Brownie Caramelita

What do I like love more, caramelitas or brownies?

I couldn’t decide between the chewy, caramely, oaty caramelitas (and some may say healthy, oats and pecans are known to lower cholesterol and pecans are good for flagging energy levels, I will ignore the rest of the obesity/diabetes inducing ingredients :p) and fudgy chocolatey brownies.

So I decided to combine them together to make this amazing bar.

I prepared the caramelita biscuit and brownie mixture (I made half the amount, no nuts/fruit).

I baked the oaty base for 10mins:

Then covered with the brownie mixture, and baked for 20mins:

I then smoothed the caramel on top and sprinkled the chocolate chips and pecans:

And crumbled the remaining oaty biscuit dough on top, before baking for a further 20mins:

Once cooled, I left it in the fridge overnight.

Omg… These are amazing!

The thin brownie layer is just enough to give it that fudgy hit, and compliments the gooey caramel and caramelised pecans gorgeously.

New fave? Me thinks so!

Caramelitas

I follow a few American foodies on Facebook, Instagram and blogs and love the different slices/bars they make. They look really enticing with the layers of pastry/brownie/caramel/nuts/jams/cookies/cheesecake etc etc.  One of my early food memories is a Tri-Level bar my sister made after a holiday to America.

these images were taken from the wonderful http://chocolatechocolateandmore.com/

My main problem is even though there are numerous recipes out there, I find it really confusing converting cups to grams, as there are loads of different conversion tables which all come up with different results.

I visited the stall, at the Good Food Cake and Bake Show, for the Outsider Tart who have brought their yummy American baked goods to the UK.  I was able to try a few of their slices and my favourite was an oaty caramelly bar.

I later saw these on instagram and knew I had to make them.

Ingredients:
(made 24 squares)
240g/2 cups plain flour
160g/2 cups quick cooking oats (I used Quaker Oats
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¼ teaspoon of salt
200g/1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
240g/1 cup unsalted butter
100g chocolate chips
60g chopped pecans
400ml of Caramel (I used tinned Nestle Caramel)

(recipe adapted from: Brown Eyed Baker and Roxanas Homebaking, I used Roxanas conversions from cups to grams and made a few adaptations as I went along, still not 100% happy with the conversions but it turned out well)

Method:
1)Preheat oven to 180 C and prepare tin (I used my brownie tray, which is 13.5” by 8”)

2) cream the sugar and butter, add the flour/bicarb/salt and mix, once combined add the oats  and mix until it forms a crumbly mixture

3) cover the base of the tin with ¾ of the crumble mixture, spreading so its even and bake for 10mins

4) take out of the oven and sprinkle with the chocolate chips and pecans, then pour over the caramel, and spread evenly using a spatula

5) crumble the remaining crumble mixture over the top evenly

6) bake in the oven for 10-15mins, til lightly browned

7) leave to cool, once at room temperature, leave in the fridge for two hours/overnight.  Cut into squares and serve (return to room temperature before serving, though if you can’t wait you can try one…or two).

These were absolutely delicious and really easy to make.
The oaty biscuit base and topping is buttery and has a caramelly taste from the brown sugar, and the caramel/chocolate/pecan filling compliments it so well.

Mr Kipling Eat Your Heart Out

I love Viennese Whirls, who doesn’t? Buttery, melt in your mouth biscuits, with a creamy filling and jam. Mmm…

Mr Kiplings recent seasonal offerings, gingerbread and mince pie (both are amazing but the mince pie one is better in my opinion), had me craving these home made versions and meant I got to use my favourite kitchen toy.

This recipe from the Hairy Bikers makes the most moreish Viennese Whirls.
They are also very easy to make, which is great, as you will want to make them often.

Biscuits
– 250g/9oz very soft butter
– 50g/2oz icing sugar, plus extra to decorate
– 250g/9oz plain flour
– 50g/2oz cornflour
– ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
For the filling
– 100g/3½oz soft butter
– 200g/7oz icing sugar, plus ½ tsp for dusting
– few teaspoons of milk
– ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
– 75g/3oz seedless raspberry jam

Combine all the ingredients for the biscuits using your electric whisk/food processor until smooth and completely combined.

Now this is where my favourite toy comes out. The first time I made these I found them really difficult to pipe and my hands really hurt, so I gave up and just made them into rounds. Same taste but they looked kinda boring.

I was gifted with this Kuhn Rikon Cookie Press. It effortlessly makes cute little shaped biscuits. I absolutely love it and can’t recommend it enough.  It’s so easy to use/clean and the resulting biscuits look soo amazing.  However, I’m not a huge fan of the recipes that were included in the box, but it’s perfect for Viennese Whirls, no painful piping and you still get beautiful biscuits. 

Included are several discs to make different shapes/patterns

my favourite are the flower and hearts

The biscuits come out more consistently if the trays are chilled, I also find it easier with the textured trays as pictured.

Bake until the edges are golden.

These biscuits alone are AMAZING. So buttery and moreish.  It’s a good job with the cookie press they are small so you get a lot more than the 18 sandwiches suggested in the recipe!

Make your buttercream and pipe on to a biscuit, put some jam on top and sandwich with another biscuit.  A sprinkling of icing sugar and eat!

The recipe is incredibly versatile and you can add different flavouring to both the biscuit and buttercream; the ones pictured are a vanilla biscuit with a mocha buttercream.
You can also substitute the jam with nutella/caramel etc to compliment your flavour combo.

You can also substitute the cornflower with custard powder, filled with vanilla buttercream and jam… Simply divine!

They can also be dipped in chocolate to be extra indulgent.

Or if you want something abit ‘lighter’ you can omit the buttercream/filling.

The Maryam butter biscuit selection box:coated in chocolate and sprinkles

They can also be made vegan/dairy free by using dairy free spread (e.g. Vitalite sunflower spread). They do take about 5mins longer to bake. Here are some I made sandwiched together with jam:

P.S. I was in Lakeland recently and found this cute springtime cookie disc set … And it fit in my Kuhn Rikon press! Haven’t had a chance to use them though.

P.P.S. they don’t seem to be selling the Kuhn Rikon Cookie press at Lakeland anymore,however, they have this OXO set, and its £5 off…yay!

Mendhi Hands

Continuing with what I made for my dessert table.
I saw these on Instagram or pintrest and knew I had to make them.  They were a massive hit with the kids and adults alike.

The idea is you leave the hands out with some icing pens and your guests decorate their hands with their own mendhi designs.

Even though this was one of the most simple things I made, it was definitely my favourite.

I used my favourite custard shortbread recipe:
250g plain flour, 50g custard powder, 100g caster sugar combined, then crumbled into breadcrumbs with 250g cubed butter , and kneaded until it combines. Chilled in the fridge before rolling for approx 30mins

I bought these hand cookie cutters from a kitchenware shop:

I rolled out the dough and cut them into different sizes hands

Then baked in the oven at 160deg until just golden brown on the edges (aprox 15mins).

While the hands were baking/cooling, using white fondant icing I made some hand toppers.  Once the hands were cooled, using raspberry jam brushed on to the hand biscuits, I stuck the fondant hand onto the biscuits.

Mmm.. custard biscuits with a tangy raspberry jam and sweet fondant topping!

On the day these were left out on a tray with a few tubes of chocolate writing icing tubes.

They were meant as an activity for kids but were enjoyed by everyone.

Not only did they look fab, they tasted awesome (and the leftovers were most appreciated at breakfast the next day).

They are a fun addition to any mendhi/henna party.