The Best Thing You’ll Ever Eat.

Hope you all are having a great holiday! Sorry for the lack of posts, things have been a bit crazy!

I hope I can make it up to you with this AMAZING dessert recipe. It is seriously the best thing I’ve ever eaten, if I do say so myself. I made it for Christmas dessert this year, hence why I splurged on a recipe that used a candy thermometer. I usually avoid them like the plague.

So what is this heavenly dessert? Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart with a Pretzel Crust.

Yep.

Even with a candy thermometer, this recipe is seriously easy. I suggest you try it soon!

Foodgawker had a bunch of recipes for these tarts, but I thought making a pretzel crust would really complement the caramel and chocolate. It worked out great!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart
(Serves 12-16)

For the Crust:

3 c. of pretzel sticks
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed

For the Caramel:

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
6 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
7 tbsp. whipping or heavy cream

For the Ganache:

4 oz. Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips (I found about 3 handfuls worked well)
1/2 c. whipping or heavy cream

To make the crust…preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pretzels, brown sugar and melted butter into a food processor or blender. Blend until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Pour the mixture into a tart shell with a removable bottom. Press the mixture down with your fingers on the bottom and as much up the sides as you can. I had an 11″ tart shell, and the mixture went about halfway up the sides. Pop into the oven and bake until fragrant and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

To make the caramel…put the sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt into a saucepan. Whisk together. Cook over medium high heat without disturbing until the mixture is bubbling and a golden amber color, about 330 degrees on a candy thermometer.

When it reaches this stage, take off the heat and whisk in the butter and heavy cream until a nice smooth caramel is made! Be careful though, it will bubble up. Pour into your cooled crust. Refrigerate overnight or about 4-6 hours until it’s set.

To make the ganache…heat the cream on the stove until it starts to steam and bubble slightly around the edges. Pour over top of your chocolate chips in a bowl. Allow the hot cream to sit for a minute or two, then stir until you get a smooth delicious chocolate sauce.

Pour over the set caramel. Allow to sit in the fridge for about 3-4 hours, until hardened.

Before serving, allow the tart to sit at room temperature for about a half hour. Garnish with fleur de sel and cut into small wedges, it’s really rich!

Happy new year everyone!

A Couple Names. One Great Taste!

Yes, I wanted to give you another cookie recipe for the holiday season! Some people know these as snowballs; I know them as Mexican wedding cake.

Delicious little balls of cookie that practically melt in your mouth. They are amazing. And super simple to make!

They only use a few ingredients, which is good for those of you looking to save a little extra money around the holiday season.

You really don’t want to make these too big, a little smaller than a golf ball… Maybe more like the size of those large gumballs you see around.

Also, wait about 5 minutes before rolling the warm cookies in the powdered sugar after baking. If you do it too soon the sugar will just melt and be gooey. Though if you wait too long the sugar won’t stick!

Mexican Wedding Cake
(Makes about 50 cookies)

1 c. butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. pecans, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla. Slowly add in flour and salt. Once combined, add pecans.

Roll pieces of dough slightly smaller than a tablespoon into balls. Place about 1 1/2″ apart from each other on the baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are just barely browned.

Cool for about 5 minutes and roll in powdered sugar while warm.

Bread Is Just Another Utensil

I wanted something simple, delicious and classic to serve with my French onion chicken for dinner with the parents on Saturday. Something to sop up all the yummy juices.

The perfect choice: garlic bread.

I know it’s tempting to just grab a loaf of garlic bread out of the frozen section. But it’s so easy to make and you can control the kind of fat you are going to eat.

And look at this beautiful loaf of bread I got from the bakery section in my grocery store:

You can use olive oil, butter, or anything in between to make this. I have a butter that has olive oil in it for everyday use, so it’s a perfect choice for making garlic bread.

Feel free to play around with this recipe, adding more garlic, butter or spices to suit your tastes.

You can also mix up the garlic butter a couple days in advance. I made it the day before. The morning of I slathered it on the bread and just kept the loaf together in the bag until I was ready to serve it.

Check out a close up of all that garlic! I didn’t get a picture of the finished product, I had some hungry guests 🙂

Buttery Garlic Bread
(Serves 6-8)

1 crusty loaf of bread or French baguette
8 tbsp. (1/2 c. or 1 stick) butter with olive oil
4-5 large cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. dried basil
¼ tsp. dried oregano
4 sprigs thyme, leaves only
1/2 tsp. salt (1 tsp. if you use unsalted butter)
½ tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. red pepper flake

Mix together all ingredients. It’s easier if the butter is room temperature. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.

When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice your loaf of bread in half. Divide the butter mixture in two. Using the back of a spoon or a butter knife, spread the butter all over the bread.

Place bread on a baking sheet and bake for about 10-15 minutes. Then, put it under the broiler for a couple minutes to get the top a crusty golden brown. Watch it! It goes very quick! I almost burned mine….

Then, slice the bread up however you please, and serve.