Salted Caramel Frosted Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Filling

Sweet and salty and creamy -

this is one temptation that you

might want to just eat by the spoonfulls

or even pipe it straight into your mouth!

I am not kidding!  This is divine.

Of course you would never serve something without

taste testing it, especially a new recipe

but this recipe has to come with a warning - 

once you taste test, you might keep tasting

and tasting and tasting!

Wow!  Stop now - skip the cupcakes - just indulge!!

Ok, I had to take the cupcakes to an event

so I had to keep on

going but this is unbelievable!

I have been searching for a Salted Caramel Frosting

recipe that didn't start with melted sugar (as I have

not liked working with melted sugar for a caramel sauce)

and this one by 

Sally at Sally's Baking Addiction

made me excited to try it.

I adjusted it a bit (don't we always do that)

and loved the end result.  I also used her recipe

for the semi-homemade chocolate cupcakes too

and they were great.

Salted Caramel Frosting

1 C. melted butter

2 C. dark brown sugar

2/3 C. heavy cream plus 2-4 T. additional

1/2 tsp. salt

6 C. powdered sugar

Additional coarse sea salt if desired

In a medium saucepan stir together the

melted butter, brown sugar and cream.  

Heat the mixture together over medium heat

until the sugar crystals have all melted.  Add

salt and bring to a rolling boil and boil for 3 minutes.

It should form a soft ball when dropped into a

glass of cold water.

Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

Don't be tempted to rush this step.  I let mine

cool overnight.  Mine ended up much thicker

than hers appears as I boiled it for an extra minute.

Remove about 1/2 C. caramel for filling the cupcakes.

Place the remaining caramel in a large mixer bowl

and add the 6 C. of powdered sugar.  Add 2 T. cream

and begin to mix the frosting with the whip attachment.

Add additional cream if needed until you create a soft, fluffy

frosting.

Hollow out chocolate or vanilla cupcakes and pipe

a small amount of caramel into the cupcake. 

Frost and sprinkle with additional coarse

sea salt if desired.  I piped the frosting on

with a 1M tip in a rose design.  

Enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

(I filled some with chocolate ganache too but

preferred the caramel filling.)

Click here for printable recipe.

Fabulous!

I will be posting this with

The Scoop

Foodie Friday

Caramel Oreo Brownies

Caramel and Oreos and Chocolate,

OH MY!

Let's just stuff every yummy ingredient

we can think of into the middle of

double chocolatey brownies and let

the yumminess begin.

My sister in law Michele had made

these and though I didn't get one of

hers, I took it on my sister Jean's word

that I had to try these.  

Yup!  They were right.  

These are amazing and not

as rich as I thought (meaning, I

could eat more than one - no problem!)

The batter made from a cake mix is

stuffed with chocolate chips and after

a little baking is topped with Oreos and

caramel and then more batter.  

What more needs to be said???

Caramel Oreo Brownies

(Very slight variation from Easy Baked)

1 pkg. Chocolate Cake Mix

(I like Betty Crocker's Triple Chocolate)

1/3 C. oil

2 eggs

1 12 oz. pkg. milk chocolate chips

1 12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

24 Double Stuffed Oreos

32 unwrapped Kraft Caramels

1/2 C. butter

1 14 oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Line a 9x13 inch pan with foil (if

you don't do this, you will have a hard 

time with the caramel sticking to the sides).

Spray the bottom with oil.

Heat oven to 350.

In a large mixer bowl mix the cake mix,

oil and 2 eggs until blended.  Stir in the

chocolate chips.

Place half of the batter into the bottom

of the prepared pan.  It won't completely cover

the bottom of the pan but it will fill in as it

bakes.  Bake this for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile place the caramels, butter

and the sweetened condensed milk (minus

1 T.) in a saucepan and melt the caramels.

Stir constantly until melted and smooth.

Remove the pan from the oven and place

24 Oreos on the top of the baked cookies.

Now pour the caramel over the cookies.

Finish by topping the pan with the remaining

batter.  You need to take small amounts

and flatten them out in your hands to try

and cover as much of the top as you can.  

Spray your hands with oil as needed.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Let cool in the pan.  When cool, lift the foil out

of the pan and peel it away from the edges,

then cut into squares.  I cut mine into 24

pieces.  These really cut best if you let them

cool overnight, but sometimes you just can't

wait that long.

Cut into 24 squares.

Click here for a printable recipe.

We have already made these twice

and I have people asking for more!  

They were fabulous!!

I will be posting with 

Foodie Friday

Caramel Toffee Dip Using Heath Toffee Bits

You know the Boy Scout saying, "Do A Good Turn Daily"?

Who knew that doing a good turn would result in a 

delicious new recipe?

