Salted Caramel & Toasted Coconut Thumbprints

As soon as I spotted these on The Baker Chic, I knew I  had to make them. And soon. I'm a huge fan of toasted coconut and have been on a major caramel kick lately, you might have noticed from this and these. The day I saw these, I decided I would make my go-to salted caramel sauce for the filling as Audra's recipe calls for store bought caramels and the thought alone of unwrapping all of those candies was enough to drive me over the edge. I went straight home from work and made the sauce since I knew it would have to cool pretty much overnight. The following day I rushed home from work and got started on a half batch. I was not disappointed, these were awesome. You can find my recipe for the salted caramel sauce here.

Salted Caramel & Toasted Coconut Thumbprints
Yields about 24 large cookies
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 large eggs beaten
6 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
Flaky Sea Salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla. Once combined, add in your dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Roll dough into 1.5 inch balls. Dip each ball first into the beaten egg and then in the coconut, pressing to make sure it adheres. Place on your prepared baking sheet and make a thumb indentation into each cookie. Bake for 20-23 minutes until golden brown and coconut is toasted. Upon removal I used a 1/2 teaspoon to re-press the indentation, making sure it was nice and deep so it can hold more of the yummy caramel! Let cool then fill each cookie with your caramel sauce and sprinkle with your flaked sea salt.

Recipe adapted from The Baker Chic

You can find my Salted Caramel Sauce post here or the printable recipe here.


© 2012 - 2012 Mostly Sweet & Sometimes Salty - All Rights Reserved.

Salted Caramel Sauce

So, it's Saturday night and am I out for a night on the town having fun? Nope, I am in my pj's (at 5pm) and sharing this salted caramel sauce with you. Don't worry though, this is my sick idea of fun. I'm going to be using it in a couple of the recipes coming up so I thought I'd get prepared and make it in advance. This stuff is seriously good. Since making it earlier this afternoon, I have found approximately 1,458 things to eat it on. Apple slices, bananas, ice cream, cookies, pretzels whatever, you get the point, it's good on EVERYTHING. You need to make this right now. Go ahead, I'll wait.....

It also makes a great gift and super simple to make. Now I know many of you may be intimidated by making caramel but trust me, there is nothing to it. I usually don't even measure the ingredients but wanted to give you a little more confidence by having a recipe for you to follow. This recipe as is is fairly thick when completely cooled so if you want a thinner sauce, just increase the amount of cream, though keep in mind if you plan on warming it before you use it, it will thin slightly.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Yields enough to fill a 16oz Mason jar

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Measure out your cream, salt and vanilla and have them ready to go by your stove top. Place sugar and water in a large saucepan over medium high heat, stir just to moisten sugar. Allow to cook untouched until a dark amber color is reached. This took about 8 minutes for me. Now I don't want to scare you but it goes from dark amber to burnt very quickly so as soon as you get to the desired color, remove from heat and immediately begin whisking in your cream in a slow steady stream. This will cause the caramel to bubble up, just continue whisking and add your salt and vanilla extract.  Once combined, that's it, you've got caramel sauce! Transfer to your desired container to cool.

Check back for some yummy recipes using this sauce. (If I don't use it all before then!)

Chocolate Covered Salted Caramels

I will start by saying that for the most part, I love everything about baking (minus the clean up - boy do I make a mess!) However, one of the few things I absolutely cannot stand is covering things in chocolate, candy melts, etc.. I find it incredibly frustrating and each time vow to never do it again.

Having said that, I had to find a way to re-create the salted caramels from Costco that I tried recently. As usual, Costco broke my heart because I fell in love with one their products just to find out they no longer carry it. What's a girl to do? ( besides pout, which I may or may not have done the rest of the day after the trip to Costco)  I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I started with a basic caramel recipe and let those firm up overnight. The following night, I started the dreaded dipping process, finishing with a touch of flaked sea salt on top. As you can see by my picture below, I only made it half way through the batch before deciding to leave the rest plain. Oh well, at least I dipped enough to satisfy my craving!

Chocolate Covered Salted Caramels

Printable Recipe

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8oz chocolate (I used callebaut)

Flaked sea salt to sprinkle on top

Melt butter in a large saucepan, then add brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and condensed milk. Bring mixture to 145 degrees on your candy thermometer, over med-high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add your vanilla, it will bubble up so be careful. Pour into a parchment lined 8x8 or 9x9 square pan, let cool overnight until firm.

