Thursday, January 19, 2012

Vanilla Bean Caramel and Pinterest

I have officially found Pinterest. It is HORRIBLY addicting and I am so obsessed. I have found a ton of new recipes and I've been baking a ton. I also got a new camera so I can finally start to add more pictures to my recipes. This is very good news for all of you!

This caramel is TO DIE FOR! It's fairly simple to make and is amazing with apples or on other desserts. My next recipe is going to be caramel brownies. I'll keep you posted on how those turn out. This recipe comes from Annie's Eats. You should make it NOW. No joke. On ice cream its even better.

I've also had more time to actually make meals so you should be getting some of those recipes soon. Its nice to finally have time to plan out weekly menus and cook healthy food.

Vanilla Bean Caramel

1 C. sugar
1 1/4 C. cream
1 T. vanilla bean paste (I keep this on hand since it has the "caviar" from the pods in a nice paste. Gives it a little more vanilla flavor than just extract. I recommend using either the paste or caviar to get the full taste in this recipe)
Pinch of salt
1/2 t. vanilla extract if you use pods ( I just added a little more paste)

Using a heavy bottom pan, spread the sugar over the bottom.

Turn on low heat and let it slowly liquefy. Once the sugar starts to melt, stir until all of the sugar is melted. Once sugar is completely liquid let it cook until it becomes dark. This will be the color of your caramel so make sure to make it dark enough but be careful not to burn it.

While sugar is cooking measure out cream and add vanilla paste. As soon as the sugar has browned, remove from heat and whisk in half of the cream. (If cream is slightly warm it helps this process.)

Once incorporated add in remaining cream, salt and vanilla extract. Mine hardened once cream was added so place it over med-low heat again to re-liquefy. Place in airtight container and store in the fridge.

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