Salted Caramel Sauce

A couple nights ago, my friend invited my family and me over for ice-cream sundaes. I asked her what we could bring, and she said just to bring our favorite topping. While my favorite topping for ice cream is the chocolate sauce/hot fudge that my dad taught me how to make, I thought I would try my hand at making caramel sauce.

From all that I've seen and read it seemed fairly easy. It's basically sugar, water, and cream. Everything else is just extra.

So, at 5:10pm I decided I would make the caramel sauce. If it didn't turn out, then I wouldn't take it, but I was hoping it would. We needed to be there by "6-ish" so I was cutting it pretty close, but that tends to be how I do things lately. Last minute, and off the cuff.

So, I looked at a couple recipes. Got the gist of the method, and started cooking.

If there is any trick to this at all, I would say it is to NOT STIR while it's cooking. Stirring increases the likelihood that your sauce will develop crystals, turn grainy, and "sugary." I added a touch of corn syrup to my sauce as a preventative measure. It has a different chemical make-up than the granulated sugar has, so when it bonds with the sugar during cooking, it prevents crystallization. Alton Brown explains it really well, if you're interested in the culinary chemistry of it all. His show Good Eats changed my cooking world forever.

It took 15 minutes for my sauce to come together start to finish, because I used the biggest pot I had. It cooked faster than it would have in a smaller sauce pan, so I was able to cool the sauce quickly and pour it into a jar, and get my family out the door in record time.

I was a little nervous at how it would set up, but it worked beautifully. It was thick enough to coat the spoon, and the ice-cream, but it wasn't overly thick or chewy. Just perfect.

My friend asked for the recipe, so that's what prompted me to share it with you. I honestly just threw it together, without measuring, as I do most things, so I had to go back and figure it out.

*As always, I use organic ingredients, but feel free to use what you have.
Also, the type of salt you use will determine how salty the final product is. (This what I use.) I recommend adding a little at a time to make sure the taste is to your liking. The type of butter used will also affect the flavor. I use salted butter. If you use unsalted butter you will probably use more salt than is listed.


Here's the recipe:

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup organic pure cane sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp corn syrup 
1 cup organic heavy cream
1/2 tsp to 3/4 tsp fine sea salt (to taste)
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp pure organic vanilla extract


In a large sauce pan, stir together sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook over medium high heat, without stirring, until the mixture turns a deep amber color (about 10 minutes). Turn off the heat and whisk in the heavy cream. The mixture will rise and bubble up fiercely, so be careful as you whisk it all to combine. When it has stopped bubbling, add in the salt, butter, and vanilla. Stir to combine and serve warm or at room temperature. Store in a glass jar or other airtight container.




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Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese

 Have you jumped on the electric pressure cooker bandwagon yet? I hopped on 2 years ago and I’ve never looked back. My Instant Pot has made my life so much easier. Especially when we moved into our new house last year and I had to find a way to cook my meals for 3 months without a stove/oven. Nearly every meal for my family was made in my Instant Pot.

 Now there are a ton of recipes out there for macaroni and cheese made in an electric pressure cooker. So many that I wasn’t even going to bother sharing mine; but I was asked to bring this recipe to an activity at church and demonstrate how to make it, so I thought I might as well post it for all of you as well. To tell you the truth, I don’t make it the same every single time. But, I marked down the measurements for how I made it this time, and this is what you have.

The recipe is super easy. Basically, you just put the dry noodles in the Instant Pot (or other electric pressure cooker), cover with water and cook for 3 minutes. When it's done cooking, let it sit for 1 minute and then do a gradual quick release. When the pressure is gone, you just stir in some cream (milk, half and half, evaporated milk, what have you) and cheese until it's creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste and you're done. It couldn't be simpler, and the best parts (besides the taste of course): no big pot of water to drain, and no need to use a rue! I'm telling you, it's some sort of voodoo, but it works!

You can jazz it up with some other spices and/or aromatics, as I've done in the following recipe, but it's all based on your tastes. If you like to use smoked cheese, by all means put some smoked Gouda in there. You like onion and garlic? Add it in to your hearts content. You like Velveeta instead of cream cheese? Go for it. My kids like their mac and cheese to look bright like the stuff from the box, so sometimes I will add a dash of turmeric for color. It doesn't change the flavor, it just colors the cheese sauce to look more appealing to the kids. Seriously, you could add nearly anything from any other macaroni and cheese recipe that you love, and it would work here. I added some cooked bacon the other day and it was amazing! Once you learn how to do the method, the recipe is just an after thought.  Adapt it all you want.

Here's the recipe:

Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese

1 pound pasta
3 1/2 cups water 
2 Tbsp butter
2 oz cream cheese
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups cream, or dairy of choice (divided)
10 oz shredded cheddar cheese (about 3 cups)
salt and pepper to taste (I usually add 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper)

Put the dry pasta into the pot of your electric cooker. Cover with the water. Put the lid on and seal it. Cook on manual for 3 minutes. Let sit one minute, and then gradually release the pressure. Leave any remaining water in the pot. Keep the pressure cooker on "keep warm." Stir in the butter, cream cheese, ground mustard, onion powder, and garlic powder. When the butter and cream cheese are melted, add in 1 cup of cream. Gradually add in the shredded cheese, stirring to melt. Add cream to get the consistency you prefer. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
If there is any left over you can store it in the refrigerator. When you reheat it, you will need to add a splash of milk to thin out the cheese sauce.



