salted caramel

Caramelized Banana Rice Pudding

January 27, 2017

Because it’s Monday and because we all need a little help to get us through the work week—I don’t know about you, but I’ve already started counting down to the weekend—I bring to you Caramelized Banana Rice Pudding. Cue the music, part the clouds and shine the light directly on us right this very second. This pudding should make these grueling weekdays a tiny bit more bearable, don’t you think? It’s like regular rice pudding but one hundred times better because salted caramel and bananas are involved. I think by now we all know how salted caramel takes everything to the next level. It’s liquid gold is what it is. I don’t have to tell you that, though. You already know this. So why don’t I tell you something you don’t know. Like as a kid I used to beg my mom to make rice pudding all the time. Although, I refused to eat it warm. No way, what am I an animal? I’d have to wait rather impatiently until it got super cold, it was a necessity, and only when it was properly chilled did I go in and eat more than my fair share. As a child I’d douse the top completely with cinnamon. Now as an adult I still refuse to eat it warm, but now instead of cinnamon, I douse it completely with salted caramelized bananas. It just makes perfect sense.

I don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but I’m no stranger to salted caramel. The two of us go way back. These Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies are as big as your head and they’re not only filled with caramel but they also get a drizzle of the stuff right out of the oven. Just making it rain down salted caramel. It’s my only goal in life. And because I’m so head over heels obsessed with doughnuts I just had to remind you about these Baked Salted Caramel Chocolate Doughnuts. They will haunt your dreams but in a good way, I promise. Speaking of dreams and caramel and bananas, how could we forget about the ultimate of dessert collaborations that are Chunky Monkey Sticky Buns. If you have yet to make them happen, then you need to remedy that this weekend. Get going on this rice pudding first though, and then move on to the sticky buns. Trust me on this, I know what’s best for you. Don’t give it a second thought. In fact, don’t think about it at all, just go ahead and eat your weight in salted caramel and bananas. It’s what I’m going to do and I won’t regret it.

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Banana Doughnuts with Salted Caramel

May 9, 2016

Let’s be honest, the last thing we want to think about at the start of the week is work. I mean sure, we have work that needs to get done, and to-do’s that need to get crossed off, but let’s put those out of our minds just for a second. We have way more important things to think about, like doughnuts for instance. Doughnuts make Mondays worth living and make Fridays appear closer than they really are. Whether you stop by your local shop on your way to work and pick up a doughnut or two for the drive, or if you make your own, doughnuts need to make a weekly appearance in your life. In all of our lives. Don’t you agree? Lucky for us all, these Banana Doughnuts rolled around in cinnamon sugar and served with salted caramel for dipping are here to save the day. It’s a good way to use up those ripe bananas on the counter that continue to call out your name. You can make banana bread any other day. Today is about these doughnuts with salted caramel.

You know what else is here to save the day? Sliders. Yeah, you read that right. Sliders. Speaking of tiny hamburgers (smooth unexpected transition there, Jonathan) did you know that I wrote a book all about sliders?! I did! And just in case you were living under a rock and missed my big announcement last week, my first cookbook The Slider Effect is now up for preorder! You can read all about it here in last week’s cookbook update post! If you preorder now, for a limited time, you’ll receive an exclusive e-book with 5 recipes not included in the book! All you have to do is forward your order confirmation or a screenshot of your confirmation to theslidereffect@gmail.com. The ebook has three slider recipes, one bun recipe and one sauce recipe. It’s a great preview of what’s to come from the actual book on June 28th! This is my very first cookbook, and so I’m very excited to share this ride with you all. Thank you for all of your support and for continuing to listen to me going on and on about it! These doughnuts though, am I right?! Woof.

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Salted Caramel Apple and Pear Buckles

November 7, 2014

I needed a super fancy name for this post, hence the word “buckles.” Although in all reality, these are buckles. Buckles. Buckles. Buckles. I just really like saying “buckles” for some reason. Like that one very popular song I used to love as a kid. One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, close the door….wait, where was I? Oh that’s right, I was talking about how much I love these crumb cakes. That’s basically what buckles are, just really good coffee cake-like dessert. The perfect dessert or breakfast for autumn. Is it a problem that it’s been 80 plus degrees here in Los Angeles, and I’m baking for fall with the air conditioning running on full blast? I think it’s a problem. Clearly, Southern California didn’t get the whole changing of the season memo. Get it together LA! You’re way behind, it’s almost Thanksgiving. This is the part where you change the colors of your leaves and drop them to the ground. This is when you’re supposed to start pouring down on us all of this autumn rain. You’re doing it all wrong, California. You need to be more like the East Coast, or like Seattle. I’m all about Seattle weather.

You know what I’m also all about? These salted caramel apple and pear buckles. AKA apple and pear spice cakes with a crumb topping. Even though it’s still hot as summer during the day in the West Coast, I still get a craving for a warm apple spice cake every November. I decided to take this recipe over the edge with a little (okay more than a little) salted caramel and of course let’s not forget about the cinnamon and oatmeal crumb topping. It’s like the world’s best coffee cake had a baby with the world’s best cobbler or fruit crisp. It’s like the universe is trying to tell me I should be spending my days eating all of the apple spice crumb cakes in the world. Hey, what can I say? When the world talks to me, I listen. Especially when there’s cake involved.

