Oatmeal Carmelitas

On Saturday night we had our friends Jake and Amber over for dinner and a game of 'Battle of the Sexes'. We ate pizza for dinner and then for dessert I made Oatmeal Carmelitas. I had had these once before and had forgotten about them until I stumbled across the recipe the other day. They are so yummy. I don't like to cool mine as the recipe suggests but prefer to serve them warm with vanilla ice cream and this time I even made some homemade caramel sauce and drizzled it over the top. Heavenly!

All that being said while I was making these I let my gluttony get the best of me. The recipe makes enough for a 9X13 pan and since there was only going to be the four of us eating it I halved the recipe and made mine in an 8X8 pan. I didn't however halve the amount of caramel in step 3 thinking that having double the caramel would be sooo good. While they were still good, the caramel in the middle sort of erupted and so the bars ended up being more of a gooey caramel/chocolate mess. Tasted great but wasn't pretty. So the pics below are not mine! Next time I'll be good and stick to the recipe!


Oatmeal Carmelitas
from Pillsbury


2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups margarine or butter, softened (I used butter)

1 (12.5-oz.) jar (1 cup) caramel ice cream topping
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used Milk chocolate chips)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I omitted nuts this time)

Heat oven to 350°F.
Grease 13x9-inch pan.

1-Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine all crust ingredients; mix at low speed until crumbly. Reserve half of crumb mixture (about 3 cups) for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture in bottom of greased pan.
Bake for 10 minutes or until light brown.

2-Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 tablespoons flour; blend well.

3-Remove partially baked crust from oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts.
Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

4-Return to oven; bake an additional 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. The original recipe calls to cool these for 1 hour or until completely cooled but I love mine warm served with vanilla ice cream.

Apple Crisp Cake with Caramel Sauce

This past Sunday we had a baptism to attend and I was asked to bring a dessert. I love apple crisp, cake and caramel sauce so when I found this recipe for Apple Crisp Cake with Caramel Sauce it was a no brainer.

Apple Crisp Cake w/ Caramel Sauce
Topping
1/2 C All-Purpose Flour
1/2 C Rolled Oats
1/4 C Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 C Butter
Cake
1 package yellow Cake Mix- I used white
1 C Water
1/2 C Butter -- Softened
1 Tsp Cinnamon
3 Eggs
2 C Thinly Sliced Peeled Apples
Sauce
I used my favorite caramel sauce recipe- see previous post
Heat oven to 350.
Generously grease and flour 13 x 9 inch pan. Lightly spoon flour into
a measuring cup; level off. In small bowl, combine flour oats and
brown sugar; mix well. With fork, cut in 1/2 cup butter until mix
resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
In large bowl, combine all cake ingredients except apples; beat at
low speed until moistened. Beat 2 mins at high. Pour batter into pan.
Arrange apple slices over top of batter. Sprinkle with topping.

Bake at 350 for 38-43 mins. Or until deep golden brown (See note). Cool 5
minutes before serving.


***NOTE*** I had never seen or made this cake before so didn't know really what to expect. When the cake had about 15 minutes left to bake I checked it and noticed that it appeared to be erupting in spots. I've never had a cake do that to me before so wasn't sure what to think. Once the timer went off and a toothpick came out clean I examined it a little closer and came to the conclusion that it was probably supposed to look like that. Just a side note incase you try to make it and panic when it does the same thing.

I really did like this cake. It was a tad drier than I hoped it would be but other than that the flavor was spot on. You have to keep in mind that for me to love a cake it has to be ultra moist otherwise I am always a little disappointed. I think I'll make this again. Given that I had to make it to take somewhere it was a little difficult to serve it warm, but I think if I were to make it again I'd serve it warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Mmmm I could go for some right now.

