Caramel Recipes Round Up for National Caramel Month!

Do you say car-mull or care-a-mel? I say carmull. Is that wrong? I don't know...car-a-mel sounds weird to me. *shrug* but I digress.

Caramel is a new love for me. I didn't used to think I really cared for it. Until I experienced good caramel. And now I can't get enough. Oh do you have salted caramel gelato? GET IN MY BELLY! Oh and you have caramel corn? Don't mind if I dooo. Is that a dark chocolate salted caramel truffle? GIMME! CARAMEL CARAMEL CARAMEL! Yayyyyy!

So, since October is National Caramel Month I thought I would celebrate my new favorite thing. Here are all the caramel recipes on this blog (so far-prepare thyself for many more!!)

Peanut Butter Caramel Pie

This recipe was supposed to be a copy cat recipe. But then I got a little too creative, and it sort of became it's whole, own, new thing. Which is totally awesome and delicious. And really...this just means I get to make another recipe to be the copy cat in the future.

Oh noooo not more caramel pie!  :P

In case you're curious, I was trying to copy cat the gooey caramel pie from O'Charley's restaurant (a place near our house that we frequent and which has the GENIUS promotion of Free Pie Wednesdays). I did want to add some oomph to the pie initially by making it a gooey salted caramel pie. But then I went a step further and, after seeing a recipe for peanut butter caramel and thinking OH MY YUM, made it a peanut butter caramel pie. And then I got lazy and saw a recipe for microwave caramel and...you get the idea. This is how we ended up with this pie.

Which is a couple steps too far removed to be a copy cat of the O'Charley's pie but...regardless...

still friggin delicious.

A delicious peanut butter graham cracker crust (my go-to graham cracker pie crust recipe, in fact) is topped with a layer of super easy to make (remember? lazy. Microwave caramel sauce. FORREAL) peanut butter caramel (which is super sweet but also rich and peanut buttery, and thusly has that delish salty element as well), some salted whipped cream (which I thought was genius but is actually kind of weird but, luckily, worked in this pie) and then some pecans because they're fun and tasty and were on that original pie.

PEANUT BUTTER FLAVOR TO THE MAX.

Sweet, salty, rich, gooey, crunchy, luscious....just....mmmm....ok?

And check back about that copy cat recipe....I'll get there (but in the meantime there's nothing wrong with creating a fun, entirely new thing, yeah? Yeah. No regrets about this pie. NONE.)

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Stuffed Toffee Chip Cookies for #CookieWeek

Here it is, my last #cookieweek post (although it lasts until the end of tomorrow, so you still have time to enter the giveaway and get more awesome recipes from the other participants!)! Susan of The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen and Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic have joined together this week with 23 of their blog friends to present to you a week of cookie treats! We have every type of cookie you can think of listed this week, including something for our furry friends! Now is the time to bookmark these recipes for the upcoming holidays and cookie swaps or simply visit our Pinterest board! Make sure you enter the giveaway with some fabulous prizes from KitchenAid, King Arthur Flour, OXO, Silpat and Zulka Pure Cane Sugar to help with your cookie making needs!

These cookies have been elevated in the pantheons to one of the all time best cookies that have ever graced my lips. But that's no surprise. I used one of my fave cookie bases (from these)-which has browned butter, used toffee chips, stuffed them with SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE, and sprinkled them with some more salt. Honestly...there's really no way to go wrong with these.

Now, like I said, there is caramel sauce stuffed inside these cookies. And caramel tends to ooze. So don't be alarmed if, when you pull the cookies out of the oven, you see some caramel has oozed out of them. That's totally ok. You can just use your spatula to mush it back to the edge of the cookie. Or leave it and just eat it as is. Yumminess either way.

These cookies are BIG.

They're crisp, yet chewy.

They have delicious bites of toffee, and ooey gooey salted caramel.

THEY ARE IRRESISTIBLE.

You're gonna love 'em.

Now check out all the other #CookieWeek recipes for today!:

• Bethmännchen cookies by Masala Herb
• Chewy Brigadeiro Pecan Bars by Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Cookie Thumbprints with Sweet Pepper Jelly by Omeletta
• Chocolate-Stuffed Gingerbread Cookies by i heart eating
• Earl Grey Icebox Cookies by Crumb
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Homemade Thin Mints by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies by Like Mother Like Daughter
• Miso Sesame Cookies by NinjaBaking.com
• Peppermint Cream Thumbprint Cookies by Beyond Frosting
• Salted Caramel Stuffed Toffee Chip Cookies by The Cooking Actress
• Sandwich Cookies by Texana's Kitchen
• Shortbread Christmas Mouse Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic

And continue on past the recipe to enter the giveaway!

Salted Caramel Ice Cream (No Ice Cream Maker!)-Stef's Virtual Baby Shower

EEEEE!! OMG...you guys...Stef, from Sarcastic Cooking, is gonna have a BABY BOY!!

yayyy!!!

