Sorry that I have been gone for a while, my main computer crashed and it is the one that has my food pictures on it. But here I am with some more goodies for you.
This week while lying in bed, I began to think of ice cream sundaes and yummy, ooey, gooey caramel sauce. So what do I do, I flip through my recipes and find one that I haven't tried before. This caramel sauce comes from one of my favorite chefs, Ina Garten. Her recipe is so easy and basically foolproof and makes the most perfect ice cream topping. It is so easy and quick that it doesn't even make sense to buy it, this is so much better.
Ina Garten's Caramel Sauce
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix the sugar and the water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook without stirring, over low heat for 5-10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees on a candy thermometer), about 5-7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir mixture. Watch the mixture constantly at the end as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Slowly add the cream and vanilla. The cream will bubble up and the caramel will solidify: don't worry. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool at room temperature for about 4 hours. it will thicken as it sits.
I also made a delicious homemade chocolate sauce that was just as good as the caramel. I looked through several recipes for homemade chocolate sauce but I was unhappy with many of the recipes as they contained corn syrup and other things that I just don't want in my food. So, I decided that my favorite chocolate sauce is ganache. I knew if I just thinned it out with by adding more cream than usual that it would be a perfect chocolate sauce. This is easier than the caramel and it is delicious!
Chocolate Sauce
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
8 oz of bittersweet of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Place the chocolate in a large bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate, add the vanilla. Let sit without stirring for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. The sauce will be thin, but will thicken as it sits. you can cool it quicker in the fridge. If the sauce gets to thick you can heat it up or add more cream.
1 comment:
The first picture is awesome! Thank you for your kind word on my blog ("idol"....pressure's on!!). Some consider sauces like an unnecessary thing but it can spruce up a plain old piece of cake instantly!
Post a Comment