'll see.   I won't stray too far though, and i'll be back soon enough.  Just wait 'till you see what I am cooking up for Pammy's bachelorette party favor!


xo,
Anna

Salted Dark Chocolate and Caramel Shortbread Cookies

One of my bestest friends in the world just bought his first home!  I am so happy and excited for him.  When I turn into a real grown up (that day has to come eventually right?) I want him to decorate my house because his own home decor is amazing.  Amazing.  I think he could have had a successful career in design if the world of numbers and revenue accounting hadn't pulled him in so deeply.  So when his response to "What do you want for your housewarming gift?" was "sweets", I knew that I had to make something pretty.  Only pretty would do.

And pretty I did!  I found key and house shaped cookie cutters at Sur La Table and was still craving the shortbread cookies I had made a few weeks prior.

But this time around I knew that I wanted to do salted caramel and chocolate on top.  I had been planning on making this exact cookie, but with pretty circles and scallops, a long time ago but never got around to it.  But I knew that this is what the housewarming party needed.  Delicate buttery cookies melting in your mouth alongside dark chocolate,  sweet caramel and the sharp contrast of sea salt to balance it all out.

Since home is where the heart is though, I busted out a teeny tiny little cookie cutter and made some of the houses with heart cut outs.  And although I prefer the houses to the keys, the keys aren't bad at all!  They're especially cute since I used a heart instead of a circle to cut out the middle of the key.  What?  I like hearts. :)

Shortbread Cookie Recipe
See my earlier blog post, or go to original recipe from Sprinkle Bakes.

Caramel Glaze
10 oz. unwrapped caramels
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
1. Use the double broiler method to melt caramels and half the heavy cream.  (See THIS post for details.)
2. Once melted, add in the remaining heavy cream adn whisk until smooth.  Pour into a squeeze bottle or thick ziplock bag with the end snipped off.
3. Pipe caramel onto cookies, outlining your cookie shape first.  Fill in the rest of the cookie completely, or just with close squiggles. Let harden for a few minutes.
(Work quickly, if the caramel starts to harden simply put in microwave again for 15 seconds.)

Chocolate Glaze
10 oz dark chocolate chips
1 tblsp melted butter

Directions:
1. Melt chips in microwave oven in 30 second intervals, whisking in between.  Should take approximately 2-3 minutes.
2. Add melted butter to chocolate chips and whisk.
3. Pour chocolate into a squeeze bottle or into a thick ziplock bag with the end snipped off and pipe squiggly lines on top of the the caramel.


Garnish:
Course Sea Salt

Finish cookies by sprinkling sea salt over cookies.

Ugh.  Sweet and salty are amazing together.  I want to sprinkle sea salt on everything now!

I am sure that you notice that there are a bunch of little hearts everywhere.  No surprise, huh? When I saw all the scraps from cutting out the houses and keys I knew that I could not waste them.   Who could resist popping one or two of these little suckers in their mouths? Not me!

The housewarming party was, of course, lovely. He is lovely.  I wish him such amazing things (joy, friendship, laughter and love -always, always love) and I know that his new home will be blessed with all of them.  I meant to take a nice little picture of him and me together that afternoon for this post.  I drank all the wine instead which resulted in my distraction with eating my weight in cheese sticks, catching up with good friends and force feeding these cookies to them. We ate a whole neighborhood of houses that day.

These were great for him and these would be perfect to make for someone in your life who is celebrating a similar milestone. Get to baking.

xoxo,
Anna

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chunk Brownies

Sometimes, like this weekend, I've got things to do.  Like trying to sneak in a 90 minute work out, running errands, showering, getting dressed cuz I need to be ready 20 minutes ago, cleaning up my room and shoving some kind of nutrient down my throat all while baking something amazing that will make a hot boy with abs fall in love with me.

Bet you're a little impressed with me at this point right?  Well  you can be (especially if you're this mysterious aforementioned boy with abs), but this time I actually had some help when I made these salted caramel chocolate chunk brownies (from heaven).  That help was from The Women's Bean Project in Colorado.

Let's explain.  To be specific, the women there helped me out by putting together the brownie mix that I used.  Yup, I used a mix. So these are half from scratch.  And it's okay for three reasons.  1).  I am not good at making brownies.  I have burnt more than one flat, lack luster batch. I am awful at it, so someone taking over the difficult task of telling me how to put it together is quite welcomed.  Especially when they TASTE good.  2). I looked at the ingredients first.  Flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, vanilla.... all legit stuff i'd be using anyways!  Nothing weird or artificial.  3)  I get to tell you about this great non profit-org that you probably have never heard of before.

