crème brûlée french toast

Hands down, this is my #1 favorite breakfast food. I could have it at least once a week, and I would, if only someone else would eat it with me. Though it saddens me that The Family generally prefers savory to sweet in the AM, my hips are thanking them! The french toast casserole generally shows up once a year at a brunch. The London Brother visit spurred me to make it last week.

chocolate caramel sandwich cookies

Have you ever had a treat which upon eating, you

• promptly ate the rest of the bag, OR
• (showing restraint) ate and savored one, then swore you would hoard and hide the rest from anyone and everyone else

Such was the scenario last week, after The Marathoner-PTA Prez-Superwoman Neighbor shared these cookies with me. I ate them all, save for one little bite. Supposedly for The Daughter.

The crisp cookie, cloaked in chocolate, contrasts brilliantly with the creamy caramel. It is beyond delicious and definitely on my top five cookie list.

"k" cream puff

The Baking With Dorie baking assignment was Peppermint Cream Puff Ring. I wasn't quite in the peppermint cream mood (come back in December and I'll be singing a different tune,) so I went with plain whipped cream. I piped the dough into a "k" rather than a round for a celebratory cream puff birthday dessert for The Daughter.

Ideally, I would have made some chocolate to top it off, but I ran out of time and drizzled some Fat Toad Caramel Sauce.

Their caramel sauce is made from goat's milk and is extremely creamy, silky, and delicious! Everyone liked this choice of topping, I think, even better than the would-be chocolate. (Apparently, I'm the only chocoholic in the family.)

Thanks to Tina at My Inner Domestic Bliss for picking this fab recipe. I love any excuse to make cream puffs! She's got the recipe on her site, and you'll want to check out her pretty creation. All the other bakers have their results posted here.

heartland turtle bars

Butter, caramel, pecans and chocolate. Four loves of my life. All in one cookie. Swoon.

chocolate salted-caramel mini cupcakes

Cupcake Wars.

The Kids love watching the show, and now, The Daughter gets to participate in one. Today, her middle school is hosting a fundraiser and competition — game on!

She needed to find a cupcake both eye-appealing and scrumptious, and she spent a good hour perusing Hello Cupcake! and Martha Stewart's Cupcakes looking for The Perfect Cupcake.  The chocolate salted-caramel ones seemed most delicious, and we're hoping they'll win over the judges' hearts and taste buds.

caramel crumb bars

"If I had to choose one cookie above all others, it would be this one. The buttery dough and creamy caramel filling complement each other perfectly." ~ Nick Malgieri

Looking through my cookbooks for a new cookie to bake, I was sold with this comment. The Master Pastry Chef's favorite. It's got to be good.

my new favorite compost cookie...

Introducing: The RoloRoldGold Cookie

Well, the name might be too much of a mouthful.  The mouthful of textural interest, however, is superb. This cookie is a magnificent combination of the best two textures, crunchy and chewy, or perhaps, should I say, crunchewy?

I blogged about a similar cookie in March, but it was littered with too many mix-ins.

Having just the chocolate-covered caramels and pretzels creates a perfect marriage of 

crisp, toothsome, sweet and salty pleasure.

Silver Lining

The Poor Daughter is suffering from Seasonal Allergic Conjunctivitis.  She stayed home from school on Monday and we visited the pediatrician, who prescribed her four medications.

The silver lining in an otherwise miserable day was a new recipe venture- caramels.  The Daughter wanted to make them.  I would do anything to help her keep her mind off her red, itchy eyes, and if that includes caramels, why not?

I have never made any type of candy before and found this recipe to be remarkably straightforward and simple.

The instructions were to use a small saucepan; she pulled out this one (we halved the recipe).  We averted near disaster as the caramel almost boiled over and transferred everything to...

this pot.  Having a candy thermometer is key.  We were experiencing the proverbial "watched pot never boils" and the 20 minutes felt like to an eternity.  Finally, around 230º F I think, the liquid started slowly darkening.

We poured it into a buttered 9-inch baking pan and let it cool.