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Raspberry Muffins

My family and I were very blessed this year with friends who offered to let us pick their raspberries for free. My children and I went and picked as much as we wanted, and we came home with gallons of raspberries. I froze a lot of them for the winter, and I made some into jam, pies, compound butter and syrup for pancakes. In the past I have made raspberry ice cream, raspberry sweet rolls, a vanilla custard tart, and even a raspberry chocolate coffee cake, but I wanted something different. All of these things are delicious ways to use up raspberries, but I had a hankering for a really good raspberry muffin. Not just an ordinary muffin, that is more like a naked cupcake. Or a so called healthy muffin that is better used for a door stop. I'm talking about a true muffin, with a coarse but tender crumb. One that's still soft and fluffy, but has some heft and depth to it. And who's top is overflowing, to create the most desired part of the muffin: the crispy edged muffin top.

I adapted a recipe from Alton Brown for blueberry muffins. I switched up a few things and I think they turned out perfectly.
The recipe calls for coarse demerera sugar or turbanado sugar to crown each muffin, but I left the extra sugar off of mine and they still turned out wonderfully. The sugar would add an extra layer of crunch if you choose to add it.

A nice large top on each muffin.

This recipe is definitely going to be a staple in my house.

*I use my homemade yogurt in this recipe, but if you are buying some to use, then make sure it's the regular yogurt and not Greek. The store bought Greek yogurt is too thick. If that is all you have, you can still use it, but I would thin it out with a tablespoon of milk.

Here's the recipe:

adapted from Over The Top Blueberry Muffins

1. Raspberry Muffins
2. 
   
3. 2 1/2 cups organic AP flour
4. 2 cups organic sprouted whole wheat pastry flour
5. 4 tsp baking powder
6. 2 tsp baking soda
7. 1 tsp fine sea salt
8. 1 cup organic cane sugar
9. 1 cup unsalted organic, grass fed butter, melted
10. 2 large eggs (organic, pasture raised is best)
11. 2 large egg yolks (organic, pasture raised is best)
12. 16 ounces plain whole fat organic yogurt (if using Greek, add 1 Tbsp milk)
13. 1 tbsp organic orange zest (optional)
14. 1 tsp pure organic vanilla extract
15. 12 ounces fresh organic raspberries
16. 2 tablespoons demerera sugar (optional) for sprinkling on top (can be substituted with turbanado sugar)
17. 
    
18. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F and coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan, and a 6-cup muffin pan, with non-stick cooking spray.
19. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In second bowl whisk together the sugar, butter, eggs, yolks, yogurt, orange zest, and vanilla until smooth.
20. Make a crater in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Stir with a rubber spatula until just barely combined. Resist the urge to over-mix – there should be a some lumps of flour in the batter. The batter will be thick.
21. Fold in the raspberries gently, mixing just to combine.
22. Fill each muffin tin cup. The cups should be quite full. Sprinkle the muffins with the coarse sugar and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
23. Remove from oven and turn out, upside down, onto a clean tea towel to cool completely. (This  prevents soggy bottoms.) They are best served immediately. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days, but the tops will become soft.

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Rhubarb Pie

Do any of you still have rhubarb? I know it's more of a springtime fruit/vegetable, but I also know that once it starts producing you have to quickly find a way to use up all of the pounds that you are harvesting, or watch it wither and die on the plant. I myself have bags of it in my freezer, and I have already made 4 pies, 1 batch of jam, and 4 cakes this year. Rhubarb is a wonderful addition to your garden, as it comes back on it's own every year, so no having to replant each growing season. The stalks look like celery, but they can be used in anything you would put fruit in. My favorite way to eat it (besides just dipping a stalk in sugar and chowing down) is to make pie.

It is an aquired taste, as it is very sour/bitter on it's own, but mixed with a little (ok a lot) of sugar it's quite delightful. My parents always kept rhubarb in their garden, so it makes me a little nostalgic whenever I eat it. 

I have yet to keep a successful garden, so I don't have any rhubarb plants of my own, but I will always take extra stalks that people are trying to get rid of. I was blessed enough to have a lady from church gift me with bags and bags of rhubarb this year. Whatever I don't use right away, I dice it up, and freeze it in 4 cup measurements to use later. 

I brought this pie to a church pot luck and had multiple people ask me for the recipe. I think they assumed I was holding some ingredients back, because this recipe is as easy as it gets. You can replace some of the rhubarb with other fruit if you like (strawberry seems to be a favorite of most people), but I tend to just keep it simple. Rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla. That's it (and some butter if you're feeling fancy). 

I use organic ingredients when possible, but use whatever you have.

Here's the recipe:

Rhubarb Pie

2  9 inch raw pie crusts (one cut into strips if you want a lattice top)

4 to 5 cups diced rhubarb, stalks only (anymore than 5 cups and you might want to add more sugar)

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 Tbsp butter
egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp water)


Preheat the oven to 350F. Place one unbaked pie crust into a pie plate. In a bowl, mix together the rhubarb, sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch. Pour the mixture into the crust in the pie plate. Place the other unbaked pie crust on top. (I like to cut it in strips and make a lattice pattern. I show you how to do the lattice top in my peach pie post.) Press the edges of the crusts together all around the pie, and brush the crust with the egg wash and then sprinkle the top with a little sugar. Bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 50-60 minutes, until the crust is brown and the filling is bubbling. Let cool to room temperature before cutting. 







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