Caramels

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These are good. But…I had to try the recipe twice. The first time, I followed the directions exactly and I couldn’t get the mixture to heat past 200 degrees. Frustrated (but determined), I tried it again. This time, instead of heating it on low like the directions stated, I heated it on medium-high. I know, I’m such a rebel. But it worked.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus some for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Pinch salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
2. Combine all ingredients except vanilla in a small saucepan and turn the heat to low. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves, then cook, stirring only occassionally, until the mixture measures 245 degrees.
3. Stir in the vanilla and pour into the prepared pan. When the mixture has cooled to room temperature, remove the block of caramel from the pan and use a sharp knife to cut it into small squares. Wrap each square in waxed paper or plastic wrap. These keep for weeks, but are best eaten fresh.

Note: I used a pizza cutter instead of a knife to cut the squares.

Recipe from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

New Feature–Recipe Ratings

[ratings]

I installed a plugin that will allow me (and you) to rate the recipes I post. It’s simple–just choose the number of stars you think a recipe deserves, the rating will refresh, then it will display. Feel free to test it out on this post.

Before I add this to all the posts, I wanted to see if anyone notices any problems. I thought the page was loading slowly, but my Internet connection at home is all messed up. Let me know if you find any issues with it!

My Kitchen

As part of a challenge by Ilva at Lucullian Delights, Kristen over at Dine and Dish posted a picture of her huge kitchen. Naturally, I decided to do the same.

However, being as I live in Hollywood, in a rent controlled one-bedroom apartment built in the 70s, my kitchen is not pretty, or clutter-free, or huge like Kristin’s. And while it’s going through a bit of an identity crisis, the brown tile floor, Formica counter tops, brightly colored knobs, and my KitchenAid mixer are somehow living together in harmony.

So yes, this is where, lately, the magic has been happening.

Toll House Crumbcake

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Flipping through my cookbooks, I decided to try this recipe based on the awesome looking picture and the crumb topping. Well, I’m sad to say that a) my finished cake looks ugly and absolutely nothing like the picture; b) I somehow messed up the crumb topping; and c) I didn’t read the recipe thoroughly and used regular sized chocolate chips instead of minis (all the while thinking, wow, mini chips would probably be better here).

Regarding the crumb topping–it well, didn’t, “crumb.” It sort of mushed instead. Then after it was baked, it sort of got soggy. Yeah I know, sounds delicious. And since that wasn’t enough of a disaster, my non-crumb crumb barely covered half the baking dish (perhaps because I omitted the nuts?) so I ended up making more topping with the same non-crumb result.

While the cake is really ugly, it’s also quite moist. I can’t really comment on the taste as I have some temporary taste bud loss due to the tonsillectomy and anything sweet tastes metallic-y to me at the moment. Would I make it again? That depends on how well it goes over at the office tomorrow.

Ingredients
Topping
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels

Cake
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 taspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch pan.
2. For topping: combine brown sugar, flour and butter in small bowl with pastry blender or two knives until crumbly. Stir in nuts and 1/2 cup morsels.
3. For cake: combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat granulated sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add flour mixture alternately with sour cream. Fold in remaining morsels. Spread into prepared baking pan; sprinkle with topping.
4. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Recipe from The Baking Bible.

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