Pumpkin Sea Salt Caramel Sauce and Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

This is a twist on the pumpkin sea salt caramels from last Sunday's Pumpkin Sea Salt Caramels.  I saw a comment somewhere that that someone wished the caramels weren't so difficult to make.  I don't think they are so much difficult as time consuming and precise, but I know candy making isn't for everyone.  I only give it a go a few times a year because it is a little bit of an effort.  But oh the flavors of the sweet and salty pumpkin...I hate for anyone to miss out so gave it a try as a caramel sauce.  The caramel sauce is so much more forgiving since the final cooking stage doesn't require checking temperatures.  

I opted to top pumpkin oatmeal cookies with the sauce because I really just wanted to try this pumpkin oatmeal cookie recipe as well--maybe a little pumpkin overkill if there is such a thing.  Regular oatmeal cookies or cheesecake would love some pumpkin sauce as well or swirl it into homemade ice cream with some crumbled gingersnaps before freezing.  For the easiest dessert ever, you can serve the caramel right over some store bought ice cream.

The only real candy making stage is the sugar/water/corn syrup cooking.  Add all to heavy bottom pan, turn heat to medium/med low and let sugar cook without stirring.  If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can check the sugar mixture by dropping in cold ice water.  Sugar syrup should hold together and be soft and squishy in your hands--soft ball stage.  Slowly add pumpkin cream and whisk thoroughly.  Let cook until desired consistency--whisking often.  

Let it cool, ladle it in a fabulous jar and keep or give away.  You'll obviously want to refrigerate.  Much easier than the caramels, but all of the same Pumpkin and Sea Salt Caramel goodness.

The pumpkin oatmeal cookies were good but a little too sweet for me.  I'd definitely make them again and experiment with reducing the sugar.

PUMPKIN SEA SALT CARAMEL SAUCE

1 1/2 c heavy cream
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup of water
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut in chunks
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sea salt

1. In a saucepan, combine cream, pumpkin puree and spices. Warm to just before boiling and set aside.
2. In a second heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, syrup and water. Turn heat to medium and let sugars boil until it reaches 240 degrees (the soft ball point on a candy thermometer). 
3. Very carefully add the pumpkin cream to the sugar mixture and stir. Continue cooking on medium for 15-20 mins
4. As soon as it reaches desired consistency, pull it off the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Stir vigorously so that butter is fully incorporated.  Let cool and store in jar.

PUMPKIN OATMEAL COOKIES

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 sticks butter; softened
1 stick margarine
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup cinnamon or white chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Line baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper or generously grease individual sized cast iron skillets
3. Combine flour, oat bran, oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice in bowl and whisk to combine and remove lumps
4.  Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar in mixer bowl until light and fluff
5. Add pumpkin and egg and mix well. Beat in vanilla
6. Add flour mixture combine until all ingredients are incorporated. 
7. Fold in white chips and dried cranberries
8. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets or spread cookie dough into skillets
9. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely

Tart Frozen Yogurt

Oh, frozen yogurt.  Yum.  While I'm usually not a "scooped" ice cream kind of girl, I do love soft serve.  I  think it's nostalgic really...childhood summers and Dairy Queen. It goes with the fireflies and summers in Iowa nostalgia I suppose--I still swear that DQ has the best Ice Milk product out there.  Frozen yogurt is right up there on my soft serve love list-- a love like this could get a bit spendy.  While it doesn't really sound too bad at $.44 an ounce, it would be comparable to paying over $2.50 for each of those individual 6oz yogurts at the grocery store.  Crazy.  

I've made froyo before, but I usually add in fruit or chocolate or other goodies.  In that form, it kind of becomes similar to ice cream.  Tasty, but it just sits in my freezer.  I wanted something clean and tart and just like the kind I grab at the local froyo shops.   I'm a bit embarrassed to see that making it at home is about as easy as it comes.  The only thing missing is that slightly grainy texture(which I love) that the shops have.  That aside, this is pretty comparably tasty and the ingredient "list" is hardly a list at all...yogurt, sugar and vanilla. 

