Almond Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

So I do have an excuse for not posting over the weekend. A pretty darn good excuse if you ask me! I was making 250 of these for my Brother in law's open house:

 Yes...250! And on top of that I also made my Neufchatel fruit salad...enough for 200 people. (I will post that recipe next)

Anyway, I found this cupcake recipe for Almond Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream a year or so ago on Gimme some Oven and it was love at first bite. My favorite cupcake by far! I have made it so many times since then that I have become somewhat of an expert at baking it. The last few times I have made it I decided to make a little extra caramel sauce and drizzle it over the frosting and let me tell you... the drizzled caramel sauce totally makes it EVEN better. The original recipe is for making regular size cupcakes but I love mini cupcakes so much better. They are more appealing and easier to eat, plus you don't feel too guilty about having more than one. I always get so many compliments on this cupcake so why not share my favorite cupcake with everyone else?

I heart Salted Caramel! I have also made these cupcakes with an almond buttercream and these are so delicious too!!

My Almond Buttercream recipe

2 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 stick butter
1 T almond extract
1  tsp vanilla
3 T milk

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, extracts and milk and beat with an electric mixer until frosting consistency has been reached. Enjoy!


XOXO,
Whitney

Here is the recipe for cupcakes:

Vanilla Almond Cupcakes w/ Salted Caramel Buttercream Recipe
(Adapted from gimme some oven)
Ingredients:
Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 oz.) white cake mix
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 eggs

Frosting Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 Tbsp. water
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 3 sticks salted butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar

Method:
To Make Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line  muffin tin with paper liners.
Add the cake mix, buttermilk, oil, almond extract and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Add eggs one at a time, until the batter is well-mixed. Increase speed to high and beat until thick and fluffy, 2 minutes longer.
Pour or scoop the batter into the paper liners until they are 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cupcakes cool on a wire rack. If baking mini cupcakes bake for approx 9-10 minutes.
To Make Frosting (pics above and below):
Briefly stir together granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture turns dark amber in color, about 6 to 7 minutes.
Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla (just start with a tablespoon or two), stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. (Be careful, as the mixture will definitely bubble up and possibly splatter a bit as you add in the cream.) Set aside until cool to the touch, about 25 minutes. Reserve 1/3 of caramel sauce for drizzling.
Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated. Turn off the mixer, and then add 2/3 of caramel. Beat frosting on low to combine, and then increase to medium-high and beat until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate if not using immediately (or to harden the frosting a bit).
Frost cupcakes and drizzle caramel sauce over each cupcake as desired.

Salted Caramels

The other day my mom gave me some of her candles because she doesn't light candles anymore. (Yes, I am one of the few who does not yet have a "Scentsy" type candle) One of the candles she gave me was the scent "Salted Caramel". Are you kidding me? I love salted caramel anything and now I have a candle so that my house can smell like it all the time. I immediately started using it and the next day my Mr. asks, "This candle makes me want to eat caramel". Ya... me too. Not sure if this is a good thing now! But it inspired me to make some salted caramels that I actually could eat. So the other day when I had about an hour of free time while my baby girl took a nap I decided to make some. I researched different recipes, since I was limited on time I wanted something that was a little easier than others. Then, I found this recipe from Inspired Taste and decided to go with it!

You only need 6 ingredients:
Salt
Heavy cream
Vanilla
Butter
Granulated sugar
corn syrup

 You will definitely need a candy thermometer. I got mine at Walmart for only $3. Totally worth it.
Boil the corn syrup and sugar together. Meanwhile in another saucepan warm cream and butter together until just barely reaches a simmer and remove from heat.

 Cook sugar and corn syrup over medium heat until it reaches 310 degrees. It will look like this. DO NOT STIR!!!

 Remove from heat and slowly add cream/butter mixture. Watch out it might jump out at you. Stir until smooth and place back on heat. No more stirring! Cook mixture until temperature is back up to 260 degrees.

 Line a bread pan with foil or parchment paper and make sure it is well greased!

 Pour caramel into bread pan and let cool for a few minutes. Then sprinkle with course salt.

 Cool completely on a wire rack. When it has cooled peel the caramel from the foil and cut into bite size squares.

 And then.... indulge....

So now I can enjoy the taste and smell of salted caramels.

Here is the recipe!!

