Month December 2011

Salted Caramel Candies

Carroll 7 Comments

On The Third Day of Christmas Cookies… I found the Sea Salt!

Melt in your mouth perfect!

This is a recipe from the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, straight from the Bakery.  There is an amazing restaurant, Salt, at the resort, which Sir Wes and I love to indulge at for our anniversary.  On the last trip to Amelia, we discovered these indescribably, ridiculous, caramels, made from the restaurants specialty sea salt collection.  They are amazing! 

I followed the exact recipe from the Ritz Carlton kitchen-

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1.7 pounds       Unsalted Butter
  • 2 cups               Heavy Cream
  • 1 Tbsp              Fleur Del Sel (salt)
  • ½ cup               Glucose Syrup
  • 5 cups               Sugar, Granulated 
  •                           Water

 PREPARATION:

  • In medium sauce pan, heat butter, heavy cream, and fleur del sel salt until mixture starts to simmer. Remove from heat and set aside.
  • In large pot, place the sugar and glucose, add enough water to the sugars so when mixed, the sugars resemble wet sand. Using a pastry brush, wash the sides of the pot with water so that there is no sugar on the sides (otherwise your sugar will crystallize).
  • Cook the sugar on high with a lid. Remove the lid once the sugars have dissolved and the mixture is bubbling.
  • When the sugar reaches a light amber color, slowly pour the cream mixture on top of the sugar. Pour about a third of the cream and then whisk, repeating until you have used all the cream. CAUTION! The mixture will bubble up and release lots of steam.
  • Place your thermometer into the sugar. Continue to cook the sugar until it reaches 125 Celsius. Occasionally whisk the sugar while the temperature is rising. Have your silpat-lined tray ready on a heat resistance surface.
  • Once the caramel reaches 125 Celsius, pour onto the silpat covered tray. Be careful as sugar is extremely hot. Let set for 4 hours.
  • Run knife around the sides of pan and flip caramel onto cutting board.
  • Sprinkle with extra fleur del sel salt, cut into pieces and enjoy!

    Just the right amount of salty and sweet!

 

Notes:

Glucose Syrup may be purchased in most craft stores (i.e. Michaels) in the cake decorating or candy sections. It is extremely sticky. The best way to measure it is by using a glove. Fleur Del Sel salt is available in our “Salt Shop” at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island and may be found in an upscale grocery store.

You’ll need a silpat (silicone non-stick baking mat available at Williams Sonoma) to line the tray you pour the caramel. Use a candy thermometer or digital thermometer to read temperatures up to 125 Celsius.

Salted Caramel Candies

 Salted Caramels….I don’t think I can ever go back to Caramel Squares- Sorry Kraft!

Chewy Lemon Basil Cookies

Carroll 6 Comments

On The Second Day of Christmas Cookies….

It tis’ the season for Christmas Cookies!  The last few years I have been baking the Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies and I thought I would share the recipes this year.  There are always a few cookies I love and repeat each year- this recipe is definetly a keeper!!

Chewy Lemon Basil Cookies

Inspired by How Sweet It Is , these just looked so mouthwatering, and I am a sucker for all things lemon!

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 1 stick ( 1/2 cup) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

 1 cup granulated sugar

 1/4 cup brown sugar

 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest/rind

 ½ Vanilla Bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon finely chopped basil

Glaze

½ cup confectioner sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice, milk or water

Super Light and Refreshing!

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in mixing bowl and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, add cooled, melted butter and add sugar, mixing until creamy. Add in egg and egg yolk, mixing to combine, and then blend in vanilla and lemon extracts, lemon juice, lemon zest and basil. Slowly stir in dry ingredients, mixing until a dough forms.

Using an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, scoop the dough into rounded balls and place on a baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until middle is just set an edges are slightly golden.

While cookies are cooling, mix glaze and add into a pastry bag with a fine tip.  If you don’t have a pastry bag, put the glaze in a small ziplock and snip a tiny corner.  Carefully stripe the cookies with the glaze and allow to set for 1 or 2 hours.

Basil adds a great twist to a typical pile of Christmas cookies

These little guys are so light and lemony! The basil flavor is an unexpected surprise!

Chocolate Ginger Cookies- The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

Carroll 5 Comments

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

I was so excited to participate in the first ever Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, hosted by Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen.  It was fairly simple, I made and sent a dozen cookies to three participants and three other food bloggers sent a dozen to me!  Pretty easy, once I was finally able to decide on which cookies to send!!   Convinced by Sir Wes, I picked his favorite, Martha Stewart’s Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookie, these little guys have a lot of punch and are delicious! 

