Homemade Samoas

Homemade Samoas

Cookies
1 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
up to 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (it’s possible you might not need to add milk at all). The dough should come together into a soft, not-too-sticky ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky.

Roll the dough (working in two or three batches) out between pieces of wax paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and use a knife, or the end of a wide straw, to cut a smaller center hole. Repeat with remaining dough. Alternatively, use scant tablespoons of dough and press into an even layer in a mini donut pan to form the rounds.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. If using a mini donut pan, bake for only about 10 minutes, until edges are light gold.
Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
8 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.
Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with.

While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.
Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.

Note: These cookies are fairly time consuming to make, but if you take your time and have fun with them, the results will be worth it. That said, if you want something a little bit quicker, try baking a batch of Samoas Bars instead, which require no rolling and cutting of the dough!

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies

Sea Salt Caramel

(adapted from Baked Cookbook)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream

In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt. Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved. set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Without a thermometer, just pull the sugar off the heat when it is a medium goldish brown – it will continue to cook in the heat of the pan. Better to pull it too early than too late. Remove from the heat and let cool for one minute.

Add the cream mixture and the vanilla to the sugar mixture. Whisk in the sour cream. Let the caramel cool to room temp, then follow the brownie instructions.

Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate any leftover caramel. It makes a great ice cream topping or tastes great straight out of the jar.

Brownies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
pinch salt
1/4 cup Chocolate Syrup
half of the above caramel recipe

Preheat oven to 325F.

Melt Chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

In a bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well combined.
Add flour, salt, chocolate syrup and chocolate mixture and blend well.

In a greased 8×8 pan, pour a little over half of the brownie batter and bake for 18 minutes. Remove from oven and pour in the caramel. On top of the caramel, add the rest of your brownie batter. If it doesn’t pour smoothly, just plop it in a swirl it around a little bit. Return to oven and bake for another 18-22 minutes. Brownies will still appear a little shaky, due to the caramel, but they will firm up once cooled. Do not overbake.

Serve a warm with a tall glass of milk -- or ice cream. :)

Recipe taken from CuisineNie.

Caramel Cream Brownie Trifle

• 1 box brownies, made according to package directions
• 1 box (4-serving size) chocolate fudge instant pudding, made according to package directions
• 1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
• 1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip
• 1 C chopped walnuts
• 1 C toffee pieces

Make brownies ahead, cool completely and cut into 1 inch pieces. Make pudding mix as directed on box; refrigerate. Thoroughly stir caramel topping into Cool Whip.

In 3-quart glass bowl, layer half each of the brownies, pudding, walnuts, toffee pieces, and Cool Whip mixture; repeat. Sprinkle a few toffee and nuts on top.

Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving but no longer than 24 hours. Store covered in refrigerator.

We had this for my brother's birthday a few weeks ago and about DIED! It's over the top delicious!

Turtle Pretzels

Prep time: 10 minutes
Difficulty level: easiest!

• 1 bag of Rolos
• 1 bag of mini pretzel twists
• 1 bag of pecan halves

(See, it looks easy already doesn't it?)

Lay pretzels on top of a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper, unwrap the Rolos (this step is essential), place one rolo on top of each pretzel. Pop them in the oven for 3-5 minutes on about 350, just until they start to look melty. Take them out of the oven and quickly press one pecan half on top of each melted rolo. Squish down enough to get the pecan stuck in the chocolate, but not too much that they flatten all the way down. (You know, so they look like traditional Turtles.) Let them cool and munch away!

The BEST Caramel Corn in the universe

Prep time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 1 hour

Serves: 5 people (or just 2 if you're like my family!)

• 10 cups of popped popcorn -(don't use microwave kind) get seeds out, put in a very LARGE pan
• 2 C brown sugar
• 1 C Karo syrup
• 1 stick butter

Melt sugar, syrup, and butter in a LARGE sauce pan until forms a "soft ball".
Take off heat and quickly add:

• 1 tsp baking soda (it will bubble way up)
• 1 tsp salt

Stir vigorously! Then pour over the popcorn, stir until coated well. Bake at 350 for 1 hour - stirring every 15 minutes. (Don't even think of taking it out of the oven early -- if you do it won't be crunchy.)

This is pretty much the yummiest snack of all time! We always make a double or triple batch because it goes so quickly. I got this from both my mom and grandma and it's been in our family forever. We especially love to make it in the fall and around the holidays. Nothing beats the anticipation of smelling it bake. Ooh, mouth-watering, wonderful caramel corn!

Caramel Apple Upsidedown Cake

Warning: This autumnal dessert is not "light" whatsoever. But fat and sugar are what makes life so sweet. Right? :)

Cake:

• 1/2 C butter
• 1/4 C whipping cream
• 1 C packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 C chopped pecans
• 2 large apples (I like Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (about 2 1/3 C.)
• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 1/4 C water
• 1/3 C veg. oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp apple pie spice or cinnamon

Topping (optional):

• 2/3 C whipped fluffing white frosting
• 1/2 C cool whip
• caramel ice cream topping

Heat oven to 350. In sauce pan combine butter, whipping cream, brown sugar and salt over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until butter is melted. Pour into 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle with pecan pieces; top with sliced apples.

In large bowl beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and apple pie spice with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Then beat on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes. Carefully spoon batter over apple mixture.

Bake 40 - 45 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake from pan. Place heatproof serving platter upsidedown on pan; carefully turn platter and pan over. Let pan remain over cake for a minute so caramel can drizzle over cake. Remove pan.

In small bowl mix frosting and cool whip. Serve warm cake topped with frosting mixture and drizzled with caramel sauce. Or serve with vanilla ice cream.

I "borrowed" this one from BettyCrocker.com, thank you very much. :)