The Women's Bean Project is a social enterprise that offers a transitional job in gourmet food manufacturing to women.  The women hired at the Bean Project have histories of poverty and unemployment.  The program is designed to provide immediate income, arrange support services to overcome barriers to employment, and teach the job readiness skills needed to get and keep a job.  The Women's Bean Project does not employ women to sell its products.  They sell its products in order to employ women.  

My friend Samantha (who I met while vacationing in Europe last year) works there and contacted me earlier this month to ask if she could send me a few of their mixes for me to try out.  The aim was to find a few new and interesting ways to spruce up the mixes.  So I googled the organization and their products and was more than stoked to try something out.  Their gourmet products include cookie and brownie mixes.  Right up my alley!  Hopefully you will see 1-2 more post about them in the coming weeks.  Because as Sam promised, a big box arrived at my house a few days later  from the Women's Bean Project.  Every mix was hand packaged by someone.  So thanks Gloria, whoever you are, for putting together "Cindy's Sinfully Chocolate Brownie Mix" for me.

The recipe below can be used with any boxed brownie mix but hopefully if you know that you'll be busy this holiday season, (and I mean who wont be?) and want to stock up on brownie mix you'll skip the Duncan Hines ready mix and consider helping The Women's Bean Project instead.  You can find more information about them here, and purchase their affordable products here.

To continue with my September caramel theme, I decided to slather a whole bunch of it on top of the brownies.  With some coarse salt because salted caramel is the only thing better than regular caramel.  But it needed a layer of chocolate chunks too so that came first.


Salted Caramel Chocolate Chunk Brownies 

1 bag of Cindy's Sinfully Chocolate Brownie Mix
1 4 oz bar of good chocolate, chopped coarsely  (I used Ghirardelli cuz im a SF chocolate snob)
8 oz unwrapped caramels
1/4 cup heavy cream
coarse salt for sprinkling

Directions:
1. Mix brownie batter, per recipe instructions.
2. Line an 8x8 inch pan in aluminum foil and butter/spray.  This will aid you in easier clean up, removal and ultimately consumption.  Fill pan with brownie batter.
3.  Place pan in oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, just enough for the batter to start to set but not for it to bake completely.
4.  Remove pan from oven and spread chocolate chunks over the top of batter.  Return to oven to finish baking; approximately 10-15 minutes. When done remove from oven and set aside to cool.
5. While brownies are baking, place unwrapped caramels in a saucepan with heavy milk and stir until melted.
4. Once caramel sauce is ready, drizzle over the tops of the brownies.  You can either do this with a spoon or use a bottle.
5.  Sprinkle brownies with coarse salt.
6. Once cool, remove foil and brownies from tray and discard foil.  Cut brownies into small pieces.

The result?

Just this.  Fudgey, crunchy, sweet and savory.

The brownies are super fudgey and moist, just as promised.  The added crunch you get when you let them cool and the top chocolate chunk layer has solidified itself again. (Not that there is ANYTHING wrong with eating a warm brownie, of course.)  The caramel is the sweet, and those pretty salt flakes is what makes the savory.

This week's eating well was a total wash, MyFitnessPal is super mad at me, and I am going to have to eat spinach with dust dressing for the next 30 days to stop being so squishy for my upcoming cruise.  Though I will admit, it was super worth it.

Go make these, nao. Serve them up on platter for you and your friends.

They'll be glad you did. You'll be glad you did.  Heck, i'll be glad for you too because I hope you're the sharing type.  I might kinda be out already...

Oh and pro tip;  put some vanilla bean ice cream on top of these if you're feeling daring. Ah-mazing.

xoxo,
Anna

Caramel Apple Fritters

September must be caramel month here at my feelings taste like cupcakes, cuz last week I  had those caramel pumpkin snickerdoodles, and just look at the caramel on that plate this week!  Nom.  Can't take full credit for these those, I had a lovely little baking partner this weekend.  My dear Rachelle, who I baked that soft chocolate cake with a few months ago, and I got together Saturday morning to churn out some quick donuts for a late dessert after brekkie.  Rachelle dates are the best.  They always involve food.

We adapted the recipe from here, but made one crucial change.  Instead of making a simple glaze (milk + powdered sugar) to coat it in, we drizzled it with caramel.  Yeah, just because caramels and apples are lovely and delicious.

Apple Fritters
Makes about 24 fritters, around 1.5 inches in diameter.
Fry at 375*  on each side as needed.

