Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Oh my gosh guys, I'm almost there. Almost in Dublin. And alternating between incredibly nervous and incredibly excited. Hopefully the nerves will subside. It's just that...having to say those last goodbyes to friends, packing up all my clothes into two gallon ziploc bags (and body-slamming all the air out of them), looking around my kitchen and knowing that soon enough, I will have none of the convenience I'm used to...things are real. 

What if I get to Ireland and my kitchen is a disaster? What if I'm suuuuuuper awkward around new people and everyone is like "Nah, I'll pass on talking to that one". What if I get sad and I want to talk to someone from home but it's the middle of the night there? Breathe. It will be okay. Hopefully it will be not just okay, but fantastic. 

 I made these for a get together my sister had a few days after Christmas. I was not present (I was at Les Mis with my parents, and did not shed a single tear. Perhaps there is something wrong with me) for their reception, but I think it was a positive one. I've been wanting to try this recipe forever, and well, this seemed like as good an occasion as any. Sweet, buttery caramel is paired with sea salt to create an intriguing and incredibly awesome cupcake. I decided to go without the filling and the caramel halos cause I was running low on sugar and time, but feel free to go for it if you're feeling brave :) 




Salted Caramel Cupcakes
from Sprinkle Bakes

Cupcakes

 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with papers. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until pale fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated.  Add vanilla.  Mix and scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about halfway full.  Bake for about 25 minutes. When done, transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting:

1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick salted butter
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a saucepan, stir together granulated sugar and water.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Cook without stirring until mixture turns a deep amber color.  Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until very smooth.  Let caramel cool for about 20 minutes, until it is just barely warm and still pourable.

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and salt together until lightened and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low and add powdered sugar.  Mix until thoroughly combined.

Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the caramel.  Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed (about 2 minutes).  Mixture should be ready to use without refrigeration.  If your caramel was too hot when added, it will cause your icing to be runny.  If this happens refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Secret Recipe Club - Chocolate Matcha Caramels!

Oy vey, it's been too long. I'm sorry. Life kind of got in the way...there is a very short window for leaf crunching you know. I've been baking of course. But things that I didn't feel like photographing, or that didn't turn out. And then there was this post, which I've been meaning to write for over a week now, but I just never got around to it, and then I left my camera with all my pictures on it at school, so I had to re-photograph everything with my phone...I shouldn't be making excuses for myself though. Shame! 

Let's get down to business, shall we? My SRC assignment for this month was The Novice Housewife, who has an incredibly diverse and appealing collection of recipes. And is also a great photographer. This is one of the few assignments that I actually knew about outside the SRC. I've been eyeing up her delicious looking Indian recipes :) 

 

But....matcha. I can't resist. And making caramel (something I hadn't tried before) seemed like fun sugarcrafting practice! There is something magical about candy making....watching sugar transform into something completely different. Nom. To add even more caramel, I actually used some caramel flavored matcha! It's super delicious, drink it, seriously. I cannot recommend this brand enough. Now, the matcha adds a delightful kind of earthiness to the otherwise very sweet caramel. I found that it got stronger over several days. If it's not your thang, chocolate caramel is pretty awesome just by itself :) 

Chocolate Matcha Caramel 

from The Novice Housewife

Ingredients
Unsalted butter for the pan
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate (99% dark preferable), finely chopped
1 tablespoon matcha powder Directions
1. Line a 9x9 pan with a piece of parchment paper (the paper will droop over the sides) and butter well.
2. Stir together the cream, sugar, corn syrup, and salt together in a heavy bottom pan. Bring to a boil and continue to cook until it reaches 250F. Remove from heat and let cool for a five minutes. (Be careful when waiting for it to reach 250 F because it might flow over. And since I had to put it on low it took a looooooong time. I would recommend using a really deep pan)
3. Add chocolate and the matcha. Stir together and pour into the pan and spread with an offset spatula. Let the caramel sit for a few hours.
4. Cut apart into 1-inch squares. Serve or store in an airtight container.

Cookie Experiment

Hm. I feel like I've been in sort of a rut lately. I've been in a state of insecurity about my academics, strengths, and I guess life in general. I need to keep remembering what it is that defines me. My slump extended sorta to baking. I sat around for a while yesterday trying to figure out what I wanted to make. I wanted to make something cool. Yeah. But I didn't have anything out of the ordinary in my room. 

In my heart, I wanted chocolate chip cookies. Plain and simple. I don't like to brag, but I definitely have a knack for them. Junior year of high school, we had a cookie baking contest in my chemistry class, in which I won first and second place. For my efforts I was awarded a large, outdated periodic table, a Three Musketeers bar, and the respect and admiration of my peers. You can see this is quite the defining moment for me. 

Anyway. Honestly, I prefer the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip bag. Don't judge. They never, ever go wrong. Ever. My snobbish side kept me from making them (and perhaps a bit of fear that they wouldn't be as magical without the aid of the trusty KitchenAid mixer). So I found a different recipe, and some caramels of mysterious origin in my room, and chopped them up and threw them in the dough. I don't really eat caramels. I kinda have TMJ. And hypochondria. 

Also, my brown sugar was a giant chunk, so I beat it with the Divine Comedy until it submitted. 

Almost immediately, things started going wrong with the recipe. My hand mixer, for whatever reason, could not handle the dough. One of the beaters didn't seem to be spinning properly. Then, the ingredients called for one egg, but in the directions, it said add eggs. I added one...and realized that the 2 1/2 cups of flour would totally overpower the wet ingredients. So I added 1 1/2. With a sinking feeling in my heart, I popped the dough in the oven and waited the 10 minutes they were supposed to cook. Nothing happened. I poked a ball tentatively. Pretty raw. I left them a little while longer...I mean, why not? Next time I checked, they looked like cookies. Perfect cookies. Really delicious cookies. 

So I guess I still have my touch. 

Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies

Adapted from Forever Now and Then

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup caramel bits
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream sugars and butter together. Add egg, vanilla, mix well.
3. Mix in flour, salt, baking soda.
4. Fold in chocolate chips and caramel.
5. Fold in caramel.
6. Drop by the tablespoon onto a lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-20 min. Sorry that's a huge range.
7. Remove and eat. Immediately. I have no idea what these taste like cooled.