The kick in these cookies warm you up!

 They don’t last long in our house!!  If you prefer a lighter ginger flavor, you can cut the fresh ginger by half!

Chocolate Ginger Cookies Mise En Place!

Ingredients

  • 7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate chunks
  • 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (cut by half if you want a mild ginger kick)
  • 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar

    Little Balls of Dough, dropped in sugar before baking.

Directions

  1. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.
  3. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.
  4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

    Warm and Decadent! Packed with Punch!

We look forward to these cookies all year! 

Sir Wes says these cookies "Have moves like Jagger!"

To ship cookies, check out this link, which offers great tips to keep your little gems safe and sound.  I packed up my cookies with plenty of cushion, using tissue paper and filler from the paper shredder. 

Ready to be shipped across the country!

Many thanks to Lindsay and Julie, the hosts of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, who spent many hours orchestrating  food bloggers across the world!!!  I hope  Also, the cookies I received from Kate, Eleana and Mackenzie were sinfully delicious, just amazing!!  If you would like to partipate next year in the swap, sign up for notifications here!

Let the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies begin!!!!

Maple Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes

Carroll 15 Comments

We had a breakfast a few months ago at work and served these decadent bakery treats!  I was so impressed I brought the idea home to Sir Wes, with the help of a recipe from The Novice Chef.    I have to confess, I am not a bacon eater, which is just a personal preference but my taste testers all agree- they soooo good!  They are kind of ridiculous, the kind of breakfast that stays with you all day.

Just a "little" sinful!

Here is the how the Novice Chef told me to make them-

Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

Recipe Notes: There are two important ingredients for this cupcake. First being the bacon, of course. Don’t cheat yourself by using turkey bacon…or worse…pre-cooked bacon! Use good, quality bacon. Trust me, it is worth it. And also spend the money and buy the pure maple syrup. I promise you that Aunt Jemima just ain’t gonna cut it in this recipe!

Ingredients:

For cake:
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 cup bacon, cooked and chopped

For Maple frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup pure maple syrup; plus more for drizzling
1 teaspoon salt

As Sir Wes says- "Bacon Makes Everything Better"

Directions:

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each. Remove from stand mixer and gently fold in bacon.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Frost as desired.

For the frosting:
Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, salt and pure maple syrup and combine well.

Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, give it a taste and decide if you want to add in more maple syrup. For thicker frosting you can gradually add in a little more sugar.

Garnish with chopped bacon and a drizzle of pure maple syrup if you wish.

Maple Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes

Pretzel Bread Pudding – A Ballpark in Your Oven!

Carroll 5 Comments
Not to long ago I posted a bread pudding made with eggplant, and explained that we are loving savory bread puddings at work this year.  A few years ago I made Caraway and Shallot Pretzel Bread Pudding Kebabs with a Honey Porter Cheddar Sauce for a Tail Gate themed event and they were fabulous!   We switched it up a bit recently at work and brought the Ballpark to the Bread Pudding , which has become a house favorite! Apparently there are a lot of pretzel bread fans at work. 

Ball Park Bread Pudding

 

Mustard, Onion and Pretzel Bread Pudding

  • 26 oz frozen soft pretzels
  • 1 large yellow onions, sliced and caramelized
  • 5 whole eggs
  • 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoon yellow mustard
  • 2 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
  • 2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

    Frozen Unbaked Soft Pretzels, cut into large bites

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut unbaked pretzels into large bites and put into a cooking spray coated 9×12 baking dish.  Spread caramelized onion evenly over pretzel pieces.  In a mixing bowl combine remaining ingredients and mix well.  Pour over pretzels and onions and gently stir so all is coated.  Bake in oven for about 45 minutes, until center is done.

Cream, egg and mustard whipped up, ready to pour in!

The best part is how simple and very little prep it takes to prepare this fun dish!

Ummm, it's going to be good!!!!

I think this would be a perfect dish for cookouts, it will feed about 8 friends, depending on what else you have on the menu.

Pour it evenly and then follow up with a good stir, making sure all the bread is coated!

The smell that fills the house is kind of amazing, definitely got my stomach growling!

Mustard, Onion, and Pretzel Bread Pudding!

Honestly, I’ll take anything pretzel bread, because my love of it, but this dish goes way beyond being delicious! Enjoy!