Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

The only thing I know about football is that once a year there is a Super Bowl which means loads of good food. I tried this recipe this year, and they were a hit! Also, I did a good enough job arranging them on the plate that my guests from didn't know I'd already eaten half the pan before game time. Win win!

Ingredients:

3/4 C butter melted and cooled (I just stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes)

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 C + 2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1.5 C chocolate chips

11 oz caramels 

3 Tbsp milk or cream

1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Combine butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, blend. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Press half of the cookie dough into a Pammed 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips on top of dough.

In a microwave safe bowl, cook caramel as and milk on high for 30 seconds. Stir and continue to microwave in 20 second intervals until caramel is melted. Pour caramel over dough. Sprinkle with half of the sea salt.

Stir the rest of the chocolate chips into the cookie dough, and drop by spoonful onto caramel as evenly as possible. Sprinkle with remaining sea salt.

Bake at 325* for 25 minutes (edges should be slightly golden brown).

Remove from oven and let cool before cutting.

I think these would be even more awesome if served with some vanilla ice cream. Yuum!

These were super easy and extremely delicious. Let is know what you think!

Zebra Popcorn

Still wondering what you're going to make for neighbor gifts this year? Feeling a little last-minute? Then you're in luck! And if you're more on top of it than some of us (ME), make a batch of this and keep it for yourself. And if you DO make it for your neighbors, still make a batch for yourself. I promise. It's irresistible! Even better is it's SUPER easy. You'll love it!

Ingredients:

10ish C popped popcorn (scant 1/2 C unpopped)

6 oz milk chocolate (I used Ghiradelli chcolate chips)

6 oz white chocolate or almond bark

1 cube butter

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C Karo syrup

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Directions:

Pop popcorn with air popper. Transfer to a new bowl to ensure the unpopped kernels are left behind.

In a saucepan, over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add corn syrup and brown sugar and cook until boiling, stirring constantly. Once boiling, cook for 2.5 minutes while stirring constantly. Add vanilla and baking soda, stir, and pour over popcorn. Stir until popcorn is coated evenly.

Transfer caramel popcorn to a Pammed  cookie sheet, and bake at 250* for 30 minutes, stirring every 10.

After popcorn has cooked, transfer to wax paper, parchment paper, or brown packing paper (what I did). You could also just divide it onto a couple cookie sheets. Spread out evenly and let cool 5-10 minutes.

Melt milk chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir. Continue melting at 10 second intervals intil chocolate is melted. Using a spoon or fork, drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn evenly (but a big blob of chocolate every now and then is good too ;)

Repeat process with white chocolate.

Let popcorn sit for at least an hour while chocolate cools and hardens. Then, enjoy!

I put mine in these cute boxes I found at the dollar store and delivered them to my neighbors :)

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Homemade Twix

How is it that I have NOT posted these heavenly little morsels? I got this recipe several years ago from my cute friend Stephanie! Wow! These are one of my favorite treats, they are really easy just require multiple steps. Don't let that deter you, the rave reviews you get will be worth it! I made these little beauties to take Visiting Teaching and I hope they enjoyed them as much as I did! Of course they are not EXACTLY like a Twix, but you get the idea. :)

(image from here)

 

Step 1)      Cookie Bottom:

1 C. butter

2 C. flour

     ½ C. Sugar

 **Cut together.  Press into a Pammed 9 X 13 pan.  Bake at 350° for 20 minutes

Step 2)      Caramel Center:

1 C. butter

1 C. brown sugar

4 T. corn syrup

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

**Put ingredients in sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, stir constantly with a whisk.  Boil exactly 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, wait 5 minutes, pour on crust.

3)      Chocolate Top:

1-2 bags Milk Chocolate Chips

1 tsp. vegetable oil

**Melt together in a saucepan and pour over top.

Cool completely (I stick them in the fridge) before cutting.

winger's concrete pie

so i have this friend. she's pretty awesome. we went to snow college at the same time and worked together at the best pizza place ephraim has to offer. she taught me about eating saltine crackers with vanilla ice cream. you haven't tried it? i know. it sounds terrible. but it's not. then she moved away. and i never talked to her again. until! a few years ago, i discovered her on facebook and then discovered that she had a blog! it's here. she is an awesome mom and photographer and i laugh at every single post she writes. check it out if you'd like. anyway, one day i found this recipe on her blog. and i was in heaven. because who doesn't like concrete pie? (not to be confused with asphalt pie which is made of mint chocolate chip ice cream.) my husband's least favorite food combination in the world is mint and chocolate, so when we discovered winger's had ventured to the concrete side of things, we were stoked. then we were even more stoked when i learned how to make it. so here ya go:

 

image here

i didn't take a picture because we were too busy devouring it, but we substitute caramel for the chocolate :)

ingredients:

1 pkg double-stuffed oreos

1/4-1/2 bottle caramel topping

1 carton cookie dough ice cream, softened (breyer's mrs. fields or dryer's nestle tollhouse are the best)

whipped cream

you can make your own oreo crust by putting 12 oreos in the food processor and then pressing them into a pie tin, or you can be classy (like me) and buy a pre-made oreo crust. 

once you have your crust, fill it half way with ice cream. then, pour caramel topping over the ice cream until it is completely covered. finally, cover the topping with more ice cream until the crust is completely filled. freeze over night. before serving, crumble oreos on top of the entire pie, top each piece with more caramel and whipped cream, and then die and go to heaven (after you take a bite, of course :)