Category: Bread and Baking

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m all about getting my savory along with my sweet. One of my new obsessions is anything “salted caramel”. I’ve always loved caramel. As a kid there was nothing I loved more for a sweet treat. Soft and chewy and dare I say better than chocolate. Until very recently I had never had a salted caramel. During the holidays, our neighbor dropped off a box of different goodies she made for us. Inside were the most delicious salted caramels I’d ever eaten. So, I got to thinking about different sweets that I could make keeping with the theme of salted caramels. I found this recipe through Pinterest and thought I would give it a whirl. It’s now become my favorite go-to cookie recipe.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup Kraft Caramel Bits
Sea salt, for sprinkling on cookies

Yes, you'll be using these Kraft Caramel Bits again.

Yes, you’ll be using these Kraft Caramel Bits again.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. You’ll want to use parchment paper so the cookies won’t stick.

2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking soda and sea salt together. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (if you don’t have a stand mixer you can use a hand mixer), cream together butter and sugars until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. It’s important to use room temperature butter so that the sugars will easily cream.

4. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips and caramel bits. Form cookie dough into tablespoon balls and place on prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt. Be careful not to forget this step. It’s the whole essence of the cookie.

This is what your cookies should like when finished cooking.

6. Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes, or until slightly golden brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies Cooling

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies Cooling

Caramelized Banana and Caramel Bread

You may be thinking ‘Caramelized Banana and Caramel Bread’?? Or maybe you thought it was a misprint or something of an oxymoron. No, no. I assure you it is not a typo or an oxymoron. Maybe it’s a little crazy but hey, life is crazy sometimes. I found this recipe on Pinterest during one of my pinning binges. Don’t you just love Pinterest? It really aids in my OCD tendencies. I always have leftover brown bananas thanks to my husband so I make a lot of banana bread and was getting bored with it. I wanted to find a way to jazz it up. The caramelized bananas in this recipe should have been enough but no…I wanted more. I had half a bag of Kraft Caramel bits leftover from some delicious salted caramel chocolate chip cookies I made for my husband’s co-workers. This is where it gets crazy. I decided to caramelize the bananas AND add the caramel bits. I made a loaf and included it in with a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” gift basket for our new neighbors. Curtis stopped by to thank us for the basket and offered this rave review.

“My wife is a good baker but that bread is better than anything she’s made,” he said. Yikes.

¾ teaspoon baking soda

3-4 bananas mashed

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup milk

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 cup Kraft caramel bits

Kraft Caramel Bits

Kraft Caramel Bits

First, melt the butter in small sauté pan. Add mashed bananas and brown sugar. Stir around until mashed bananas are slightly caramelized.

Caramelized Bananas

Caramelized Bananas

 

Next, combine dry ingredients (flour and baking soda) in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk vinegar and slightly cooled banana mixture.  Mix wet and dry ingredients and combine well. Add in 1 cup of the Kraft caramel bits. Pour mixture into a well-greased loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes until golden brown.

 

image (1)

 

Enjoy the yummy, sugary goodness!

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