Burnt Caramel at Tara's Organic Ice Cream - Berkeley, CA

Tara's Organic Ice Cream
3173 College Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
Website

I'd heard about Tara's but had only made it to Ici in Berkeley, but yesterday I had a "baby scoop" at Tara's because I didn't want a full scoop (I was kind of full), and it was so good! I also sampled the apple pie flavor, but it was a little too spice-y for me. I should have sampled the more unique flavors, but I always feel guilty asking for more than one sample. The burnt caramel was so good and different than my usual favorite, salted caramel, and it was creamy! Reminded me of a combination of the creaminess and the top burnt caramel part of a creme brulee.

Salted Dulce de Leche Cookie Bars

Yummm!  Made these for my first cookie party with my classmates. We technically had a cookie/PJ/movie party, but few people wore actual pajamas and we skipped the movie and just talked.  These cookie bars were soft, sweet-and-salty, caramel-y.  These are made of brown butter, dulce de leche, and brown sugar.  Mine came out lighter in color than the original ones here, but they still tasted good!  They're also very easy to make.

Salted Dulce de Leche Cookie Bars
Recipe here from Bakerita.

• 1 ¾ cup (7 1/4 oz.) unbleached all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup toffee bits
• 1/2 cup dulce de leche
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
  
  (1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 in pan w/ nonstick cooking spray.
  (2) In a sauce pan, melt butter until browned (takes about 5 minutes for butter to begin to brown). Once browned, remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
  (3) Add browned butter & sugars to the bowl of a mixer and mix until combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until completely combined, & then add the vanilla. Turn mixer off & add all  dry ingredients to the bowl. Mix until just combined. Turn mixer off & fold in chocolate chips and toffee bit (*I had caramel candies so I cut those up into tiny bits because I didn't have toffee bits*)
  (4) Press half of dough into the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/2 cup of dulce de leche over the dough. Sprinkle the rest of the dough over the top of the ducle de leche. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
  (5) Bake for 15-17 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool completely before cutting & serving.

Easy Homemade Caramel Sauce & A Quick Tip

Delicious and soooo easy! You don't need a candy thermometer!

EASY Homemade Caramel Sauce Recipe
(recipe from MyRecipes.com)

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1/3 cup butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

(1) Combine sugar & water in a large heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves.

(2) Increase heat to medium-high & boil gently, without stirring, until syrup turns a deep amber color, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush & swirling the pan (about 8 minutes) * Note 1: Swirling the pan, instead of stirring, promotes more even cooking.
* Note 2: The brushing part didn't work out for me because I brushed down the sides a little late and chunks of sugar fell into the mixture and never dissolved.
(3) Gradually add cream
(4) Add butter and stir gently until smooth
(5) Remove from heat & stir in vanilla extract

~ ~ ~
MOM'S QUICK TIP:  If you need a smaller funnel but you only have one large one, roll up a small piece of wax paper and push it down the funnel to make a smaller tip.  My mom knew what to do right away when I realized the funnel was too big!

You can make your own vanilla extract too.  So simple!

Banana Cupcake w/ Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Frosting - Butter Lane Cupcakes (New York, NY)

Butter Lane Cupcakes
123 East Seventh Street
New York, New York 10009
Website

2.25.12

 

The inside of the cute little cupcakery

First of all, I have to say that I am VERY picky about banana-flavored things. I only like some banana breads, for instance. They are usually better with nuts. Anyway, this banana cupcake was delicious and not too banana-y or fake tasting at all (I do love real bananas!). And that frosting!! Not overwhelmingly chocolate-y or caramel-y or salty. The sea salt perfectly balanced the sweetness of the frosting. The cake was soft, fluffy, and tasty. According to this blogger, Butter Lane uses real butter and real banana in the base of this cupcake. Plus the guy working there (pictured below) was helpful and friendly. Bonus points! I'd definitely go there again. Thank you, Ted Allen of the Food Network, for recommending their banana cupcake. He talked about it on The Best Thing I Ever Ate on their episode on "The Classics."

Puttin' the caramel on top!

Mia, Melissa, and I split it three ways! We were trying to save money, but we seriously could have each had three. SO GOOD.

Cute! On their window

Caramel Pop Krunch

Karen-Ginger Gifts

Website

My parents always bring home interesting food. I came home and tried these a few minutes ago and LOVED them (my dad and even my brother like this...and my brother is a pooper and rarely likes sweets). I tried this thinking it would be one of those expensive mediocre-tasting popcorn products, but THESE ARE DELICIOUS!! Picture cheese puffs without the cheese flavor ... and then cover them with a coating of dark caramel. I say "dark" to emphasize the almost-burnt flavor. SO good. Here's the website's description:

"A Karen-Ginger Favorite, Sweet Caramel corn puffs with the perfect 'Pop and Krunch' for any occasion."

I've also had their Chocolate Mochi Krunch (see website), which are brown rice crackers covered in chocolate.

TO-DIE-FOR Bread Pudding at Cracked Pepper Bistro - Fresno, CA

Cracked Pepper Bistro
389 E. Shaw Ave., #102
Fresno, CA 93710
Website here.

Michelle S. and I ate here last night (7.6.11), but it wasn't our first time eating this sweet, moist, creamy, indulgent piece of HEAVEN. I'd tried it about a year ago with my family following a meal and then promised myself that I'd go back just to share it alone with someone (a waitress said people often visit just for the bread pudding). So then I ranted and raved about it to Michelle, who went with her cousin to try it, and she fell in love as well. Then we tried going with Paul during the day but found that it's only open during dinner hours, so this post is about last night's visit. I hope I don't raise anyone's hopes up too high, but man this is good. It is sweet (of course), so you might want some black coffee to go with it. Anyway, the bread pudding is not on the menu, but they describe it and the other dessert option(s?) out loud. It's made of cream cheese danishes, dinner rolls, croissants, and real whipped cream (that really makes all the difference!). I'm not sure what's in the sauce, but it tasted kinda like caramel.

 closer:

If you're curious about their dinner food, I had the "Pan Seared Berkshire Pork Chop Sweet potato and sausage hash finished with pomegranate reduction," which was very good, but I honestly can't remember if it was just good or great. To me, that means that it wasn't fantastic. My parents and brother enjoyed their dishes. Here is their menu.

Lula's Lund's Chocolates: Sea Salt Caramels

THESE ARE SO GOOD!!!!!!!! They're all chocolate-covered caramels, but each one has a different salt flavor (e.g., Chili Verde, Himalayan Pink, Lemon Twist). Sometimes salted caramel products are too salty, but these had just the right balance between sweet and salty (like this). My dad's cousins stayed over and gave us these delicious chocolates.

 Um...yes. There is one caramel missing. I have another box to open, so I'll take another picture with all of them there.