Caramel Rolls

I did it! I finally made my Mom's caramel roll recipe! I wanted to make it last year when I was trying to "challenge myself" in the kitchen, but I just never had the time/the right occasion to make it.

 

The recipe takes about 4.5 hours altogether and involves yeast! (I'm still slightly scared about working with yeast even though I've made these amazing donuts, this heavenly overnight coffee loaf, these delicious croissants, and this yummy from scratch monkey bread. You'd think I'd feel like a pro by now, but I don't. I still think yeast is finicky!)

 

I had to call my Mom twice to clarify some parts of the recipe and she admitted that she didn't have a real recipe for it. She had to kind of make it up when my brother asked for it a couple of years ago. Well, her slightly made up recipe has been delighting me for years and now I've "conquered" it!

Isn't it beautiful? So shiny and caramel-y?

 

I also tried something special with the recipe for Valentine's Day. I made the other dish of rolls with red colored caramel and tried to shape the rolls into hearts. Can you see the heart?

I think the red color scared my taste-testers seeing the natural colored one was eaten first. I don't blame them. As it turns out, the red dye slightly messed with the texture of the caramel.

 

But both versions tasted great! I must admit that I think my mom makes them better, but hey, she has more years of experience on me!

 

Oh, and in case you have 4.5 hours to make rolls, here's what they taste like: cinnamon rolls with caramel and pecans on top instead of frosting. Yum! 

Caramel Rolls (adapted from my Mom's Best Recipes Cookbook)
Ingredients
3/4 C scalded milk
1/4 C shortening
1 scant T yeast (1 packet should do)
3/4 C lukewarm water
1/2 C sugar
1 t salt
1 egg
4-4 1/2 C flour (see directions)
1/2 C light syrup
1 C brown sugar
4 T butter
1/2 C chopped pecans.
1 C cinnamon and sugar

Pour hot milk over shortening in a mixing bowl; let cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in water (100-110 degrees F). Yeast should be good to use after about 5 minutes (there will be some foam on top of the water.) Mix these together along with the sugar, salt, egg, and 2 C flour (not the entire amount.) Beat with electric mixer until there are air bubbles appearing in the batter. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let rise for 1/2 hour. (It might not rise much. This is ok.)

Add the other 2-2 1/2 C flour: knead on counter top for 8 minutes or so. Let rise in a greased bowl, covered for at least an hour.

While it's rising, heat the light syrup, brown sugar, and butter together until melted. Mix well and pour into 2 8x8 or 9x9 baking dishes. Sprinkle chopped pecans on top of the caramel.

After the hour of dough rising, roll dough with a rolling pin onto a counter top. Roll out into about an 18 inch by 12-16 inch rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (1 1/2 t cinnamon mixed with 1 C sugar.) Roll up dough and cut into 18 equal sections. Place on sides on top of caramel mixture (cinnamon & sugar side down), 3x3 in each pan. Let rise, covered, for 1 hour.

Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until the dough is slightly brown. Remove from oven and flip onto a cooling rack. (Place wax paper under rack.) Make sure to spoon out the left over caramel mixture that is stuck to the pan back on top of rolls.

Eat warm. Add butter if desired.

Bake well and prosper!

Oatmeal Brownie Milky Way Bars

The last couple of weeks of summer have been pretty good for me. I was cast in an opera, Pillsbury featured my last blog post, I've been logging some great miles in training for a marathon, and I've been hanging out with a bunch of friends, old and new.

I've also stumbled upon many great recipes! (When I first typed that I spelled "upron." I wonder what an upron would be. Some fancy type of apron without strings?)

Anyway, I digress. One of those awesome recipes I found was this one for Oatmeal Brownie Milky Way Bars from the great site, i am baker. 

I haven't used a boxed brownie mix in a long time so these tasted a little weird to me due to that. However, they are still very yummy and GREAT when microwaved and topped with vanilla ice cream. And if you'd like to use a brownie recipe made from scratch, I'd suggest the tried, tested, and true Supernatural Brownie recipe. 

Oatmeal Brownie Milky Way Bars (from i am baker)

Oatmeal Milky Way Brownie Bars

2 cups Old Fashioned Oats

2 cups flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 sticks room temp. butter
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups boxed brownie mix (I used dark chocolate)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 bag (11 oz.) caramel squares
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Milky Way bars
(If you are using the Supernatural Brownie recipe, you can use everything called for in that recipe in place of the flour, sugar, butter, baking soda, salt, brownie mix, oil, and egg.)

In a medium sauce pan, place the two Milky Ways, entire bag of caramels, and half cup of heavy cream. Let simmer over medium to medium low heat until fully melted. Remove from heat and let cool approximately ten minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, and butter. Either use a fork to incorporate or use hands to combine. The chunks of butter should be no larger than the size of a pea.

Add in two cups of brownie mix, egg, and oil. Stir until just combined.

Using a prepared 9x13 baking dish, spread half of the oat mixture into dish and press firmly to flatten. (Make sure you don't use more than half because you won't have enough to cover the top.)

