Bake-A-Rama

Bakasbord, Bakacopia, Whole lotta bakin' goin' on.

Elise,

Here it is, the week before Christmas and let the baking begin. In my first concentrated weekend of baking I made; Chocolate Sandwich cookies from Baked, Brown Sugar Malt Sandwich cookies from the internet, Dorie's Chocolate Chunkers,

Pecan Slices (disappointing), OMG Brownies, 2 batches of Carmelitas, 3 batches of Chocolate Fudge sauce, 2 double batches of Mrs. Bentley's Butterscotch sauce,

2 Fruit Cakes from Regan Daly's Sweet Kitchen

and some Sugar Spiced Pecans.

I ruined 2 batches of caramel










 and used 8 pounds of butter.

By Monday, I had given it all away.

By Wednesday I had made another pan of Carmelitas and 2 batches of Spice Cookies.
















On Thursday I was completely sick of baking and then came Friday and your post about the truffles. It was all the inspiration I needed.

But first, I should probably do a bike workout,


or walk the dogs.

 

Love, Margaret

Caramelitas

2 cups flour
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1teaspoon salt
1 ½  cups butter, melted (3 Sticks)
1 ½  cups chocolate chips
2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
2 cups caramel sauce (make your own)
4 tablespoons flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease a 10 x 13-inch baking dish
Combine the first 6 ingredients until crumbly

Press ½ of crumb mixture into pan and bake for 15 minutes

Sprinkle the chocolate chips and pecans over the baked crust

Mix together the caramel and the flour and drizzle over all, make sure everything is spread to the edge Sprinkle remaining crumbs over caramel topping, again go to the edges 

 Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown 

 Allow to cool completely before cutting

Caramel Sauce

2 C sugar

1 ½ C cream

Put the sugar in a heavy, wide bottomed pot, set over low heat and watch it. It will start to melt and then brown around the edges. Stir. Because this is the dry method, you can stir to your heart’s content. Keep stirring and then let it sit so more sugar can melt and caramelize. You should end up w a melted, browned and mostly smooth pot of caramelized sugar. You want it to be brown, and to smell caramelized and very nearly burnt, but not all the way black and burned. If you don’t go far enough, it is insipid. I occasionally see a wisp of smoke rise off it. At this point, add the cream. It will boil like crazy, don’t get burned and don’t let it boil over. Return to the low heat and stir until all smooth and combined. I usually end up with a few hard pieces that just won’t melt. This probably makes about 2 cups, enough for the Caramelitas. 

Butterscotch Sauce from Bentley Farm Cookbook