Cut your caramels into desired size, mine were about 1x1. Melt your chocolate in a double boiler over very low heat. Once thoroughly melted, begin dipping each of your caramels. (Unfortunately, I don't have any advice or tips for you on this one, I used a fork but it was a mess) Sprinkle each caramel with sea salt after dipping, once complete I found it best to let them harden in the fridge. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know many of you probably already have your go to chocolate chip cookie recipes, I know I did before trying this one. About a year ago, I was on a search to find a recipe for the Levain Bakery's giant chocolate chip cookies and stumbled across this recipe on My Baking Addiction. I have since made my own modifications and it has become my absolute favorite! Levain's cookies are massive, I think they are something like 5oz each so when I first started making these, I was making them that same size. They turn out so delicious, crispy on the outside but because they are so large, they are still very gooey on the inside. Since then, I've been using this same recipe to make more normal sized cookies and they are equally great. I sometimes vary the add-ins, like toffee, coconut, white chocolate, etc. This batch was made with milk chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Yum! I would encourage those of you trying this recipe to make at least one giant, 5 oz cookie, there is nothing like it!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields approx 24 normal sized cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 sticks ( 1 cup ) of butter, cold and cubed

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups of chocolate chips or other mix ins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until thoroughly combined, set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the cubed butter and sugars until just combined. Add in your eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Slowly add in your dry ingredients until the dough comes together, now add your chocolate chips, nuts, etc..

Place dough balls onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 12 - 15 minutes, to your desired doneness ( I like them slightly undercooked!)

Note:

If making the 5 oz cookies, I start them in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 for about 12 more minutes, until cookies no longer look wet.

Adapted from My Baking Addiction, originally from Parsley, Sage, Desserts & Line Drives

Spicy Cocktail Nuts

Lately we've been shelling out a TON of money on the store bought varieties of spiced nuts, they're a great snack to keep on hand but boy are they expensive! They are calling for snow in our area in the next few days so while stocking up on some groceries at Trader Joe's, I spotted a huge bag of mixed nuts for only $5.49. Immediately I thought I should try my hand at making some of these nuts at home and came home with not one but two bags of these nuts. We've enjoyed all of the flavor varieties we've tried this far, sweet, spicy, etc. so when I was researching a recipe to use, this one caught my eye. It's the best of both worlds, using a decent amount of Cayenne for spice and sugar for sweetness. I've been loving the spicy/sweet combo lately, In the last few weeks,  I 've made a spicy peanut brittle as well as a spicy caramel corn (recipes to come!) so these nuts were right up my alley. Now that I know how easy these are to make, you can bet I will make them time and time again and I can't wait to come up with some new flavor variations.

I don't keep Emeril's Essence on hand so the recipe for the spice mix is included here as well but if you do this will be even easier!

Emeril's Spicy Cocktail Nuts
Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 large egg white
• 1 teaspoon water
• 4 cups assorted shelled nuts
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons Essence, recipe follows
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together egg white and water until frothy. Add the nuts and toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, Essence, cayenne, and salt. Add to the nuts and stir to coat evenly. Spread the nuts on the prepared pan and bake until dry, about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir to separate. Let cool on the baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Essence (Emeril's Creole Seasoning):

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container. Yield: about 2/3 cup

Lemon Blueberry Bread

I'm going to let you all in on a little secret........

I don't really like blueberries. Or lemon. So I realize it is slightly strange that the first recipe I'm posting is for this bread which is bursting with both lemon and blueberries. Having said that, this bread may have just changed my mind, it's delicious and those of you who are really fans of those two ingredients will be in heaven. The bread itself is very moist and flavorful but the top, oh the top is where it gets me. Before baking I sprinkled on a mixture of lemon zest and sugar which develops into this irresistible crust which contrasts nicely with bread. Would you judge me if I told you that after taking the photos I went through and picked off and ate most of the topping leaving the mostly naked bread for the boyfriend? As a side note, please excuse the awful photography, I definitely have some learning to do in that area!

Lemon Blueberry Bread                            Printable Recipe

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Makes 1 9x5 loaf

Ingredients

Topping

1/4 cup of white sugar

Zest of two lemons

Bread

1 1/4 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 1/2 t baking powder

1 t salt

2 eggs

4 T melted butter

1/4 cup oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 t vanilla extract

juice of two lemons

11oz blueberries ( I used fresh)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Prepare the topping by thoroughly mixing together the lemon zest and sugar. Set aside until needed.

Line one 9x5 loaf pan with parchment. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and eggs until slightly thickened, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the oil and melted butter until combined. At this point, whisk in the buttermilk, lemon juice and vanilla.

Gently fold dry mixture into wet until it just barely comes together and fold in blueberries. Pour into prepared loaf pan and generously sprinkle the top with the lemon sugar and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, it took about 65 minutes in my oven.

Hello & Welcome!

Hi everyone! My name is Ashley, I'm 28 years old and live in Bellingham, WA, which is about 20 minutes south of the Canadian border. I was born and raised in Seattle and will always consider that my home. I live with my wonderful boyfriend (& best friend) of 5 years, Dave and my incredibly awesome German Shepard/Lab mix Mason. As far back as I can remember I've always had a passion for both baking and cooking and I look forward to sharing my kitchen adventures with the world.