Giveaway. Nescafe Dolce Gusto Piccolo coffee/espresso maker

The wonderful folks over at Nescafe are giving away one of their fabulous line of coffee/espresso makers. The Piccolo. It's a little powerhouse for single cup coffee and espresso making. I have one and I love it. I am an espresso junkie, but what I love most is the ease of use of the machine--literally plug and play. So easy. And they have a huge assortment of various flavored and non-flavored pods, all coffee made with highest quality ingredients - featuring only 100% Arabica beans.

And along with the espresso maker they are sending along a few sample coffee/espresso pods to get you started and figure out which one you like best. How fabulous is that?

I'm not sure which ones exactly since there are so many, but trust me, they'll take care of you and give you a good amount to get you going--they are good like that.

Personally I love the espresso and the cappuccino ones. BUT the chai tea latte is also pretty darn good too. Did you know you can make cold coffee drinks too? Pretty neat. And now they carry iced peach tea too. Wow.

Do you know that I love their coffee and espresso's so much so that I made a version of espresso cookies using the actual coffee. They were fabulous. Like a mix of molasses/sugar cookie with a hint of espresso inside. Nescafe posted the cookies over on their Facebook Page under the recipes tabs.

Also, if you follow Nescafe Dolce Gusto on Facebook or Twitter I know that they do feature a fair amount of giveaways. For more information regarding the full line of Nescafe Dolce Gusto products just visit them here.

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is tell me what flavor you like most by visiting their website. That's it. Just tell me in the comment section. One entry per person please or you will be voted off the island! Please have a valid email, no anonymous comments please.

The drawing will be Tuesday Dec. 13, 2011. Good luck!

crunchy caramel bark

It's that time of year again where we all start making those delish homemade goodies to give away to friends, coworkers and family for the upcoming holiday.

Every year I get the same requests from the same people wanting my sweet & salty Cheez It bark. I beg them to let me give them something new and different and they always say NO. They explain to me that they patiently wait the entire year for that salty-sweet cheez it bark. OK, who can argue with that?

But this year, like every year I do like to try new things. With this turtle like bark, I've always wanted to take the famous "ghetto toffee" bark and put REAL CARAMEL inside of it. And boy sure glad I did. It gave it a rich, creamy inside--almost like a turtle candy. I did add a touch of salt to my homemade caramel so all the better.

Please don't get put off by the caramel making step, it's really not that hard and does not require a ton of time. You can easily make the caramel sauce a day ahead.

Trust me you will love this--it's really decadent and will be a present people will definitely remember you by. <----that's the best part isn't it? Yeah.

It's so easy to make, you'll see. First off make the caramel sauce, pour over a nice, even, all gaps covered, layer of Ritz crackers.

Put in fridge to set up/harden. Then put down a smooth layer of melted milk chocolate.

Let set up at room temp, then into to fridge to finish hardening.

Next we flip it over to give the other side a nice happy chocolate layer too.

(Once it's all harden it's very easy to flip over).

Don't forget to add the roasted pecans while the milk chocolate is still melted, this way the nuts will stick and stay.

Let harden in the fridge or room temp before cutting into squares. Use a sharp knife as it makes it a lot easier to slice right through the bark without all the caramel oozing out.

If you are curious about the infamous Cheez It Bark, click here

crunchy caramel bark
print recipe

caramel filling:
1/2 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 & ½ TB light corn syrup
Giant pinch of sea salt, optional
1 cup heavy cream

In a sturdy/heavy medium size saucepan, over medium-high heat, heat up the water, corn syrup, sugar and salt. Stir a bit to make sure it’s combined-that's it no more stirring. You will cook this for at least 10 minutes (maybe longer) until it turns a nice golden brown. Once it starts to turn brown, do not leave the stove because it turns dark brown very fast. Swirl the pan, once or twice to confirm color is a nice golden brown, once it is, take off heat and add in the heavy cream. Let it bubble up and do its thing, then stir sauce with a heat proof spatula or whisk, and keep stirring till you get it combined and thickens a bit.
Put off to the side or in a heat-proof glass measuring cup (easy for pouring later) to let cool.
If all went well you should have a fairly thick, pourable caramel. Let this cool at least an hour before using.