I used one 2 lb tub of whole milk yogurt drained overnight.  Once drained, about this much yogurt remains...

Mix in 1/2 cup sugar (or more per your taste preference) and a tsp vanilla.  Pop it into your ice cream maker for 15-20 mins...

As you can see, I wrote down this very complicated recipe just in case I needed it for the blog post and forgot...



And then magically you have this. 

While it looks like a solid mass here, it's actually the perfect soft serve consistency--you can freeze it up for a bit if you like a firmer yogurt.  I topped it with some fresh strawberries with a tsp of sugar mixed in and I swear, this was better than any ice cream sundae.  When you think about it, these are the same ingredients in your everyday individual yogurt cups, but when deconstructed and frozen, it's like eating a soft serve sundae.  I love that.  I do have to say that the whole milk yogurt though makes for a super creamy, almost ice cream like, frozen yogurt. It was almost a bit too rich for me so I actually have some lowfat yogurt draining away for my next batch. 

On another front, finally, after a whole lot of this...

I have this. I'm actually in shock at how quickly a quilt can be put together.  It's all relative I know, but when knitting or crocheting an afghan takes months or up to a year, a few hours over a couple of weekends seems like nothing. Next weekend I'll attempt the quilting.  I first learned to quilt from a friend who swore that hand quilting was the only way to make a quilt and so I always feel a bit of trepidation right before machine quilting.  Okay, that's a lie.  I feel an immense amount of trepidation and fear before machine quilting since I've puckered many a quilt. It's all about the layering and pinning technique right?  Wish me luck. :)

Thai Tea Ice Cream

I was in the mood to give the thai tea cupcakes another try when the temp soared into the 90s. Definitely not baking weather. So instead, I opted for a cooler version of a thai tea treat and gave ice cream a shot. While the cupcakes need another round of experimentation, the ice cream was a hit from the start. We finished off the entire batch without blinking. I take a certain consolation in saying we finished rather than I finished. Without company, I would have finished off the ice cream myself. Unlike the cupcakes which had a mild tea flavor, the ice cream was like eating a frozen version of the drink--yummy.

Thai Tea Ice Cream

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup thai tea leaves

2 egg yolks

Heat milk in a saucepan until it simmers; remove from heat and add thai tea leaves. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain milk and tea mixture through a mesh strainer and again through a yogurt strainer to filter the fine pieces out. Pour back into saucepan and add cream, sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks. Whisk. Return to med heat and cook for 5 mins stirring constantly. Chill in refrigerator until cold and process according to ice cream maker instructions.

Greek Yogurt and Cherries, Two Ways

With my cherry purchasing gone mad over the past couple of months, I needed to up the eating quotient from merely one pound per day to at least two. There's always some greek yogurt to be found in my fridge as well. Two fabulous ingredients and two fabulously different ways to serve them....

The first recipe using these two ingredients was courtesy of my BFFs over at Food Network. This magazine just brings so much joy to this house.

While not the most difficult recipe out there, the combination of tangy greek yogurt with sweet black cherries is perfect for hot summer days. The best part is that while this feels decadent, it's pretty much the same thing I eat for breakfast half the time--just in frozen form.

For this cherry frozen yogurt, you just take 2 cups of greek yogurt (or regular yogurt strained in a cheesecloth overnight) add a bit of vanilla extract and honey to taste and process per your ice cream maker's instructions. In the last couple of minutes, add one cup pitted and chopped cherries and churn until mixed in. Freeze for additional 2 hours.

The second recipe had an almost identical ingredient list, with the addition of some red wine. Take two cups of pitted cherries, throw in one cup of red or white wine, add a drizzle of honey and a splash of vanilla and cook it all for about 20 minutes or until the wine cooks down to a syrup. Ta-da--you have a cherry compote. Perfect for drizzling on a bit of greek yogurt.