Salted Caramel Recipe from Inspired Taste

For these, we used salted butter instead of unsalted, the extra salt in the butter really adds lots of flavor. We also use two types of salt in the recipe, first we used kosher salt, which goes into the caramels and a course sea salt that is sprinkled on top. The caramels themselves are slightly hard, but soften slowly in your mouth. These would make a perfect gift for the holidays!

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hours, 20 minutes

Yield: 35 caramel candies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons salted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon course sea salt

Method

1. Line 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil; spray foil with cooking spray.
2. In 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream, vanilla, kosher salt and 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat until mixture just begins to simmer. Remove from heat; cover with lid. Set aside.
3. In 2-quart heavy saucepan, mix sugar and corn syrup; add candy thermometer. Cook over medium heat, stirring gently, until sugar is dissolved. If granules of sugar become stuck to sides of saucepan, use wet pastry brush to brush granules down towards syrup. Cook syrup, without stirring, until thermometer reads 310°F. If hot spots or darker areas occur while cooking, gently roll saucepan around to evenly disperse syrup.
4. Remove saucepan from heat. Slowly pour cream mixture into syrup. Syrup will bubble violently so be careful to add cream slowly to ensure syrup does not bubble over edge of saucepan. Stir until smooth.
5. Return saucepan to medium heat. Cook caramel until thermometer reads 260°F.
6. Remove saucepan from heat; remove thermometer. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons butter until caramel is smooth.
7. Pour caramel into loaf pan. Cool 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle coarse sea salt evenly over top. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack.
8. When caramel is cool, remove from pan by lifting foil. Peel foil from caramel. Using sharp long knife, cut into 35 to 40 squares. Wrap each caramel individually with waxed paper or cellophane.

Ooey Gooey Oatmeal Carmelitas

I have always liked caramel. But for the last year or so my "like" for caramel has turned into more of a "true love" with caramel. I used to want chocolate anything, now I prefer CARAMEL anything. Caramel icecream, caramel sauce, caramel candies, salted caramel, and the list goes on and on. My Aunt Cathy is famous for her Oatmeal Carmelitas and we have to have them at every family gathering. Recently I went to one of my best friends showers and was asked to bring a dessert and I was craving my Aunt's carmelitas and just had to satisfy my caramel craving. They are so easy to make and seriously delicious. Plus, if you are a chocolate lover, they have chocolate in them too... don't worry!

Here is what you need:

 Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chips, Baking Soda, Flour, Butter, Quick Oats, Salt, Jar of Mrs. Richardsons Butterscotch Caramel

Melt your butter. Don't be intimidated by the butter... just remember, butter makes everything taste better.

 Then, Mix flour, oats, b.sugar, butter (melted), soda, and salt together.

 Stir in the butter and it will look something like this...

 Spread half of the mixture on the bottom of a greased 9X13 pan.  Bake the crust in the oven for approximately 10 minutes.

 Warm the caramel in the microwave and add flour to the caramel and stir until well combined.

 Pour the bag of chocolate chips on top the baked crust. Then pour caramel on top of the chocolate chips.

 Sprinkle the remainder of the oats mixture and bake in the oven for another 25 minutes.

 Let them cool completely and then chill in the fridge for a few hours. Trust me, it will be
 a lot easier to cut them up into bite size squares. 

You really won't be able to have just one.

I absolutely love these but wonder how they might taste if I used my homemade caramel sauce in them?? If I try it I will let you know the verdict.

XOXO,
Whitney

Aunt Cathy's Oatmeal Carmelitas

Ingredients:

Flour – 2 cups
Quick Oats – 2 cups
Brown Sugar – 1 ½ cups
Butter – 1 ½ cups
Soda - 1 teas
Salt – ¾ teas
1 jar Mrs. Richardson’s Butterscotch Carmel (mix in ¾ c. of flour)
1 bag milk chocolate chips

Mix flour, oats, b.sugar, butter (melted), soda, and salt together.

Spread ½ of the mix in a 9/13 baking pan and bake for 10 minutes at 325.

Heat carmel to soften and then stir in ¾ cup of flour.  This makes the carmel so it is not sticky.

When you take the crust out of the oven sprinkle the bag of chocolate chips over it and then pour the carmel mix over the chocolate chips.  You can spread it a little to make sure the whole thing gets covered.

Sprinkle the rest of the oat and brown sugar mix over the top and bake it for another 25 minutes at 325.

Chill for about 2 hours before serving.