Pour the melted Milky Way mixture over the oat mixture. Make sure to get all the way to the corners.

Top with remaining oat mixture.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

Bake well and prosper!

White & Semi-sweet Chocolate Chip Cookies with Caramel Bits

My last two posts referenced items I brought from my parents' home in TX to my tiny apt in NYC. I talked about my grandmother's mixing bowls and my mother's sifter. Well, I also brought back something I used to own and "bake" with.

When I found this in a box I squealed with joy. When I was little I loved putting on my "Little Cook" apron. My mom would give me some pie dough to use my "to0ls" on. It was perfect bliss. Especially when my mom's pies came out of the oven.

Well, the apron is a little short on me now, but who knows. Maybe I'll use it and the tools once in awhile. You know...to make sure they still work and stuff. Yeah... 

Anyway you look at it, one cannot deny that I don't have a kid's attitude as well when it comes to making cookies. I decided to experiment with a child's joie de vivre and created my version of a toffee chocolate chip cookie that I found on tastespotting. The cookies weren't as soft as I like cookies to be, but the flavor was incredible!

White & Semi Sweet Chocolate Chip Cookies with Caramel Bits (adapted from Rebel without a Sauce)
*Makes around 20 medium sized cookies
½ cup sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup (1 sticks) butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup caramel (chopped into quarters or smaller)

-Preheat oven to 375°f/190°c and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Use parchment paper or you'll have a sticky mess to deal with.)
-Add sugar, dark brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and beat whisk until smooth.

-Add baking soda, salt and flour to the sugar mixture and *whisk together until smooth.
-Fold in chocolate chips.
-Create a tablespoon full or cookie scoop full of the dough and press a couple of the caramel bits into the middle area of dough. Make sure no caramel is exposed to the sides/bottom becuase the caramel will ooze out and burn on the cookie sheet.
-Drop the dough onto baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart.
-Bake for 5 minutes, rotate the baking sheet and then bake for another 5 minutes.
-Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

(I had to bake my cookies for about 12-15 minutes.)

Bake well and prosper!

PS My mom asked if I could share a link of my opera singing on my blog. In honor of her request, I've made a silly slideshow with me singing Que fais-tu from Romeo and Juliette. If you've made it this far to the bottom of my post, then this treat is for you and your diligent reading! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOtqXmDsApo

Oatmeal Carmelitas (with vegan butter!)

This past weekend I had a couchsurfer from Argentina staying at my place. It was her first time in NY which means that I got to do some toruisty stuff WITH a tourist. (Because, OBVIOUSLY, doing touristy stuff as a New Yorker is not cool.)

For instance, I went ice skating in Central Park for the first time.

And fell on my bum on the ice skating rink in Central Park for the first time. (Sorry, no pictures of that...just a bunch of soreness the day after.)

As for Marina from Argentina (yes, the fact that that rhymes makes me happy), she watched the Superbowl for the first time. She enjoyed taking part of the "stuffing yourself silly" American tradition and the commercials. I brought these Oatmeal Carmelitas to the party we went to. I have to say that using Earth Balance butter substitute made these the perfect end to the party because they weren't heavy (unlike the artichoke dip, mac & cheese, chips & salsa, sub sandwich etc that I ate beforehand.)

*Interesting side note: I happened to have the Earth Balance butter because of the LAST couchsurfer I had. She was vegan and made these brownies and left the rest of the "butter" for me to bake with. It's funny that I finally used it while I had a different couchsurfer around.

Oatmeal Carmelitas (from My Recession Kitchen)

Makes 24 squares - Use organic ingredients whenever possible.

2 cups unbleached white flour (Erika's Extra: I had to use bleached flour. Still worked.)
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 sticks Earth Balance butter substitute, cut into tablespoons sized pieces
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 cup caramel sauce
3 tablespoons unbleached white flour

Preheat your oven to 350°.
Grease a 13” x 9” pan.
In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, sugar, and baking soda. Stir.
Add the Earth Balance and mix (with a hand or stand mixer) until the butter is well incorporated.
Remove 3 cups of this mixture to another bowl and put the rest in the greased pan and press evenly to fill the bottom of the pan.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips and pecans over the baked crust.
Mix the 3 tablespoons of flour into the caramel sauce.
Drizzle the caramel sauce over the nuts and chocolate chips.
Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture evenly over the top of everything.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Allow to cool for at least an hour before you cut them into 2” squares.

Bake well and prosper!

Missouri Millionaires (Gluten Free)

It's the night before Christmas and all through my house, I am stirring and not being a louse. I've been cleaning and baking and a'picture taking.

For instance, here's a picture of the famous tree found at Rockefeller Center in NYC this year: 

It's a good one this year. However, I can't help but be partial to my own little and humble tree in my apartment:

The color scheme is plum and ivory and it is lovely!