Speaking of cake, I’m having a really difficult time establishing if this cake is actually a breakfast or a dessert. Of course, if this is my mother or my doctor asking, I have most definitely decided that this is in fact not the perfect breakfast. Wink wink. Shhhh don’t tell anyone yet. This all stays between you and I. Although I did actually make these with the idea on my mind that I need more breakfast recipes. So it can really go either way on this folks. I don’t care about what time during the day I eat it, just as long as I get to eat it. Am I right ladies and gentlemen? Of course I’m right. So now let’s go out and celebrate by making and eating these apple and pear buckles. It’s the only way to celebrate!

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Baked Salted Caramel Chocolate Doughnuts

June 4, 2014

I think by now you’re already well aware about my love—some might call it an obsession and maybe they’re right—with doughnuts. In case you didn’t already know, maybe these Baked Blueberry Crumb Doughnuts will convince you. Or these Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Doughnuts topped with chopped peanuts and lots of chocolate. Finally, perhaps these Bourbon Blueberry Basil Doughnuts will do the trick. They’re perfectly boozy and sweet. It’s safe to say I’m addicted, but nothing to worry about because I have a number to a group on hand, just in case it ever gets to that point. Not that it ever would because I don’t see a problem with eating doughnuts by the dozen until you can’t eat anymore. That’s totally normal, right? Yeah, it’s normal. Doughnuts are meant to be eaten two at a time and frequently, at that. You can quote me on that.

My love for doughnuts is so big that I actually created a special day for them. National Doughnut Day, which is on June 6th by the way (just around the corner), is a holiday that I created to celebrate the best dessert/treat/breakfast item ever invented. You’re welcome. Okay, so maybe I personally didn’t create the day itself (I totally should have though). I actually don’t know who did, but whoever declared June 6th National Doughnut Day, is a hero in my eyes. I’ll never forget you. Thank you random person I don’t know for making this special day possible. A monument should be built in your honor. National Doughnut Day? More like National Jonathan’s Favorite Holiday Let’s Celebrate by Eating Tons of Doughnuts Day. Or something like that. I’m still working on the name.

So in honor of this special day, I decided to make doughnuts for the blog. Also, I began realizing that I hadn’t posted a doughnut recipe in a while. We can’t have that. That’s a really big problem. So I thought since I don’t have any chocolate doughnuts on here yet, I just needed to make a chocolate doughnut recipe. And what goes better with chocolate than salted caramel? Well, maybe crushed up salty pretzels because it’s the way it always should be. I baked these because I was too lazy to go through the entire process of making the dough, letting it rest, rolling out the dough and cutting them and then frying them. My head was hurting just thinking about it. I also didn’t fry them because I figured if I slapped on the work “Baked” right to the front of this recipe, it would instantly become healthy. So here I am with my healthy doughnuts, taunting you to make them and eat them. You can thank me later, right now, just go out and celebrate National Doughnut Day.

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Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies

December 4, 2013

This morning I woke up with chocolate all over my face and caramel in my hair, and I don’t even know why. It’s the spookiest thing if you think about it, because I know I didn’t go to bed in that state. Or at least I don’t think I did. To be perfectly honest, I can’t really remember. Maybe I was attacked by some kind of jumbo chocolatey-caramel Easter bunny while I was sound asleep (let’s not talk about those dreams) or maybe I just woke up in the middle of the night and dragged myself into the kitchen and scarfed down a few cookies when no one was looking. That could be it. Then I just lazily walked back to my room and slipped into bed without bothering to wipe off my indiscretions. That’s what they call sleep eating right? I hear it’s a thing, or maybe I’m just making it up. Either of those explanations are plausible really. You’re right though, my bets are totally on the chocolate bunny. It makes complete sense. Although I did go to bed craving said cookies and they were on the counter last night before I knocked out, and by some weird coincidence, it just so happens that the cookies are now nowhere to be found. Where are those cookies? Where did they go?! Yeah, that chocolate bunny must have eaten them right before going into my room to attack me. Damn that chocolate bunny. It’s the only logical explanation. I’m glad we figured that out together. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight, wondering what on earth happened to me, but more importantly what in the world happened to my cookies. Thanks for solving that mystery with me, I really appreciate it. So, chocolate bunnies love dark chocolate cookies with salted caramel drizzled on top just like me. Who would have thought? Not me, friends. Not me.

It takes a certain kind of cookie to really flip my world upside down and get me to forget about my love of doughnuts. It also takes a certain type of cookie to wake me up in the middle of the night and fight off a chocolate bunny for them. You might ask what kind of cookie could ever do that? What kind of cookie has that kind of power over me?! If you weren’t going to ask, let’s pretend you were, just for the sake of this post. Okay so you asked me the important question, oh thanks for asking! I’m glad you did. I’ll tell you, it would have to be the kind of cookie that is chocolate upon chocolate upon chocolate. And not just any chocolate, but dark chocolate. With dark chocolate chunks all throughout, melted, all gooey and warm. Said cookie would also have to have salted caramel drizzled all over the top of each and sprinkled with coarse sea salt because salty and sweet is the way to do it, in my book. It would have to be the type of cookie that would be easy to make and even easier to eat all of them without ever realizing you just ate all of them. It just so happens that I’m going to share that type of cookie with you now. That way you can make some for yourself, just be careful though. These cookies come with a warning. You’ll wake up in the morning with chocolate all over your face and caramel in your hair, but don’t fret about it because we all know how it got there.

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