1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
dash of salt
2 tsp cinnamon (feel free to add more, we wished we had!)
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 – 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped apples

vegetable oil for frying
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients together.

2. In mixer, slowly add in vanilla, butter, egg,milk and beat until incorporated. 

3. Fold in apple pieces. 

4. Heat oil.  Should be around 375*. Test with a small piece of dough before starting to fry.  Place 2-3 scoops of batter at a time into oil and cook on each side until golden brown and cooked all the way through.  (Once we got the hang of it, it took about 3 minutes to get them cooked all the way.  

5. Place on paper towels to absorb oil

6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still hot

Easy Caramel Sauce
About 8 oz of unwrapped caramels
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:
1. Place caramels in a sauce pan over low heat and add cream

2. Whisk slowly until caramels are completely melted and sauce is smooth.
3. Drizzle over fritters and serve

So how do they look like when they're done and sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with caramel?

Like this:

And when you bite into them, revealing those chopped up apples inside, they look a little like this:

Consume these ASAP because the warm insides and gooey caramel have a short shelf life.  Make sure that you have plenty of taste testers near by to help you do the job though.

Cuz the temptation to shove them all in your mouth is high.  They do smell, and look,  like caramel cinnamon apple deliciousness after all.

So put them on a plate, invite some friends over and have a fritter brekkie party.

It took a few to get the hang of frying them, I try not to use oil in anything I cook (granted, i can't cook) and neither does Rachelle but in the end they came out pretty awesome.  Now we feel confident that we will be adequately prepared for our next baking adventure:  churros.  I told you Rachelle dates are awesome.

But before we do that, we're hitting up Oakland's Eat Real Festival.  So no baking this weekend since I will already be eating 4x my body weight anyways. (I'm actually going for 2/3 days, haha.)  Check it out if you're in town.  It's 100% more awesome than any other foodie thing you've ever been to.

xoxo,

Anna

Caramel Filled Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Oh,  these Snickerdoodles look so normal don't they?  Stacked up in rows, showing off their cinnamony sugar goodness.  But are you looking close enough?  There's a little something that's..  off about them.

These kinda things to be exact.

Pinner of all things (that's me) found this recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodles and I kind of threw up my hands in defeat.  Yeah, Hi Fall.  Pumpkin, cinnamon, spices, gingerbread, eggnog... we'll play. And we're bringing some caramel into the picture too.

Caramel Filled Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Bake at 350* for 12 minutes. Makes around 40 using a medium sized cookie scoop.

For Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar1/2 cup light brown sugar3/4 cup pumpkin puree1 large egg2 teaspoons vanilla extract3 3/4 cups flour1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For filling:
40 individually wrapped caramel candies

For Coating: 
1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Small dash of allspice

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside.
2. In an electric mixer, beat sugars and butter together until fluffy.
3. Stir in pumpkin puree. 
4. Add in egg and vanilla.
5. On low, stir in the dry ingredients into the wet until fully incorporated.
6. Cover cookie dough and put in fridge to chill.

Here's where things get real boys and girls.  Once the dough has been chilled enough to be firm but still malleable, take it out of the fridge and form equal sized balls.  A medium cookie scoop worked well for me. Then gather your filling and topping.

Next you'll want to either tear apart with your hands, or a knife like I did, the top half of the cookie.  Then place an entire caramel in the center then fully recover with the dough, rolling into a ball again.

Roll the dough in the topping completely, flattening slightly before placing on cookie sheet.

Bake in oven, and if you've done a good job at covering up all the sides you shouldn't have any spillage.  In case you haven't, that't okay too.

It gives for a sneak peak of what's to come.

And what's to come is a delicious cinnamony carmael bite of goodness.

I try not to eat too much of my baking, but I always have at least one.  I might have had more that one of these.  Or more than two.  Who's counting anyways? If Summer's over that means I'm allowed to pack on an extra 5 lbs of insulation right?  Winter's coming!

They taste very lightly of pumpkin.  Next time I'll try to amp that up.  But the caramel, especially if warm tastes oh so good with the cinnamon.  I also made a batch without stuffing.  Truth be told, those did not disappear as fast as these did.  I also did some with cream cheese.  I think I like stuffing cookies with things.  Best thing about these is popping them in the microwave for 30 seconds a day or two later.  Instant caramel goodness in your mouth.  

I'll be back real soon.  I have so many baked yummy things lined up, it's ridiculous. You're probably going to want to move into the guest bedroom now in preparation.

xoxo,
Anna