Salted Caramel and the Things You Can Do

Aaron and I are on a pretty big salted caramel kick right now. We whipped some up a few days ago and have been finding all sorts of delightful uses for it... :)

Salted caramel is pretty easy to make, you probably have everything you need on hand for it. It just takes some patience and time. We have gotten pretty used to adding a spoonful into our coffees each morning, oh my goodness! It is so rich, so buttery, so amazing.

like a pot of gold :)

Salted Caramel Sauce
Serving Size : N/A :)
Makes : 1 cup

Ingredients :
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp salt
8 tbsp butter
4 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions : Melt butter, salt, and vanilla over low heat, stirring your blend occasionally. Once mixture is fully melted, turn heat to medium and slowly stir in brown sugar. Add 4 tsp of water and continue to stir for 5 minutes or until all sugar is dissolved into the butter. If it begins to boil, immediately turn the heat down. You do not want your caramel to burn. Once sugar is dissolved, turn heat back down to low until you are ready to pour your sauce.

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The first night we made our caramel sauce, we decided to whip up some caramel rolls on the fly. We had some uncooked pie crusts in the fridge and after some deliberating, decided that chopped pecans were just what we needed yet to get started.

  

 With only 3 ingredients, these rolls couldn't be easier to make.

Salted Caramel Rolls
Serving Size : 1 roll
Makes : 12 rolls

Ingredients :
1 - 9" uncooked pie crust
3/4 cup salted caramel sauce
1/2 cup pecan pieces

Instructions : Spread out pie crust on counter or block dusted with flour. Cut dough into strips measuring approximately 1 1/2 inches wide by the length of your crust long. One uncooked pie crust should yield about 12 ideal sized rolls. Once the strips are cut, liberally spread salted caramel sauce over each piece of dough. Save a little of your caramel sauce for drizzling. Sprinkle pecan pieces over the caramel and then roll your strips up from end to end. Place in glass or metal cooking dish. If desired, drizzle any leftover caramel sauce over rolls. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until the dough is no longer soft and moist. When finished, the dough of the rolls should be almost flaky.

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And! Another you could do with your new favorite salted caramel sauce is make miniature pumpkin pies with salted caramel sauce! Lol, I have a personal weakness for pumpkin as you may have noticed by now. I used to help my grandma make pumpkin pie (as it was my favorite) all of the time when I was a little girl. We had so much fun together in the kitchen and I used to make her add so much sugar and spice to it to the point where almost no one else liked it. Well, now that I'm older, I still love that spice level to my pumpkin, but can cut back on some of that sweetness.

We wanted to make cute miniature pies this time, so we used our cupcake/muffin pan to form little pie crusts into. When forming your crusts, make sure that your dough is not too thick that your little pie tastes like all dough, nor too thin that it falls apart when you try to take it out of the pan.

Salted Caramel Pumpkin Pies

Serving Size : 1 pie

Makes : 12 pies

Ingredients :

2 - 9 inch uncooked pie crusts

1/4 cup salted caramel sauce
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

2 large eggs
1 - 15 oz can pure pumpkin
1 - 12 oz can evaporated milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions : Beat eggs in large bowl until frothy. Stir in pumpkin and milk, mixing until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla, and all spices. Mix well. Roll out uncooked pie crusts onto counter or block covered with flour. Use a round cookie cutter or cup to cut out your mini pie shells. Using a cupcake pan to cook with, your mini circles of dough should be about an inch larger than the cupcake hole to form a crust with. Form each circle of dough into the cupcake tray, working the dough around and into the holes. Pinch and knead the edges around to form a crust higher than your pie. Be careful to keep the edges of your crusts from touching. Spoon in 1/2 tsp of salted caramel into the bottom of each mini pie, then carefully pour your pumpkin mixture on top leaving yourself .25” from the top of your crust. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 15 minutes or until it is no longer runny in the middle. Serve or refrigerate immediately.

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Thanksgiving may be over, but in my family, we eat pumpkin pie well into Christmas! I'm pretty sure we will now always have a jar of salted caramel sauce on hand. The possibilities are endless for what you can make with it. Hope these recipes serve you well!

Enjoy and Bon Appétit!

Nicole & Aaron