bark:
2 sleeves of Ritz crackers (50 crackers? More or less)
1 cup of roasted pecans (I used roasted and salted pecans)
16 ounces of milk chocolate: melted in 2 batches; 8 ounces each (use a good quality chocolate, they melt better)

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Lay down an even layer of Ritz crackers; add more crackers to cover up any gaps. All gaps need to be covered as the caramel will ooze out.
Take the cooled caramel and pour over the crackers. You probably won’t use all the caramel; I didn’t, so save the remainder for another use.
Place pan in fridge to chill and set up for at least 2 hours.
When set up melt about 8 ounces of chocolate in a double boiler, spread the chocolate over the cracker and caramel. Let cool and harden at room temp for about 20 minutes then into fridge for an hour.
Take out of fridge, and being careful, flip the mixture over exposing the other side. This side will now get covered in chocolate.
Melt the remaining milk chocolate, spread over the bark and then sprinkle on the roasted pecans. Push the pecans down into the chocolate a bit to make sure they stay.
Let this harden for at least a couple hours before slicing. Use a sharp knife to cut this so the caramel doesn’t ooze out.

friday links

Normally I do not believe in this stuff, but I gotta be honest it's so spot on. Now that I'm older and a tad bit wiser (we hope) I'm reading it more thoroughly.
About 10 years ago I got this book: The Secret Language of Birthdays. Sure I got it for the surprise, the wow factor, the 'let's see what celebrities have my birthday' (Jim Henson and F. Scott Fitzgerald). Neat right? The book breaks down your birthday into sections of: those born on this day have this and that element about them, they should excel at this, stay away from that, then goes into number & planets (which I still don't understand), then into tarot, then Health (which I love), then personal advice, and finally your own personal strengths & weaknesses. The book also is filled with charts galore on the 48 periods, the grand cycle, the four elements, the ten plants, etc...oh all those charts I still don't understand. But it's the individual birthday readings that I'm digging. It's a big book, a really big book.
Every time I have friends over and they see that book they delve into it to find out if what they are is true; sitting there for a couple hours reading away....



But I never really read the fine print stuff about your own health, wellness, diet, exercise, things/people/places to stay away from, ideas/dreams you should pursue...until now. What struck a huge cord with me was the food recommendations: it told me to stay far far away from processed foods. That these take a huge toll on my body and while this is certainly true for everyone, it really rang hard for me as over the course of halloween and thanskgiving I indulged in way too many bad foods and was on the borderline of depression. I finally took this advice to heart and just starting eating cleaner and have had much better results. Sure this can be said for everyone though. The book also explained my "creative side of food creation"; stating that those born on this day have a very imaginative brain without really trying or thinking about it. True! Here's an example of Dec 18., no not my bday, just a random example to show you (there is a lot more; hard to fit this all in one or two photos).

I think you might like this book, it's not your average horriblescope reading; it's way better and will tell you stuff that just might shock, surprise and/or make you happy, but most of all make you go out there and achieve what it is you really want in life. :-)

Anyone else in love with kicked up leggings such as these? Oh I just love these leggings. So stinking cute.

Recent trip to Sephora I saw Josie Maran had some neat lip stain stuff. Kind of curious but fearful of lip stains because they are ALWAYS way too dark and sticky, chemical like. Well I had tried on her lip stain stuff and it was not sticky and read that it was free of chemicals. Didn't think much of it until hours later when I saw in the mirror that the stain was still on there. Wow. This stuff does work. I didn't get it, but had wished I did. The color I tried was the most neutral, the Mambo.

Anthropologie. What woman isn't obsessed with their stuff? I thought they were all about clothes but apparently they have a whole kitchen section too. Where I saw these cute little ceramic farmer's market baskets. Cute!

Who likes Uggs? What happened to these Uggs? I don't think sparkles are supposed to be on Uggs.

Did you see these peanut butter cupcakes? Sweet sarah.

My cooking bud Nick over at Macheesmo did a great post on tips & tricks for freezing. Perfect for this time of year really.

Do you have naughty people on your Christmas list?
Want to give them coal for Christmas?

Rum balls this time of year can be gross. Use this recipe for the perfect rum balls; these are done just right.

Mini gingerbread whoopie pies from King Arthur. I will be making these.

