Homemade Caramel Sauce

This sauce was made on accident, and quite frankly I think it's about the best accident I've ever made, if I do say so myself. The photo above features our new favorite breakfast, caramel apple pancakes. This was my plate, can you tell I like caramel??

In an attempt to make old fashioned caramel candy, I ended up with this. I know why now too, so if I do ever decide to make the candy (not sure I will though because I can use the sauce for so much more), I know what to change. Here's the recipe we used, and to make a sauce instead of a candy, remove the mixture from the heat once your candy thermometer reaches 110 degrees Celsius.

I've included some photos. I thought it might be helpful if you've never made caramel before. I wish I would have known what to expect before starting, you'll see why in a minute...

Waiting for the sugar (the recipe called for white sugar, I'll try raw next time) to melt, which took awhile, and my pan started on fire. Thankfully I was able to put it out right away, and then just went right on back cooking - I know, I have issues, lol.

The melted sugar.

Annnnnd, I suppose common sense should have told me that the liquid in the pot I had to pour the melted sugar into, should have been hot as well. I tend to learn things the hard way. I was a little concerned that I had lost this whisk forever. Thankfully, after a lot of stirring, and a lot of heat, the whisk survived.

So basically it looks like this until you get the temp you want. I poured it into a buttered glass dish at 110 Celsius because I was running out of time - and I'm glad I did!

I poured the thick, cooled sauce into this jar, and it's staying in the fridge. Sugar is a preservative, so it should keep for months. Some people claim it stays fine outside of the refrigerator, but I don't want to take any chances.

This sauce is sooo good mixed in with coffee too! It tastes just like a caramel machiatto when you add a bit of milk to it. Austin likes it on his ice cream, and to dip his apple slices in. Hannah just likes licking it off her fingers.

I think we may just have a caramel jar in our house at all times from now on.

Take care!

Homemade Pasta

I love pasta! I could probably eat it everyday. A few months back, we started making our own from scratch and rolling it out by hand. It's laborious, but well worth the effort. Once we decided that this pasta making wouldn't be just an occasional treat, we bought the attachment pieces to the mixer we have to speed up the process a bit.

Here's some pictures of how it's done with the machine, and the family's favorite noodle recipe. Enjoy!

The machine, covered in flour. The recipe we use is stickier than normal, so I have to coat the dough in flour each time I put it in the machine so pieces won't get stuck.

This is the size of the dough ball before it gets flattened out. It's surprising to me still, just how many noodles you get from such a small ball of dough.

Cutting the pasta, after it's been flattened. The flattening process activates the wheat gluten in the flour, which is what creates the smooth texture of the noodle.

Our pasta hanging to dry. I did another batch with basil from our garden in it. I want to use it for our next pasta salad - yum! Here's our recipe, adapted from one I found at allrecipes.com

Noodles:

2.5 Cups flour (we use whole wheat)
1 pinch salt
2 eggs beaten
1/2 Cup milk
1 tbsp melted butter

Stir flour and salt together. Add the liquid ingredients and mix well, then knead dough for 5-10 minutes if not using a pasta roller. Let the dough sit for 10 minutes before rolling out. Cut noodles to desired width and that's it!

Because of the egg and milk in the recipe, you can't dry these out for storage. You can freeze them though. Frozen noodles take about 7-10 minutes to cook in boiling water, and fresh noodles take about 5 minutes to cook in boiling water.

Homemade Pizza Dough

Welcome Back!
Pizza dough is one of the easiest yeast breads to prepare, and is a great starting point for beginners. I use this recipe to make our pizza's as well as bread sticks. I usually make four batches at once, and freeze the leftover three. If you do this, make sure to open the container or bag that the frozen dough is in while it's thawing, otherwise it might burst (I know this from personal experience). I also soak the wheat flour overnight in an acid medium to help break down the phytates. Doing this creates a soft dough similar to using white flour, and helps aid in digestion - allowing more vitamins and minerals to be absorbed into the body. I do a separate post on soaking soon.

What you need:
1 Pkg active dry yeast (2.5 tsp)
1 C warm water (110-115 degrees - should feel slightly warm to the touch, but not hot)
2 C Flour (I use a mixture of whole wheat and spelt) + up to 2/3 C
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Sugar

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water for 10 minutes, or until it gets super bubbly and frothy (this is called proofing)

2. Combine all ingredients and knead until the dough is very elastic, not stiff. You will probably need to add a bit more flour while kneading - you want the dough to be tacky, but not so sticky that it won't come off your hand.

3. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a towel and put in a warm place. Let rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

4. Roll out to desired shape and size, and cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until slightly browned.

King Cake - Fat Tuesday

Hi Everyone!
We're making a king cake tonight to celebrate fat tuesday. Here's a super simple way to make this complicated cake.
Buy pre-made cinnamon roll dough with frosting. Take out all of the roll segments and shape them into snake like shapes then attach them together to form a circle. Bake according to directions on the package. While that's baking, separate 3 piles of sugar and place in small bowls. Use food coloring to dye the sugar (I used 3 drops per bowl with about 1/4 cup of sugar in each one - traditional colors are purple, green and yellow ( we didn't have yellow, lol). When the cake is done, frost then add the colored sugar in three segments. You can also include a trinket before baking (plastic baby, bean, and so on) - we won't because my children are still too little.
I'll post a pic tonight.
Happy baking!
Lisa

Soft Pretzel People

This was a fun one! And so easy too :)

I found this pretzel recipe here

1.5 Cups water

2 Cups all purpose flour

1 Pkg active dry yeast

1.5 tsp of sugar

3/4 tsp of salt

2 - 2.5 Cups of flour

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp water

coarse salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Heat 1.5 cups of water to 120 degrees (I used a meat thermomiter for this). In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt and warm water. Mix for 3 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and knead for 3 minutes, if dough is sticky, keep adding more flour from the half cup you have left to form a soft dough.

Tear off chunks and shape into whatever you can think up. We made a Sponge Bob, a boy, a girl, a flower, a snowman and a bunch of other abstract shapes. Put the pieces on foil covered sheets. Beat egg yolk and 1 tbsp water until well blended and brush over the dough, then sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 20 minutes. These will only stay fresh for about 2 days.

Come back tomorrow! We're making a giant rain stick from an empty wrapping paper tube.