Caramel Sauce

I don't know that I would necessarily describe myself as a chocolate or a caramel person. It seems that for me there is a time for both. But every now and then I just get a hankering for some good ol caramel flavor. This weekend was one of those hankering moments. Brad had told me that for our Valentines Day dessert he wanted me to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares. To try and make it a little more special I thought I'd try a recipe for caramel sauce I found at http://www.goodeatsblog.com/search/label/caramel to drizzle on top of the cake and then serve it warm with vanilla ice cream. I liked this recipe but again did not love it. So that being said, I have posted my favorite caramel sauce recipe below this one and don't know that I will ever venture from it again. If it ain’t broke, don't fix it right?

Caramel Sauce
from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody (original recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, Houghton Mifflin 2006)


2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1-1/2 tbsp light corn syrup
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
Put the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, stir just to combine the ingredients and then put the pan over medium-high heat. Heat, without stirring , until the caramel turns deep amber., 5-10 minutes. Lower the heat a bit and, standing back from the saucepan add the cream and butter. When the spatters are less vehement, stir to calm down the caramel and dissolve any lumps.

The reason why I didn't LOVE this one as much as I do the one below was because it just wasn't as creamy as I like my caramel. I think in part it is because of the method used to cook it. I found that this sauce had a slightly burnt caramel flavor. Granted I could have slightly scolded it too. My friend however didn't think it tasted burnt when I had her try it. I think if I did decide to try this one again what I would do differently is not let the caramel turn quite so amber before adding the cream and butter to see if that does the trick.

Nats FAVORITE- no fail- Caramel Sauce
Pillsbury.com

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup whipping cream

In medium saucepan, combine all sauce ingredients; mix well. Bring to a boil. Boil over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature.

Delicate Pear Cake with Caramel Sauce

I have been meaning to post this recipe since Thanksgiving, but just haven't had the time to sit down and do it. A friend of mine (Mimi Sue) made this cake for a church thing we had just prior to Thanksgiving and I instantly fell in love with it. I am not a lover of pears AT ALL but this cake is SOOOOO good. It was easy to make and the final product just looked pretty. I love food that looks pretty when it is all done. The cake is moist and delicious, but what truly seems to make the cake (I think and my mother-in-law agreed) is the caramel sauce. I made two of these to take to a family Thanksgiving dinner and those who tried it seemed to really like it.



CAKE
1 (16-ounce) can pear halves in light syrup
1 package (1-lb 2.25-oz) pudding-included white cake mix (just the mix)
1/3 cup oil
3 egg whites

FROSTING
1 cup whipped cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (16-ounce) can pear halves in light syrup drained and cut however you like for garnishing purposes only.
1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts or walnuts, toasted (also for garnish)

SAUCE
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter or margarine

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch tube pan. Drain pear halves, reserving 1/3 cup liquid. Place pear halves in food processor bowl with metal blade or blender container; process until smooth.

In large bowl, combine cake mix, pureed pears, reserved 1/3 cup pear liquid, oil and egg whites at low speed until moistened; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Pour into greased and floured pan.

Bake at 350°F. for 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool upright in pan 15 minutes; invert onto serving plate. Cool completely.

In small bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in vanilla. Frost cooled cake with whipped cream. Cut drained pear halves lengthwise into about 32 slices. Arrange on top of cake, slightly overlapping slices. Press nuts into sides of cake. Refrigerate until serving time.

In medium saucepan, combine all sauce ingredients; mix well. Bring to a boil. Boil over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature.

To serve, spoon about 2 tablespoons sauce onto individual dessert plates. Place slice of cake on sauce. Store cake and sauce in refrigerator.

Note- Even though I am not a lover of pears, the garnish of pears on top of the cake really made the cake refreshing. That being said, I wouldn't skimp on the pears as the garnish even if you’re not a fan of pears. The natural but not over-powering sweetness of the pears is the perfect compliment to the caramel sauce. Also, when I made my caramel sauce, the store had been cleaned out of light brown sugar and so I had to use dark brown. Though it worked ok, I wouldn't recommend the dark as the molasses flavor was a little too strong.