Speaking of mile high cupcakes. Did you see these over at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody? Hi Top Triple Chocolate Cupcakes. It has a layer of CHOCOLATE SWISS MERINQUE BUTTERCREAM in there! That is like my all time favorite--I could eat a bowl of it, no prob.



Any of my readers out there do the Primal Blueprint? Kind of like the Paleo lifestyle craze? A grain free diet? Curious to hear your thoughts on it. It's had quite a huge success rate and I firmly believe that sugar and carbs (bad carbs that is) are the enemy. It's supposed to help enormously with inflammation: that wonderful little ailment we get when we age. But what struck a chord with me most was this blog from a woman who did the primal lifestyle and blogged about it here at primal girl. I don't do a lot of carbs, except for taste testing when baking; almost off soda, really don't do a lot of pasta. But I really want to go to the next level and eat more/better choices of proteins as well as eat more veggies. To be honest I do not eat a lot of veggies and I should. I do eat a lot of fruit though.
Love to hear your thoughts.....



The recipes in the book aren't that bad really. I mean they all look really good. And I can see why one would never miss the bread, the sweets, the carbs if you ate this way.
The primal lifestyle is almost like the paleo lifestyle, but the paleo is more restrictive. No grains, legumes or dairy. While the primal has no grains, limited legumes and dairy. It would be hard for me to give up dairy--that morning espresso with milk? Oh no!
Have a fabulous weekend kids.

pumpkin-nutella fudge puddles

I wonder if I should even write up a post for these. Will anyone read it? Or will they just go straight to the recipe to read the ingredients, look at the photos again and then print the recipe?
Do I even have to tell you how amazing these were? My stars. When they were fresh from the oven and just filled with that filling? Blisssss.
You. Must. Make. These.

Inspiration came from the ever infamous peanut butter fudge puddles I made years ago.
Tempted to call these muffins, they do look like it, but they taste like a cookie. I make these using a mini muffin tin because I want the filling to have a nice, perfect little cup to stay in. Haven't tried making them as just cookies for fear there wouldn't be enough of a 'cup' to hold the filling. How horrid would that be? :-)

pumpkin-nutella fudge puddles
print recipe

cookie base:
1/2 cup butter, softened
Not quite 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 dashes of pumpkin pie spice (more if you like pumpkin-y flavor; I do not)
1/2 ts vanilla extract
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 ts baking soda
1/2 ts salt

Cook notes:
You really want to slightly undercook this so it’s easy to add in the indentations and then the fudge. It will be hard to look for a “very light golden brown color” with the addition of pumpkin, so you can tell by touching the tops and if they give a little (not a lot) then it’s time to take them out. I mixed all by hand I don’t have a mixer, but feel free to use a mixer. I made the indentation in the centers using the other end of a spatula, re-wetting the end as I go along. If you don’t wet the end it will stick to the cookies. There might be extra filling left over. Store it in the fridge as it makes an excellent ice cream topping. To use later just reheat in microwave in short bursts.

In a large bowl, mix the butter, pumpkin, and both sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry to the wet mixtures.
Chill in the fridge for at least one hour. Remove from fridge and form into just over 1-inch balls.
Grease a mini-muffin pan and add 1 ball to each muffin cup. Using a wet spoon push the dough mixture down into the cups. (see photo)

Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes or until VERY lightly browned.

Remove from oven and make an indentation in the center of each ball (using the other end of a spatula), big enough to fill the middles with the fudge filling. (see photo)
Let them cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Filling:
1 cup nutella
1 cup milk chocolate chips
4-5 ounces sweetened condensed milk
chopped walnuts or pecans (I forgot this step but it would have been fabulous, so please do this)

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Once melted add in the all the ingredients except the nuts, and mix well; make sure it’s nice and heated though. Then pour the filling into a heat safe measuring cup and pour the filling into the cookies. I found using a measuring cup helps the pouring go a lot smoother.
Decorate with chopped nuts if desired. In about an hour or more the filling does start to harden.
Should make about 24 – 30 mini’s