I'm baby obsessed (seriously ask anyone, I ADORE babies. If I see your photos of your baby on facebook or instagram...that just like...makes my day. I fully intend to have a bunch of little ones myself someday and I just love em!) and Stef obsessed, for that matter, so when Stephie (my girl from Eat Your Heart Out) asked if I wanted to join in on a virtual baby shower for Stef, I immediately said YES!

Food bloggers (or maybe just bloggers in general) are weird creatures. I know that.

Nobody outside understands. I tell them I'm a part of a virtual baby shower and they're like "...so...they don't actually get to eat the food you're making for them?" and I'm like "well...no...but it's in spirit...just..ya know...ugh you don't get it." It's a thing though, ok? Just trust it is our way of saying WE LOVE YOU to our bloggy buds!

This is Stef and her husband Mike's first child, and I am just so psyched for them. I honestly can't even imagine how overwhelming and exciting this time must be for them! Stef seems totally cool as a cucumber though, and I know she's gonna make an amazing mom. When trying to brainstorm ideas for what to make for this post, I asked Stephie for any ideas, if Stef was craving anything in particular, etc. etc. and she mostly just said she's been a pickle fiend. Which of course made me think of the old pregnant woman stereotype of pickles and ice cream. And I figured well...if she's gonna eat her pickles, she might as well enjoy some spectacular ice cream as well, right? So I asked Stephie if she thought Stef would like the idea of salted caramel ice cream to which she responded, and I quote, "That's gonna get a resounding YES YUM ALL THE CARAMEL ICE CREAM THINGS response from her, haha!" So...there ya have it.

And, BONUS, since I'm sure Stef is busy preparing to be a mom, and will be even busier BEING a mom, this ice cream recipe is the no ice cream maker method. Which is the super easy, super quick way of making ice cream that I am addicted to! 

And we all remember that amazing salted caramel sauce recipe I shared on Monday? Yeah this ice cream tastes exactly like that...but in ice cream form (although feel free to use any caramel sauce you like). So prepare for incredibly rich, delicious, salted-caramel-flavor-packed ice cream! 

(and um...sorry for the not so inspiring photos. This particular ice cream recipe turned out rather soft so it didn't make for the most attractive pictures. Still looks delicious though, right? Right.)

So Stefanie, CONGRATULATIONS on your pregnancy, and your soon to be new little baby boy! I hope that all of us telling you you're amazing makes you smile, and that you want to eat your computer screen. Because of all the deliciousness we've made for you. <3!!!

Salted Caramel Sauce

I don't even know who I am anymore. 

I don't like caramel. I don't hate it but it's like eh...

or so I thought.

Turns out I freaking love caramel--salted caramel specifically, and especially if it is THIS salted caramel sauce. Where all other caramel seemed blah and so-so, this caramel is an explosion of heavenly rich and buttery and CARAMELIZED flavor! It's like...I never really had caramel before. We're starting over, caramel and I, turning over a new leaf and beginning a bigger. better, more amazing relationship.

I was definitely intimidated by the idea of making homemade caramel sauce, but was pleasantly surprised by what an easy time I had making this recipe! For one thing--this is the simplest recipe for caramel I've ever seen in terms of ingredients (gotta love a short ingredient list full of real things...like sugar...cream...butter), and really, once you're in it you just need to stay by the caramel on the stove and don't leave it and don't look away from it. Just follow the directions and be attentive, and make sure you already have all your ingredients ready. And use a saucepan that is deep enough that it doesn't splatter and burn you. Those are pretty much the rules of thumb and you should be good (that said um...I may have just gotten lucky...and everyone says this is really tricky so if at first you don't succeed, don't be discouraged! Just keep on trying! Get back on that caramel horse!) It's totally worth any and all effort. I meant to take step by step photos for you guys but....well...I was nervous to stray from the stove. If I ever get the courage and take those photos I will put them on here, I swear!

Also, side note: in these photos the sauce looks pretty thin, and it was--it was still pretty fresh. It will definitely thicken up as it cools (especially if/when you refrigerate it) so do not be worried about that at all. I worried about it at first, I was all "Uh...what did I do wrong?" and then a day later I was like "Yay! I did nothing wrong!"

I've used this salted caramel sauce in tons of things already (which you will be seeing on here) and I cannot wait to use it in more stuff (that I had previously always dismissed because uh...I didn't like caramel...supposedly?)! Honestly though, guys, I have to tell you...

I just ate this stuff with a spoon/my finger. Because...holy cannoli it is good. And addictive. And just like...when you taste it...you make a sound. You know the kind of sound I mean. Like just...mmmm so good! You know how I feel about the addition of salt with the sweet and this is the perfect marriage of those flavors. HOWEVER-if you're a crazy person (jk no judgsies here) and don't want the salt up in your caramel, go ahead and omit it. But you shouldn't. You should use the salt. Preferably something awesome like fleur de sel that is delicate and dissolves instantly. Because then you just have smooth smooth caramel and sweet sweet, almost burnt, just PERFECT flavor.

You know you want it.