I am a recipe hound.
I’ll bet I spend at least $600 in printer ink and paper just to print out recipes.
I’m not very discerning about what recipes I print.
A wacky idea…like Donut Soup or Chocolate covered potato chips.
A certain craving…like homemade french fries.
An ingredient…it’s rare that I pass up anything with cream cheese listed as an ingredient.
I started sorting through the pile of recipes on my desk…
Found some repeats. Found some that made me say, “Why in the crap did I print this?”
And don’t even talk to me about the number of chocolate chip cookie recipes that I found.
So New Year’s Resolution: Be more picky about printing out recipes.
Make sure it’s “Print Worthy” before wasting paper and ink.
Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I decided that I would be really stupid if I didn’t get some nice chocolates made up for the bakery to sell. And I wanted to make caramels. With salt. And dark chocolate.
Caramels that I made here before were okay. My husband thought they were great on ice cream. But not exactly what I wanted for chocolates.
I dug through some recipes and found something really print-worthy.
1 cup corn syrup, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 1lb box of brown sugar, 1 cup butter, 1 tsp vanilla.
What makes this print-worthy? Why, sweetened condensed milk, of course.
Melt the butter and stir in brown sugar…
Then the corn syrup….
Then the sweetened condensed milk. Nectar of the gods, I tells ya.
We’re cooking this to 245 degrees over medium heat. Stirring constantly.
Once we get there…Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla, pour into a 9X13 pan and allow to cool completely…
Now we cut.
I am the world’s WORST cutter. I have a ruler, everything. I still manage to screw it up.
I was going for 1″ squares here…
I tried a square cutter – too big. I finally got out the pizza cutter and started slashing through it.
Let’s dip into some nice dark chocolate…
Fish it out with a fork, tap off the excess and lay out on wax paper to dry.
Some kosher salt, maybe?
Aww, yeah.
How lovely…I impulse-bought these inserts and boxes before Christmas – never found a use for them.
Until now.
How much for the box, guys? $10?
Dark Chocolate Caramels
From Group Recipes
1 cup butter
1 1lb box of brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
Dark chocolate
Kosher salt
In a saucepan, melt butter, add brown sugar. Blend in corn syrup, then sweetened condensed milk. Cook to 245 degrees, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour caramel into a greased 9×13 pan, allow to cool completely. Cut into squares. Melt dark chocoalte in a double boiler, dip caramels and then sprinkle with kosher salt. Allow chocolate to set.
My husband will dig these. I have to get a root canal tomorrow, maybe I’ll take some to the dentist…so he’ll shoot me with some extra Novocaine.
These look awesome! (PS I am the same way with recipes… I get fixated on certain ones and then if the feeling passes before I get a chance to make it, I think later “why in the world did I ever want to make that??”)
Thanks! Glad I’m not the only one…I spent most of the sorting just shaking my head going, “Amy, Amy, AMY! What a waste of paper!”
Wow, these caramels look awesome. Caramel is a new love of mine so you have my complete attention with these. Will have to try these sometime. By the way, you box looks like it was made for them!
Thank you! I’ve made caramels lots, but I’m telling you – this sweetened condensed milk and brown sugar thing makes them soooo rich!
They look so pretty!!
Thank you! is $10 too much?
These look amazing!
Thank you! They’re really easy!
Ouch on the dentist!! You poor thing!
Those are some lovely Valentine’s chocolates. You forward thinker you!
It’s okay…It’s relief! Thanks, I gotta get ahead of the pack!
Looks tasty!
I too wanted to make choc-covered potato chips. Hehe.
Thanks! I think they’re on the short list now!
Salt, sweet, more salt and sweet. Yummy! I love the cute little box:)
Thank you! Impulse buy made good!
I love these caramels! They’d be dangerous to have in my house for sure
Thanks! The sweetened condensed milk is amazing!
These could spell trouble on my hips…I would never stop popping those one inch squares straight into my mouth!
lol me too…My husband came home and ate 4 right off…he can do that – and actually lose weight.
Every time I visit your blog something more fabulous waiting! I mean how creative are you?
I just love those little chocolate caramels! Nicely done Amy!!!
Thank you! You are so sweet, these are really good, you can totally make these!
I may be drooling right now! I have to ask…donut soup: fact or fiction?
Thank you! OMG Fact. Total fact. http://www.eugenewei.com/mtweblog/archives/002647.html called a “post modern dessert”…it’s hilarious.
That is absolutely, completely, and ridiculously out of control! I love it
Thanks for sharing. That’s a classic. You should write a post named “Strange recipes Amy has found online”. I bet it would be hilarious!
Thank you! I thing “Strange recipes” is a blog in and of itself!
These look so elegant and delicious! I need to buy a candy thermometer stat!
Thanks! They’re really good…I can’t live without my candy thermometer – those “cook to amber color” don’t make sense to me!
OMG, these look absolutely divine! I’m so grateful for the pictures because if I tried this without them, I’d be making one hot mess
That little package is so pretty! Smart thinking on your part to have bought them!
Thank you! The boxes were total impulse, but they fit here perfectly!
Awesome job, you make the process look easy…and delicious! I’m putting these on my to-do list
Thank you! They’re easy and kinda fun!
Maybe you’re the world’s worst cutter, but I think they look perfect. Seriously. You did a great job!
Thank you so much! My brownies look like something out of a Picasso painting, I swear!
Looks yummy!! Cute site:)
Thank you!
Sweetened condensed milk is pretty magical, isn’t it!?!?!?
(And so is salt on top of caramels!)
Yes! Sweetened condensed milk fixes everything!
i seriously have to put caramels on my list b/c every time i see them they make me drool… =P i’ll just take them w/o the chocolate, please!
btw, in regards to printing recipes, are you familiar with Google docs? i usually just copy and paste the recipes i find interesting and then go back to it at a later time if i want to print it, or just delete it. it allows you create folders, sort alphabetically and it’s right there attached to your gmail account when you need it. faster than opening up and creating Word docs. saves a lot of printer ink $. =)
Thanks! They’re good for me either way!
Hey, great idea! I do have a google docs, I never thought about using that for recipes to try, thanks!
Those look awesome! I don’t think you screwed up the cutting at all, it’s hard to go straight with soft gooey stuff. But they really turned out well! I no longer print my recipes, I just have a few folders (like 20!) on my computer where I save everything. Saves paper!
Thank you! I should try the folder thing – easier on trees!
These caramels looks so simple and easy! I love it! I think I need some cute chocolate boxes, my goal this year is to make lots of candies. Now I need something to store them in…
Thanks! http://www.countrykitchenusa.com is my source for these. They sell stuff in small quantities, so, if you don’t understand size and inches, you can just order a few!
I’m a recipe hound, too – glad I’m not the only one
My husband thinks I’m nuts for cutting and pasting so many together! What tasty looking treats you’ve made here!