salty caramel-apple pie

Well it's Thanksgiving week. That was fast. Are you ready? Are you stressed? Last year I did the HUGE mistake of going to Whole Foods on Thanksgiving eve. There wasn't a parking spot to be had for miles. It was INSANE there. As much as I love Whole Foods I will never ever do that again. I swear everyone was there buying turkeys and side foods as well as pies. I mean I know people do last minute Christmas shopping, but last minute turkey dinners? Amazing. I just went there to stock up on my water and probiotics--which could/should have waited.
Are you cooking this year? What are you making? Are you doing the whole meal? Doing the whole meal scares me unless I have a big ass kitchen and an even bigger fridge. Because seriously where are you going to store everything? One of my culinary dreams is to have a Sub Zero fridge or no, that fridge that is in the background of that food show Cooking for real with Sunny Anderson. It's a SEE THROUGH fridge people. How cool is that?
If you need any ideas for kicked up pies here is one: salty caramel apple pie. It's has the salty, sweet and buttery all happening. Perfect combo in a pie really. Just make sure you top each slice with vanilla ice cream! It's fairly easy to make. You can make the caramel sauce a couple days ahead and save the pie for the day of--easy peasy.

Have a wonderful holiday kids. Be safe and eat well!

I love the person that thought those chunks were cheese. Ha Ha! But actually that's a really good idea--for real. (I had posted this pic to the Vanilla Sugar Blog Facebook page as a teaser of what's to come).

salty caramel-apple pie
print recipe

2 pie crusts, homemade or premade
(I always use Martha Stewart's pie crust recipe; it never fails me)
7-8 cups apples, peeled and sliced into medium 1 ½ x 1 ½ inch slices (I use any apple really not granny smith)
The juice of one large lemon
2 TB flour
1 TB cinnamon
3 TB butter
3 good pinches of sea salt
¾ cup of caramel sauce
1 egg (for the pie wash on top)

homemade caramel sauce
from my baking addiction

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/4 liquid cup water
1/2 liquid cup heavy cream, room temp NOT cold
2 TB unsalted butter, room temp
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cook notes: I only used ¾ of the caramel sauce and saved the rest in a covered glass jar for other goodies. I’ve made this pie with premade crusts and with homemade crusts—both work fine.
I used about 3 good size pinches of sea salt for the top of the filling—this maybe too much for some of you and just right for some of you. Use what you think is best. I tend to like my caramel pie a touch salty. I used a deep dish apple pie pan for this, as it hold more apples. I do NOT like to pile apples into a mile high pie—that’s’ just me, I feel the caramel taste gets lost with too many apples. I like about a 4 inch apple thick pie.
You must, I repeat must serve this with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream. I stored my pie, covered, at room temp. I could not fathom putting it in the fridge; apple pies do not taste good cold. It kept nicely at room temp for about 2 days.

For the caramel sauce:
In a heavy saucepan place a candy thermometer on the side of pan. Stir together the sugar, syrup, and water. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until all sugar is dissolved AND its bubbling. When it hits 380 F remove from heat and CAREFULLY pour in the heavy cream. It will bubble and boil a lot so stand back and let it do its thing. Once it’s calmed down, mix with a rubber spatula, stirring and scraping up the bottom of pan. You might want to return it to the heat (a medium heat) if you see that not everything is dissolving. Once that is heated thru and stir in the butter and salt. Take off the heat and keep stirring till everything has come together. Let this cool a bit, about 4 minutes, then add in the vanilla extract.

For the pie filling:
In a large bowl place the chopped apples in and sprinkle with the lemon juice. In a small bowl combine the flour and cinnamon mix. The toss the flour mixture onto the apples and using a spatula combine well.
Let sit for a bit.

For the pie:
Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Spray your deep dish pie plate with non-stick spray; lay one of the pie crusts down into pie plate.
Take your apples and pour about ¾ cup of the caramel sauce over them, then mix with spatula. Take apples and place into pie. Sprinkle on the sea salt over the top, then take your 3 TB of butter, cut into small pieces and drop over the pie filling.
Take the other pie crust, and place over the top, crimping the edges closed. Take your egg and beat it a small cup with a fork. Generously wash the top of the pie with egg using a pastry brush.
Using a sharp knife, poke about 5 slits in the top of the pie for steam escape.
Place pie on a parchment lined baking sheet.
I baked my pie at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes. Yours might take less or more to bake, depending on oven. But check at the 45 minute mark to see where it stands.
Please let this pie cool at least 30 minutes before slicing into it to let the caramel set up.
Serve with vanilla ice cream