Oh, and I can't forget the beautiful choral angel on top:

I think my little tree is about 300%  smaller than the Rockefeller tree. And I know it's smaller than my parents' tree. We always had 6 foot or taller trees for Christmas. My mom loves decorating the tree and passed her love of the Christmas tree down to me.

She also passed down her sweet tooth to me and today's recipe is her creation. It's a spin on Texas Millionaires and is Day 11 out of my 12 days of Christmas Recipes. It looks like I'll be right on time with my project. :) 

Missouri Millionaires (from my Mom's Best Recipes Book)
1 14-oz pkg caramels
2 T whole milk
1 1/2 C chopped cashews
1/4 chopped dried cranberries
1 giant Hershey milk chocolate bar (7.4 oz)
1/8+ block paraffin
(Chocolate Bark or Chocolate Candy Coating can substitute for the bar and paraffin)

Melt together caramels and milk in a double boiler.
Once melted, turn off stove and add cashews and cranberries.
Drop by tablespoon onto greased platter or wax paper and then chill in freezer.

Melt chocolate and paraffin (or Chocolate Bark/Coating) in double boiler. Remove candy from freezer and dip in chocolate mixture. Put back on wax paper/platter and chill. Once chocolate has solidified and cooled, serve and enjoy.

Bake well and prosper!

An Apple a Day - Last Recipe! Apple Dippings

It's the seventh and last day of

So, I know this last post isn't really a recipe, but when you have more apples on hand than you do time, think about this "recipe."

And if you DO have time to make more apple recipes, check out these blogs:

Baking Serendipity - Apple and Carrot Breakfast Muffins and Caramel Apple Crisp

Donuts to Delirium - Chai Spiced Applesauce

Susi's Kochen und Backen Adventures - Applesauce-Spice Cupcakes

Apple Dippings

Cut an apple and dip in any desired dip. Seen here: Caramel syrup, peanut butter, Nutella, and marshmallow fluff.

What's your favorite dip for an apple?

Bake well and prosper!

An Apple a Day - Animal Cracker Caramel Apple Cookies

Fun times! I had to improvise on an apple recipe I found for day 6 of

I found another awesome cookie recipe to make this time from Baking Junkie. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get some of the ingredients so I had to improvise. For instance? Animal crackers instead of graham crackers. Oh, and caramel syrup instead of pieces of caramel. The outcome? Still yummy! Everyone said they loved the texture/consistency of the cookie. (I'll make the recipe the other way NEXT fall.)

Animal Cracker Caramel Apple Cookies (adapted from Graham Cracker Caramel Apple Cookies)

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
1 cup animal cracker crumbs
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/3 C caramel syrup (add more if desired)
1 medium apple

Glaze:
4 Tbsp melted butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine butter and sugars. Add in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine flour, animal cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients and mix well. Add caramel to dough. Peel, core and chop apple into smaller pieces and add to dough. Place larger portions of dough into a greased muffin top pan (will make approximately 18), or form dough into small balls and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake approximately 13 minutes, or until tops of cookies are light golden brown. Allow to cool completely before removing from pans. Meanwhile, combine melted butter and vanilla, then powdered sugar. Add milk to thin (until you reach desired consistency).

Bake well and prosper!

An Apple a Day - Apple "Nacho" Bites

Welcome to Day 2 of

I'm really excited about this recipe. I saw it on Real Mom Kitchen and bought an apple corer that same day. (Laura aka Real Mom was even awesome enough to answer my question of if the apples turn brown too quickly with this recipe. Answer: She left them out for an hour and they didn't brown. Sweet!)

I made this last night and my boyfriend and I loved it! I even brought the ingredients in to work today to make it again for a yummy mid-afternoon snack.

I modified the slices of apple into chunks of apple seeing my upper arm strength is lacking and an apple corer made me sweat!

This is great for an pick me up at work or a go to after school snack!

Apple "Nacho" Bites (adapted from Real Mom's Apple Nachos)

Ingredients

•30 large marshmallows

•1/3 cup butter, cubed

•1/4 cup caramel apple dip
•4 medium tart apples, sliced into bite sized pieces (I used Macintosh apples)
•1/3 cup nut topping (the kind with the ice cram toppings) or chopped dry roasted peanuts
•1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1.In a large saucepan, melt marshmallows and butter.
2.Arrange apples in small bowls or plates. Place caramel dip into a quart sized zipper bag. Snip off one corner with some scissors and drizzle caramel over the apples.
3.Then drizzle with the marshmallow mixture. Sprinkle with nut topping and chocolate chips. Serve immediately.

Erika's Extra: I halved the recipe. I found that you can also microwave the butter and marshmallows (I used minis) and it yields the same results. Just microwave for 15 seconds, stir, and repeat until the gooey consistancy forms. Be careful though - the microwaved bowl will be hot!

Have you recently blogged about an apple dessert? Send me the link at erika8cookies@gmail.com. My last post in my Apple a Day posts will include a list of others' links of apple recipes. (Dessert only please!)Thanks!

 Bake well and prosper!