Salted Caramel Rice Crispy Bars

Hello Friday! I am so completely ready for the weekend. I don't know if it was being by myself two mornings this week, the weather, or whatnot but this week lasted so long. It is never a good sign when Tuesday feels like a Friday. The last two nights Mr. J and I crashed on the couch by 8 pm. Just so you know that is shortly after Miss O's bedtime. 

I have been working hard at cutting down on my sugar intake. After Miss O was born I had pretty intense sugar cravings. And I completely gave into every. single. one. I totally justified it with the fact that I just had a baby and some of the time they were in the form of lactation cookies. It was really for the baby, right?

Well soon I wanted a sweet treat after each meal. And sometimes as early as 9 am. There is nothing like having a cookie for your second breakfast. Slowly I am cutting back but I splurged the other week with these salted caramel rice crispy bars. I brought them to a potluck at work so we wouldn't be faced with all this goodness by ourselves. A good thing too because they were simply irresistible. 

The treats are pretty much the same recipe as the original but you throw in some salted caramel. 

Most genius idea ever! 

I had some homemade on hand but you can easily use store bought too. Add some chocolate on top and you have some divine treats. 

Salted Caramel Rice Crispy Treats

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: no bake dessert chocolate caramel bar

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Ingredients (24 bars)

For the Rice Crispy Treats:

• 1 (10 oz.) bag marshmallows
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 cups Popped Rice cereal
• 3/4 cup caramel sauce

For the Chocolate Ganache Topping:

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• flaked salt for garnish

Instructions

For the Rice Crispy Treats:

In a large pot set to medium heat, melt marshmallows, butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth and add salted caramel.

Stir in Rice cereal until well combined.

Pour mixture into a lined and greased 13x9 pan. Flatten using a buttered rubber spatula. Chill pan in refrigerator while you make the ganache.

For Chocolate Ganache Topping:

In a small pot over medium heat, heat cream until almost boiling.

Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate until smooth.

Let ganache cool for 10 minutes then pour over Rice Crispy treats. Spread across pan to distribute evenly.

Let set for 5 minutes then sprinkle with salt.

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Salted Caramel Sauce

Quick and easy homemade salted caramel sauce with only 5 ingredients.

I am horrified about making candy at home. Something about that boiling water/sugar mixture makes me think it is going to explode on my face. I just haven't done it. 

But I do love caramel sauce. And this past weekend even though it was cold and snowy I wanted ice cream. Caramel sauce sounded so good. I wanted some of that too.  I found a pretty simple recipe, although I am pretty sure caramel sauce in general is simple to make. 

I looked pretty ridiculous outfitted with long sleeves and gloves during the cream pouring step. But in the end I made same marvelous salted caramel sauce. It is sweet and then you get a hint of a burnt salty taste.  

Now I have a jar of this stuff in my fridge and I want to eat it by the spoonful.  

And I did. Multiple times. 

I am probably not going to be making a ton of sugar candies in the near future but I will never buy caramel sauce again. 

Salted Caramel Sauce

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: saute sauce dessert caramel

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Ingredients (Makes 2 cups)

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

In a small bowl whisk together heavy cream, vanilla and sea salt. Set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, cook sugar and water over medium-high heat, swirling the pan but not stirring.

The mixture will boil and turn a dark amber color, about 12 minutes.

Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in cream mixture.

Let cool completely; transfer to jars and refrigerate

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salted caramel apple crisp {Happy Birthday}

Happy Birthday Mr. J!!

For one month I am officially older than Mr. J.  For the other eleven months of the year we are the same age.

Fun fact about us.  My birthday is 9/10. His birthday is 10/9.  I think that means we were made for each other. 

Sadly he got a cold yesterday.  We will save the big time celebrating for later this weekend but I couldn't let the day pass without giving him a little something special. 

He doesn't like cake. Typically birthdays mean apple pie. This year he said he didn't need a pie but would take whatever apple dessert I concocted.  

This week has been busy for both of us so not having to make pie was music to my ears.  Apple crisp seemed appropriate enough but to jazz it up a bit for a birthday I added salted caramel on top.  Apples. Caramel sauce. Crumb topping.  Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Salted Caramel Apple Crisp

Adapted slightly from Mother Thyme

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients (serves 8)

For the Topping

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter cut into to small cubes
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Filling

• 3 pounds apples, peeled and sliced ( I used Gala, they need to be crisp apples)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup caramel sauce

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For the Topping

In a large mixing bowl add butter cubes, flour, oats, sugars, cinnamon and salt. Using a pastry cutter, chop up the butter until mixture is crumbly.

For the Filling

Toss apples with lemon juice. Add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and toss to coat.

In a large oven safe skillet melt butter over medium heat. Add apples and cook, stirring occasionally until just tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Use 1/4 cup of store bought caramel sauce to pour on top of apples. Evenly sprinkle with crumb mixture.

Transfer skillet to oven and bake for about 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and remaining caramel sauce.

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