Caramelized Pears

This pear recipe with a homemade pan caramel sauce is to die for! Salty, sweet and juicy all at the same time.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 pears, cored           

1/4 c. brown sugar   

1 tsp. vanilla

Pinch of salt

       

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high. Add pears cut side down and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and cook 3 minutes. Turn pears to other side and cook 4 minutes.

Add sugar and 1 tablespoon water, moving the pears around in the pan to combine the ingredients. Turn pears skin side down again and cook for two more minutes. Stir in vanilla and pinch of salt. Serve warm with light Cool Whip (or if you are a whipped cream fan).

Caramels with Rosemary Lavender Sea Salt

This homemade caramels recipe is literally made right in your microwave! The key to this recipe is having a microwavable mixing bowl or 8 cup measuring bowl that is high on the edges so that the caramel mixture doesn't bubble over the sides. From someone who has never made caramel before this, the microwave makes these very easy!

Ingredients:

4 Tbs. butter, cubed
1 c. dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. light corn syrup
2/3 c. sweetened condensed milk, low fat
1/2 tsp. vanilla
*Rosemary Lavender Sea Salt (you could use normal sea salt and a small amount of rosemary)

Grease an 8x8 baking pan with butter on the bottom and up the edges. Line the pan with parchment paper and smooth down. Set aside.

Add the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup to the microwave safe dish. Microwave on 100% power for 2 minutes.

Stir the mixture and microwave for another two minutes. Stir again. Add the sweetened condensed milk. Microwave for 3 more minutes.

Watch carefully as the mixture microwaves so that it doesn't bubble over. If it looks like it might, open the microwave door until the bubbles go back down. Add the vanilla and stir until well combined. 

Pour the caramel into the prepared pan and smooth out. Sprinkle with the sea salt mixture. Let cool fully.

Lift the caramel out of the pan using the parchment paper and set on a flat surface. 

Using a pizza cutter (yes, I said pizza cutter!), cut the caramel into strips, and then turn the other way to cut into rectangles or squares. From here, cut wax paper into strips and then squares big enough to wrap a caramel in. I wrapped mine three different ways. Some I folded in half and wrapped them like a tootsie roll by twisting the ends of the wax paper. I also placed a full caramel square and twisted the ends. To make some look fancier than normal, I folded the wax paper around the caramel and used string to tie around it.

Caramelized Cinnamon Acorn Squash Seeds

 

Remember in my dill pumpkin seed recipe when I said never throw seeds away, you can always do something with them? Well, I wasn't kidding. If they are big enough to soak and turn into something amazing, wouldn't you want to try? These acorn squash seeds turned out perfect, and are great as a snack or topping on a dessert!

Ingredients:

Seeds, soaked overnight in a salt water
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper and set aside. Using a straining spoon or mesh strainer, drain the water from the seeds and place on a paper towel or kitchen towel. Pat the seeds dry and transfer to a small bowl. Add in the olive oil, cinnamon, sugar and salt and toss to coat the seeds. Spread out in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 23-25 minutes, checking to make sure the brown sugar doesn't burn towards the end or over brown. Let cool slightly and break into pieces. They almost have the consistency of a brittle.

Bloomin Caramel Apples

Well, it's officially fall, and even though it is my favorite season of the year, summer went by WAY too fast! This season focuses on some of the yummiest flavors of the year; apples, pumpkin and spice. It's the season of jeans and a sweatshirt (especially here in the UP), eating a bowl of apple cobbler with ice cream on top, sitting by a bonfire and sipping on hot chocolate. This recipe highlights the apple, adding some familiar flavors that go along with them like caramel and brown sugar.

Ingredients:

2 apples (I used Braeburn, you can use honeycrisp or fuji or any crisp apple)
2 Tbs. margarine
3 Tbs. brown sugar, heaping
1 Tbs. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
4 caramels, soft, taken out of plastic
* Frozen vanilla yogurt, low fat
* Caramel ice cream topping

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Take each apple, and cut about 1/5 of the top off. Using a melon baller (not an apple corer, that goes in too far), scoop out the seeds from the inside leaving a hole in the center of both (as shown in above picture). Using a paring knife, cut two internal circles spaced out evenly, and make sure not to go all of the way down to the bottom. Flip the apples over, placing them cut side down. Starting at about 1/3 inch down from the top, use the paring knife to make narrow cuts around the apple. Flip them back over and place them in an oven safe baking dish. Place two caramels in the center of each apple.

In a small microwave safe bowl, heat the margarine and brown sugar together for about 25 seconds or until the butter is most of the way melted. Add the flour and cinnamon, and stir until a thick sauce forms. Pour the mixture on top of both apples, letting the sauce run over the top and cover the sides. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, depending on the size of the apple.

Remove from the oven and place each apple in your serving dishes. Spoon the brown sugar sauce on top of each. Spread out the "petals" slightly so that the sauce seeps into the cracks. Top with frozen yogurt and caramel sauce if desired.

Sugar Free Caramel Apple Cookies

For the past three days it has been rainy out. Most people are complaining because we went from 90 degrees to 70 but you will not hear any complaint from me. I am burnt all over the upper half of my body from being out in the sun all weekend and I am glad it has finally cooled off. Not to mention that the plants and grass are finally getting water since we have had a terribly dry summer so far. Rainy days always make me think of fall, and fall always makes me think of apples. I know quite a few people that are diabetic or can't have a lot of sugar, so this recipe is perfect for everyone!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 sticks margarine, softened
3/4 c. Splenda brown sugar
2 eggs
2.75 oz. bag Werther's Sugar Free Caramel Apple candies, crushed
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the margarine and brown sugar in an electric mixer. Add the eggs, followed by the dry ingredients. On low speed, add in the crushed candies and chopped apple. Refrigerate the dough for at least a half an hour to make the dough less sticky and more pliable to work with. Drop by heaping tablespoon onto an ungreased non-stick cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool a minute on the baking sheet. Cool fully on a flat surface or wire rack before storing in an air tight container.

