Caramel Macadamia Slice

This slice rocks! I made it for my dad to take to a farewell party at his work and it was a big hit. I adore caramel and matched with a bit of chocolate and some crunchy macadamias it is such perfection. The original slice called for a layer of chocolate on top but I substituted for choc chips and I think it really worked.

And there is not much else to say except this is delicious, you should try it!

Caramel Macadamia Slice

Adapted from food.ninemsn

What you will need

1/3 cup self-raising flour
1/3 cup plain flour
165g brown sugar
50g desiccated coconut
90g butter, melted
395g sweetened condensed milk
30g butter, extra
2 tablespoons golden syrup
3/4 cup coarsely chopped macadamias

3/4 cup milk choc chips

3/4 cup caramel choc chips

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 180*C and line a lamington pan with baking paper that extends over the sides. Sift flours and sugar into bowl, mix in coconut and butter. Press mixture evenly over base of pan. Bake 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, stir condensed milk, extra butter and syrup in small saucepan over medium heat about 15 minutes or until caramel mixture is golden brown. Pour caramel over base and smooth with metal spatula. Press nuts into caramel with spatula. Bake 5 minutes then sprinkle both choc chips over the top and return to oven for further 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in tray.

Rum, Caramel and Meringue Semifreddo

I love ice-cream. I like it soft and a little melty and any flavour will usually suffice. Maybe it's this hot humid weather that we experience this time of year in the north but I have been indulging in ice cream more than usual lately. I have a great recipe that I usually use to make a super delicious, super easy home ice-cream but have ventured out a little and found a different version that is still easy and yummo.

This recipe is a combination of a Caramel Semifreddo and Nigella's Meringue Gelato Cake. I added some rum ('tis the season) and created a delicious frozen dessert. You can call it anything really I won't hold it against you semifreddo, gelato or ice-cream. I'm sure there are proper definitions of each but it's all the same when its in my belly! The meringue gives it a little crunch of texture which I don't mind in ice-cream, and rum + caramel = great combination! Enjoy! Oh and apologies for the terrible photos, not my best effort :(

Rum, Caramel and Merengue Semifreddo

Adapted from Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites and Nigella.com

What you will need

4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
300ml thickened cream
1 can caramel top 'n' fill (or a tin of condensed milk boiled to caramel)
30mls rum
100g crushed meringues

What you will need to do

In a small bowl, whisk the caramel with the rum until smooth. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the cream and beat until thick. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture until just combined. Gently fold through spoonfuls of the caramel mixture and merengues until just combined, do not over mix. Pour mixture into a pan with at least 2l capacity. Freeze overnight.

Caramel Choc Chip Cookies

It’s official. I have worked out how to make thick soft cookies, just like I like them. The answer was there all along, on just about every cookie blog I read, but I only just opened my eyes to it now. The trick is not always in the mixture, although a good stiff cookie dough helps. It is in the traying up of the cookies. I have round, spherical measuring cups (but you could use an ice cream scoop) and I used the 1/4 cup to scoop out my mixture and place on my lined baking tray. This left me with high round mounds of cookie dough on my trays and that right there is the secret! Leave space in between each cookie to allow for expanding and spreading and take out of the oven just as they start to brown and you will have the perfect cookie. Thick and soft!

Well I know I have made several cookie recipes on this blog so far but I made this one on a whim because I found Caramel Choc Chips. What the? I am still coming to terms with it and trying to decide if they are milk chocolate with caramel flavouring, white chocolate with caramel flavouring or something completely different all together. Either way they were pretty tasty, not out of this world amazing, but still good.

They are a Nestle product and they can be found in the baking aisle at your supermarket. They have been out for a while but this week they were on special so I had to give them a go. These cookies are super dooper easy to make and as i’ve mentioned already, they are pretty perfect.

Caramel Choc Chip Cookies

Adapted from the recipe on the back of the Caramel Choc Chip packet :)

What you will need

125g butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 3/4 cups self raising flour
1 packet Caramel Choc Chips

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 200*C and line two baking trays with baking paper. In a bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, salt and egg and continue to beat. Mix in flour until just combined then add the choc chips and mix until all combined.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop (or anything similar you may have), scoop out mounds of dough and place them on the baking trays a good 5cm apart. Place trays in oven and turn heat down to 180*C. bake for 10- 15 minutes or until just starting to brown on edges. Remove from oven and cool on trays. Once cool enough to touch, slide onto a wire rack for further cooling.

Caramel (Dulce de leche)

I'm not doing a valentines day post, it is not really an event of high importance in our household. Sure it's nice to be spoiled for a day but when you are in a loving relationship, every day is like valentines day ( awwwww cheeeesey!)

I decided to try new recipes this year and to challenge myself in the kitchen, so this week I kept that in mind and decided to make caramel. I've always been scared to make it from melting sugar in a pan for fear of burning the sugar or myself and destroying my pans. So when I saw this recipe for caramel on SBS Food Safari I knew it was the one for me. It didn't involve melting sugar (YAY!), instead it used milk and sugar boiled until it thickened and caramelised.

