Sea Salt Caramel Bars

Sea Salt Caramel Bars

***We made our own caramel sauce vs. using store bought caramels*** scroll down for the recipe.

For the Crust

1. 1 lb. (4 sticks) salted butter at room temp
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 1½ cups powdered sugar
4. 2 Tbs vanilla
5. 4 cups all purpose flour

For the Filling

1. 1 bag (14 oz.) caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped
2. ⅓ cup milk or cream
3. ½ teaspoon vanilla
4. *1 T. coarse sea salt (optiona

To make the crust

1. Preheat oven to 325°
2. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugars. Using mixer on medium speed, beat together until creamy. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Sift the flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until a smooth soft dough forms.
3. Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Press one-third of the dough evenly into the pan to form a bottom crust. Wrap remaining dough in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator.
4. Bake crust until firm and the edges are a pale golden brown approx 20 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool about 15 minutes.
5. While the bottom crust is baking and the remaining dough is chilling, make the caramel filling. Place the unwrapped caramels in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the cream. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If caramels are not completely melted, microwave on high for 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.
6. Once the caramel is melted add in your ½ tsp vanilla and stir until combined.
7. Pour the caramel filling over the crust. If you are going to salt the caramel sprinkle it on caramel layer now.
8. Remove the remaining chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble it evenly over the caramel.
9. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is bubbly and the crumbled shortbread topping is firm and lightly golden, about 25 - 30 minutes.
10. Let cool before cutting into squares.

Homemade Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-low to medium heat, combine all the ingredients together. Cook until thickened, about 5 to 7 minutes. 
2. Remove from heat and allow to cool. The mixture will get thicker as it cools. Store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-low to medium heat, combine all the ingredients together. Cook until thickened, about 5 to 7 minutes. 
2. Remove from heat and allow to cool. The mixture will get thicker as it cools. Store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Week 7 Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Graham Cracker Cookies

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

* 1 cup brown sugar

* 2 teaspoons vanilla

* 1 egg

* 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

* 3/4 cup all purpose flour

* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

* 1/4 teaspoon salt

* 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until creamy

3. Beat in the vanilla and egg until well combined.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture until just combined.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips.

6. Using a medium cookie scoop, drop balls of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 7 minutes. Cookies will look slightly underdone, but should set up nicely as they cool.

Week 6 Lesson-Making Strawberry Shortcake

This week the kids were introduced to a pastry cutter, as well as strawberry huller. They all had a chance to use the huller and slice the strawberries. We also made fresh whipped cream using heavy cream and confectioners sugar. We sifted the sugar to avoid lumps in our whipped cream. 

The kids were taught the importance of using a cold metal bowl to whisk the whipped cream (I placed a stainless steel metal bowl in the freezer for a few hours.).

One reason why people use metal containers to whip cream is that metal will stay cold when chilled, and it is important when making whipped cream that you beat the cream when it is cold and keep it cold while beating it. Since the beating process generates heat, whipping the cream in a cold metal bowl can help counteract this buildup of heat. What happens when you whip heavy cream with lots of fat in it is that the fat forms a matrix that traps air (tiny drops of fat disperse evenly and stick together). This fat matrix falls apart when warm. (Egg whites whip up the same way not because of fat but protein, so they remain somewhat solid at room temperature. Copper bowls help the process of beating egg whites, but this is a different story.) Cool Whip isn't real whipped cream, so it doesn't melt as easily.
You could probably mix whipped cream in a glass or plastic bowl if you did so in a cold room with cold beaters and cold cream. Adding a little gelatin to stabilize the whipped cream (making it firm) might also help.

Bottom line: I told the kids it's easier to get the results you're looking for when you use a cold metal bowl. Soft peaks form pretty quick. 😃

Week 5 Baked- Cauliflower Tater Tots

My kids loved these!!!!

Baked Tater Tots

Ingredients:

* 1 small head of cauliflower

* 2 tbsp minced onion

* 1 egg

* 1/4 panko bread crumbs

* 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

* 1/2 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese

* 1 tbsp parsley (dried or fresh)

Directions:

To bake: Preheat oven to 375
To fry: Preheat 2 inches of oil to 360

1. Cut cauliflower into large chunks and cook in boiling salted water just until soft, not mushy. Remove, being careful to let the water drain off.

2. Run the cauliflower and onion through a grater of a food processor, or finally chop by hand. Let cool for a few minutes then stir in the rest of the ingredients and salt to taste.

3. Let it set up for 5 – 10 minutes in the freezer, or as long as you want in the fridge. This step is CRUCIAL to them staying perfectly intact. Keep the mix in the fridge while 1 batch is cooking so that it stays cool.

4. Shape into little tater tops using a tablespoon full or so, and either place in oil or on a baking sheet.

5. Fry until golden brown, or bake for 20 – 25 minutes flipping half way through.

*Baking is a healthier way to go, with less hands on time, however they do not get quite as crispy as they do when fried. That being said, my personal preference is the baked. My kids? They loved both.
*Feel free to mix up the Cheddar with your favorite cheese! I would love to do these with pepper jack next.
*After shaping, these can be frozen, pop them into the freezer on a baking sheet not touching and once they are frozen throw them into a ziploc bag and just take out what you need! Making a double batch means you always have these bite size pieces of joy on hand :)

Week 4 Lesson

This week the kids learned how to make scones from scratch. We used plain Greek yogurt to make these gems. 

The kids were introduced to a microplane grater, citrus juicer, a regular cheese grater (which we used to grate the frozen butter). 

I taught the kids how to probably zest an orange. You should never grate the same part of the orange. 

The kids learned about the natural oils found in the zest of citrus. We combined the zest with the sugar and infused the sugar by releasing the natural oils of our orange zest. The kids were fascinated by the aroma.

Week 3 Pizza Puffs

Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

serves 48 mini bites

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (Optional)
1 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus more to grease pans)
1½ cups whole milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups shredded 4-cheese pizza blend (We used mozzarella cheese)
1 (5 ounce) package mini pepperoni rounds

Preheat oven to 350°F.  

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, seasoning, red pepper flakes, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, sugar, milk and egg. Stir together with a fork.  Mix in the pizza blend cheese and pepperoni.  Set aside.

Prepare (2) 24 cup mini-muffin pans by greasing with olive oil (or spray with cooking spray).

Mix batter and add 1 heaping tablespoon scoop to each muffin cup.  Bake until golden brown, approximately 20 minutes.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes, remove from muffin tin and serve with favorite marinara sauce.  

Week 2 Lesson Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

MThis week the kids had so much fun creating and making donuts that are not fried, but baked! I told the kids these donuts could be made gluten free by simply using gluten free all purpose flour or by using oat flour. The kids were introduced to tablespoons vs teaspoons as well as measuring liquid ingredients in a liquid measuring cup and dry ingredients in regular cups. For this recipe we used two separate bowls. One for dry ingredients and one for our wet ingredients. The kids were taught how to fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. They learned not to over mix the dough. The kids were also introduced to pastry brushes, they had fun using them. I explained to the kids that coconut oil can be used vs. butter. I also told the kids they can use cupcake tins or use the pastry bag and make round circles directly onto parchment paper. Hope you enjoy making them as much as we did.