Flan

 

This is one of those desserts that either goes unbelievably smooth and turns out perfect, or just ends up as a huge disaster. This was also my first time making it....ever. Please believe me when I say, that this is the EASIEST Flan recipe ever!

Ingredients:

2 cans (14.5 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1% milk, enough to fill both empty condensed milk cans
1 Tbs. vanilla
10 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 7 1/2 x 12 inch glass baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Set inside a larger pan and fill the outside pan with water until it reaches half way up the side of the smaller glass pan. In a blender, mix the condensed milk, milk, vanilla, eggs and salt together until well blended.

To make the caramel sauce, pour the two cups of sugar in a medium size saucepan. Heat to medium-high heat and start stirring constantly until the sugar starts to melt. It takes a while, and starts looking like the picture above, like large clumps. Keep stirring until all of the sugar is dissolved and you are left with a smooth caramel. If you burn the sugar in any part of this step, you need to start over or the whole dessert will taste bitter.

Pour the caramel into the prepared 7 1/2 x 11 pan, making sure it covers the entire bottom of the pan. Pour the egg mixture on top of that. Cover the smaller pan with tinfoil making sure it doesn't touch the liquid mixture. Bake in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the Flan is set (it only took 1 1/2 hours for me). Let cool fully overnight in the refrigerator. Transpose onto your serving platter, being very careful because the caramel comes out fast. Cut into slices and serve.

Salted Caramel Brownie Cookies

Ingredients:

6 oz. dark chocolate chips

4 Tbs. margarine

2 eggs
2/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 bag Nestle DelightFulls milk chocolate morsels with caramel filling (pictured below)

1 Tbs. sea salt (give or take)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a double boiler (or a glass bowl set on top/inside of a saucepan with a few inches of water), heat the water until boiling. Add the chocolate chips and margarine into the  glass bowl. As they start to melt, start slowly combining together with a spatula. When the chocolate and butter are fully melted and combined, remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla together on a medium-high speed for 9-11 minutes until the mixture gets a stiff consistency. On low, add the flour and baking powder until mixed. Slowly add in the melted chocolate and the caramel filled morsels. Let sit for 5 minutes for the batter to get stiff. Spoon (or use scoop) 1 Tbs. of the batter into a parchment lined baking sheet. Make sure you leave plenty of room for the cookies to spread (I had enough room for around 8 cookies per batch). Sprinkle the tops with a small pinch of sea salt. Bake for 8 minutes in the oven. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing from the parchment paper, and cool fully on a wire rack.

Caramel Apple Punch

This is one of the best fall punches I have EVER made. Perfect for any fall gathering. It is a very sweet and slightly tangy apple taste, with a hint of caramel (so just like a caramel apple, minus the mess and stickiness).

Ingredients:

1 jug apple juice
1 2 liter Canada Dry or Vernors Gingerale
1/2 bottle Caramel Apple Vodka

Mix ingredients together in a punch bowl. It is that easy. If you want to make it more visually appealing, slice apples into thin circles and remove the seeds. Float on top of the punch and the core makes a very pretty star pattern in the middle.

Banana Dulce De Leche Pie

Ingredients:

1/2 dough recipe from my baby pasty recipe
1 jar Dulce De Leche
4 medium bananas, cut into slices
coarse sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to fit a 9 inch pie pan. Spray the pan with non stick cooking spray and place the crust over top. Crimp the edges so that there is no remaining crust hanging off the side. Spray the crust edges with non stick cooking spray and sprinkle with coarse sugar. In a medium size bowl, stir the bananas and Dulce De Leche together and pour into the prepared pie crust. Bake for 25-35 minutes until the crust is fully cooked through. Let cool before slicing.

Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars

Ingredients:

1 stick margarine
1 c. shredded coconut
1 c. dark brown sugar
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt (plus more for topping)
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbs. margarine, softened
1 Tbs. light corn syrup
1 1/2 - 2 c. milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a 13x9 pan with tinfoil and spray with non stick cooking spray. Combine the coconut, brown sugar, flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Melt the margarine in the microwave and add to the dry mix. Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the condensed milk, margarine and corn syrup on low heat until everything starts to get a medium brown color (about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally). Pour on top of the crust and bake for an additional 12-13 minutes. Let cool. Melt the milk chocolate chips in a double boiler until smooth and spread on top of the bars. Sprinkle with sea salt. Cool in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set. Then let sit out and get to room temperature before trying to cut into bars.

Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/3 c. oats
1 c. brown sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick margarine, melted and cooled
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
40 soft caramel candies, wrapping taken off
6 Tbs. half and half

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and melted butter, and mix with a spatula until everything is well combined (it will look crumbly). Leave about 1/4 of the crumble in the bowl for the top of the bars later on. Press into a 13x9 baking pan lined with tinfoil and sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Let cool.

Melt the caramel and half and half in a microwave safe bowl for 1 1/2 minutes on 50% power, stir, and microwave again if necessary. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly on top of the crust. Pour the caramel on top of the chocolate chips. Sprinkle with the remaining oatmeal crumble, and bake again for 15-20 minutes. Let cool fully before cutting.