I was at the grocery store the other day when I saw my

elderly neighbor Madelyn.  I stopped to chat and

she was frustrated because she couldn't find

any Heath Toffee Bits.  She also commented on

how important it was to get these for a group

that was coming over and that she had come all

the way out in the terrible snowy weather.

She had looked in the baking aisle and had

asked a clerk and they said to check the candy aisle.

After chatting and wishing her luck with finding

the Toffee bits, I walked away.  Then the thought

came to me to go and check the baking aisle for her.

I try to act on those moments of inspiration and

I headed off to the baking aisle rather than

to the checkout stand.  Sure enough, there they

were tucked away on the side, easy to miss.

I grabbed a bag for her and one for me.  I wanted

the recipe to this dip that would include Heath Toffee Bits.

I caught up with Madelyn and she was thrilled.  Now she didn't 

have to try another store.  She quickly got the recipe off

her smart phone that her daughter had send her.

Caramel Toffee Dip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 C. sugar

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

5/8 C. Heath Toffee Bits (the recipe called

for half a bag so I measure the bag and it was 1 1/4 C.)

Place the cream cheese, sugars and vanilla in mixing bowl

and mix until creamy.  Mix in the Heath Toffee Bits.

Place in a smaller bowl and cover and refrigerate for

several hours or overnight for the flavors to blend.

Serve with fresh fruit and cookies.

It is so delicious - creamy and caramelly and filled with

soft crunchy bits.

I served mine with bananas, Gala apples, fresh raspberries (I would

have used strawberries but I had the raspberries, and Chessman cookies.

It is delicious all by itself.  I liked the Chessman cookies best

and then the bananas.  My daughter liked the apples best and

hubby loved it all, but we all agreed it was great straight from

the spoon. 

Thanks Madelyn.

Super easy and quick and super delicious.

I will be posting with

On The Menu Monday

Fantastic Turtles with Homemade Caramel

Turtles with homemade caramel are really

easy to make and give that WOW factor

for a nice gift.

Lots of my friends prefer nuts and chews to the

cream centers so turtles are a great choice for them.

Easy Homemade Caramel Recipe

1 C. melted butter

1 C. light corn syrup

2 C. brown sugar

1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Before you begin any candy recipe, you should

calibrate your thermometer.  In the mountains here,

it is going to boil at a different temperature than at

sea level.  Mine boils at 200 and water should boil

at 212, so I must subtract 12 degrees off any recipe

I make.

In a heavy saucepan, mix the above.  Bring to a boil,

stirring constantly on medium high.  Turn the heat down

and keep it on low to keep the caramel from scorching.

After it comes to a boil wash down the sides of the

pan with a pastry brush and water (to catch any 

undissolved sugar).  

When the candy reaches 238 (sea level - so I cooked

 mine to 226) pull it off the heat and stir in 1 tsp. vanilla.

Pour into a buttered pan for caramels that you

cut and dip or spoon onto a pan of nuts that

you want to make into turtles.

Top with melted chocolate.  I use dipping chocolate

but you need to melt it and then let it cool to about

90 degrees, stirring in between each few.  If you don't

let it cool and then stir it constantly it will streak.

Get a little instant read thermometer to make sure

that it is cool enough.  Also you should work with

dipping chocolate in a room that is between 65 and70

degrees.

(I usually use Peters, Guittard or Merckens dipping

chocolate.  It can be purchased online if you don't

have any specialty stores that sell it.)

You can also top it with chocolate molding discs

if you don't want to mess with real chocolate.  It

won't taste as good, but the newer discs are pretty

good.  Chocolate chips work too with just a touch

of shortening - which helps it from streaking, but

still cool it.  

Put it in a pretty box with colored

tissue for a great presentation.

Fill a parchment paper lined 

cookie sheet with broken pecan

pieces.  Spoon the hot caramel by soup

spoonfuls onto the nuts leaving space between.

I have never done this before, but I decided to use

a small round cookie cutter to make the turtles

into a perfect round shape.

I love how they look perfectly round!

You can either top the turtles with chocolate or

you can dip the entire turtle.  I do both but today

I just spooned and swirled chocolate on the tops.

Now I want to show my beautiful

bangle bracelets that I received

this week in the mail from Marsha

at 

Splenderosa.

Marsha designs and sells exquisite jewelry

and she had a giveaway.  I got to choose which

color of stone I wanted.  I have worn them

every day!  

They are dressy but look great

with a sweater or leather jacket and jeans.

Visit Marsha's stylish blog and Etsy shop.

There is something for all price ranges.

 She always has

the latest in fashion and everything is just a 

visual delight.

I will be posting this with

Weekend Wrapup

Sweets for a Saturday

Pink Saturday

Foodie Friday

Seasonal Sunday