DIY Caramel Syrup

I posted Monday about a cheap and delicious way to make iced coffee. I take mine to class with me every morning in my cute purple tumbler- with ice, half and half and two tablespoons of this goodness.

Of course you can buy your own flavored syrup. But this is SO simple, and you control what goes in it. I know that this recipe calls for A LOT of sugar but just remember that you don't use very much at once. It blends better than straight sugar or artificial sweetener in this liquid form. 

What You'll Need:
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup caramel sauce

I used this caramel sauce. You can make your own too! 

What To Do:
Combine ingredients over medium heat. Stir frequently until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Store airtight in refrigerator. 

Add to coffee, lattes, milkshakes, etc!

Recipe from Annie's Eats 

Caramel Brownies

Forget healthy New Years' resolutions.

Y'all these brownies were so good. 

Gooey, rich and a deeply genuinely chocolatey. 

At first I wasn't totally sure about the caramel layer

 but, trust me, it blends so well with the chocolate.

I made these for a student's birthday so I only got to eat one 

(well, half of one since I shared it with my roomie), 

but after I had delivered the remaining brownies

 I really wished I had made more. So I might just do that.

They were that good.

And they smelled so good that I couldn't wait for them to cool completely

I cut one out while it was still warm and had oozing caramel and chocolate chips.

Yum!

I didn't add pecans to this batch because honestly it didn't need them.

I might try it next time though and call them turtle brownies!

And, you can always do like 500 sit ups and work these off ;)

What You Need:

For the brownies:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1½ cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
1½ cups pecan, coarsely chopped (optional)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the caramel filling:
14 oz. caramel candies, unwrapped
1/3 cup heavy cream

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.  Combine the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth.  (Or,do what I did and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted.) 

Whisk in the sugar, eggs and vanilla until incorporated.  Stir in the flour and salt just until combined.  Spread about half of the brownie batter in the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, maintaining the oven temperature, and let cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the chopped pecans (if using) to a medium skillet over medium heat.  Toast, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and light golden brown.  Remove from the heat and set aside.  To make the caramel filling, combine the caramel candies and cream in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.  Heat, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth.  Stir in half of the pecans.  Immediately spread the caramel mixture over the bottom brownie layer.  

Pour the remaining brownie batter over the caramel layer, taking care to pour and spread it evenly otherwise it will be difficult to spread evenly over the caramel layer.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips and the remaining pecans on top of the final brownie layer.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before slicing and serving.  (To speed cooling, chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.)

Cut into individual squares and store in an airtight container. If you don't eat them all out of the pan right there. 

Source: From Annie's Eats, slightly adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather

DIY Mocha Frappe

For my birthday this year, my wonderful-beyond-words sister gifted me with 

a Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe machine. I call him Fred. Fred the Frappe Machine.

This makes my heart happy. See, I'm not sure if you picked up on it when I talked about pumpkin spice lattes, but I spend way too much at Starbucks (and used to at McDonald's until I discovered how many calories their frappes have. Yikes!)

Fred makes it super simple to create my own frappes right at home!

He's a coffee maker/blender combination. 

Now, my recipe will work if you brew your stuff and use a regular blender- 

this just saves me a step.

There are two methods that I use to make a great frappe. 

The first is hot brewed:

Brew about 1/4 cup very strong coffee. 

Pour immediately into blender with:

• 1 1/2 cups ice
• 3/4 cups milk- (sometimes i'm really bad and use heavy cream)
• splash of simple syrup
• 2 Tbsp chocolate syrup (or caramel or whatever flavor you'd like!)

Blend to your desired consistency, adding ice or milk as needed. Top with whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate syrup. Mmmmm!

To minimize weakening of your overall coffee flavor, you can also brew your hot coffee, let it cool in the fridge and then blend.

In the past, things that haven't worked have been

• using too much coffee
• using weak coffee
• using granulated sugar
• waiting too long to blend (thus melting the ice and weakening your drink)

The other method is cold brewed! 

Cold brewed coffee can be used for frappes or iced coffee and has much less acid than hot brewed coffee. So, if you're planning ahead, this is a good way to go. 

What you'll do is soak coffee grounds in water for at least 8 hours (overnight is even better! the longer, the more flavor transfer) The ratio of grounds to water will depend on what you're making it for. If you're making iced coffee, use 1 oz coffee per 1 cup water. For the frappe, I'd triple that amount. 

Once it's all soaked and set, filter the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. I used a colander with coffee filters since I don't have fancy kitchen things (besides Fred, that is).

Once it's all strained, refrigerate up to month in an airtight container 

Use the same measurements to blend a mocha frappe as the hot brewed directions. Yum!

Iced Coffee recipe coming soon, so stay tuned.