This recipe is so easy, it uses few ingredients and its pretty hard to stuff up. The only down side to this recipe is that it takes a very long time. I didn't time myself exactly but I know it took at least an hour to make and that whole time you have to be there stirring the mixture. I even thought that maybe I had done something wrong and it wouldn't turn out but then you finally see it start to thicken and change colour and EUREKA you have caramel (an hour later).

This caramel can be used as a sauce for desserts, a filling for sweet pies, pastries and chocolates or simply eaten on its own! 

Caramel (dulce de leche)

Adapted from SBS Food Safari

What you will need

1 litre full cream milk

230g caster sugar

50g brown sugar

1/4 tsp bicarb soda

1 tsp vanilla

What you will need to do

Place one cup of milk, the caster sugar, bicarb soda and vanilla in a saucepan and on medium heat stir until all is dissolved. Cook while stirring until the mixture starts to turn caramel in colour.

Dissolving...

Cooking and bubbling...

Caramel colour change! Now add another cup of milk and the brown sugar, still stirring.

When it starts to thicken add another cup of milk and continue cooking and stirring.

As it thickens some more add the last of the milk and turn the heat down to medium-low. Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture darkens and thickens.

When it is ready you should be able to see the bottom of the saucepan when stirring. Take off the heat and continue to stir for another minute or two.

Caramel Ginger Rum Balls and Chocolate Cappuccino Balls

It's CHRISTMAS TIME!! Christmas is my favourite time of year, to me it is a chance to enjoy the company of family and friends whilst indulging just a little. I have to confess that I actually started celebrating Christmas this year in mid November... I just got too excited from seeing all the beautiful decorations up around the shopping centres and decided Christmas was coming early this year!

I love to bake Christmas treats as gifts for my friends and family (and a couple cheeky treats just for myself). I usually stick with the classics like rum balls and gingerbread men, but I like to add a little twist. This year I made two variations of rum balls, Chocolate Cappuccino and Caramel Ginger.

Caramel Ginger Balls

What you will need

1 packet ginger nuts
2 cups coconut
1 tin caramel fill
1/3 cup Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
1 cup plain biscuit crumbs
Extra coconut for rolling

What you will need to do

Crush ginger nuts in a food processor until fine crumbs. Place in a bowl with coconut and plain biscuit crumbs. Add caramel and rum and mix until combined. The dough should not be too wet, if it is just add more plain biscuit crumbs. Also taste to see if the rum flavour is sufficient, you can add more or less depending on your own preference. Place the bowl of dough into the fridge to set for an hour.

Set up a bowl (I used a cake tin) and place about a cup of coconut in it. Set up a tray and place mini cupcake papers on it. Take out the bowl of dough and roll tablespoons of mixture into balls.

Place the balls into the bowl with coconut and roll around until completely covered.

Take the balls out of the coconut and place into mini cupcake papers.

Chocolate Cappuccino Balls

What you will need

1 packet Double Choc-Chip Biscuits
2 cups coconut
1 tin condensed milk
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup plain biscuit crumbs
1/3 cup Cappuccino Liqueur
Chocolate sprinkles for rolling

What you will need to do

Crush the chocolate chip biscuits in a food processor until a fine crumb and place in a bowl. Add coconut, cocoa, plain biscuits and the condensed milk. Add the cappuccino liqueur to taste. If mixture is too wet add more plain biscuit crumbs. Place in fridge for an hour to firm up.

Set up a bowl (I used a cake tin) and place a small bag of chocolate sprinkles in it. Set up a tray and place mini cupcake papers on it. Take out the bowl of dough and roll tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place the balls into the bowl with sprinkles and roll around until completely covered. Take the balls out of the sprinkles and place into mini cupcake papers.

Banoffee Pie

In my opinion, the best fruit and sweet combination ever goes to banana and caramel! It wins over strawberries and chocolate, peaches and cream and fruit salad and ice cream every time. There is just something amazing about when that sweet gooey caramel blends with the smooth banana, I don't know how or why but it is just pure magic in my mouth.

I decided to make these delicious Banoffee Pies after seeing the recipe on Taste.com as the recipe of the day. It looked way too good to pass up so this weekend was to be Banoffee weekend! Instead of making one large pie, I made four small ones, only for the fact that I don't own a large pie tin. They were perfectly sized for one hungry person. 

In hindsight I would put more caramel and more banana into the pies, or just less crust and cream. The ratio was not quite right for my liking, but in saying that they were still super delicious! The addition of the chocolate bars on top just add another layer of flavour and texture to the pies and really top it off.

Banoffee Pie

(shamelessly stolen from taste.com)

What you will need

• 1 packet milk arrowroot biscuits

• 125g butter, melted

• 1 tin caramel top n fill

• 1 banana

• 300ml pure cream

• 1 flake bar

• 1 picnic bar

• 1 boost bar

What you will need to do

• Crush the biscuits in a food processor and then mix in a bowl with the melted butter. Divide mixture between 4 small pie tins. Press the mixture into the sides and bottom of tins to create the crust and leave in fridge to set for an hour.

• Empty the tin of caramel into a bowl and stir until smooth. Divide the caramel between the 4 pies and smooth out. Cut the banana into slices and arrange on top of the caramel. 

• Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Spoon or pipe on top of the pies.

• Roughly chop all the chocolate bars and sprinkle on top of the cream. Put pies in fridge for an hour to set.