Thursday, September 22, 2011

Where Have I Been??

Not only have I been home, but I go here and hit the ground running. I thought that I would be able to get caught up on the things I wanted. Somehow, the things I want to do turned into baking instead of crafting. So when I make the free time, I find new ideas on Pinterest and put them to work! If you have not discovered Pinterest, you are missing out on a whole world of ideas.

Here is one of the recipes that I have been dying (literally on my death bed) to try out.
Salted Caramel Brownies. I pulled this recipe from "She's Becoming Doughmesstic" I call them salted because I did NOT use Sea Salt, so if you do not have sea salt, do not stress out!


caramel in the making
Sea Salt Caramel – adapted from Baked Cookbook
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt.  Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved. Set it aside.
In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes.  Without a thermometer, just pull the sugar off the heat when it is a medium goldish brown – it will continue to cook in the heat of the pan. Better to pull it too early than too late. Remove from the heat and let cool for one minute.
Add the cream mixture and the vanilla to the sugar mixture.  Whisk in the sour cream.  Let the caramel cool to room temp, then follow the brownie instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate any leftover caramel. it makes a great ice cream topping or tastes great straight out of the jar.

melting 4oz. of chocolate with butter
brownie batter all combined
 
Brownies

Ingredients
  • 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • pinch salt
  • 3 Tbsp Chocolate Syrup
  • half of the above caramel recipe
straight out the oven!
Preheat oven to 325F.
Melt Chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
In a bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until well combined
Add flour, salt, chocolate syrup and chocolate mixture and blend well.
In a greased 8×8 pan, pour a little over half of the brownie batter and bake for 18 minutes.  Remove from oven and pour in the caramel.  On top of the caramel, add the rest of your brownie batter. If it doesn’t pour smoothly, just plop it in a swirl it around a little bit.  Return to oven and bake for another 18-22 minutes.  Brownies will still appear a little shaky, due to the caramel, but they will firm up once cooled. Be careful to not overbake.
the finished product. UH YUM!!!!!









Hope Y'all enjoy as much as I did!!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Day 26- what do you think about your friends?

What do I think about my friends? 
That seems like a silly question because if they are my friends I clearly think they are great. Honestly, I am blessed with the friends that I have. The friends that I make turn out to be friends that will be there for the long haul. Which I think is important to have. 
I love each and every one of my friends and am grateful for the close, personal relationship that we have. 


Most importantly, if each of them can put up with me for longer than 15 minutes, they should be considered a friend for life!!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I Confess...

I confess, its been way to long since my last post. now that I have no plans to leave Texas any time soon. I will be more dedicated to writing new posts on a consistent basis.

I confess, I sometimes wish that someone would remake the Golden Girls series and let me be a part of it. Thank you for being a friend. That song has been stuck in my head for a few weeks now.

I confess, since I got back to Texas I have been drinking more. Not because I have "a problem" but because I know that in a few months I will have to give it up for a year...maybe more. Uh, i hope not more... Hold on I need a drink.

I confess, I read books all the way to the end and then I dont finish them. Yup, about 20 pages left and I stop. I don't know why. I think it just wanna be done and start a new one. I need to be better about finishing things that I start.

I confess, I wrote thank you cards 2 days after my bridal shower, and have yet to send them because I do not have stamps. What a lame-o. I was taught to immediately write out AND send thank you cards. Its considered good etiquette. I like writing thank you cards because I want people to know how truly grateful and thankful I am for things that they have done for me. If people didn't think it was weird I would send Thank You's all the time for random crap. "Thank you for coming and visiting me" "thank you for thanking me" "Thank you for going to eat sushi with me because you know that I had been CRAVING IT"