Butterscotch Blondie Bars with Peanut-Pretzel Caramel

Butterscotch Blondie Bars with Peanut-Pretzel Caramel: sounds delicious, right??  Not the way I made them, unfortunately.

Looks can be deceiving!

I tried out this recipe from Epicurious with the intent of serving the bars at Rachel's birthday party, but things did not go according to plan.  I substituted a combination of unsweetened apple sauce and egg-replacer powder for the eggs, and I used coconut cream (the thick layer that rises to the top of a can of coconut milk) in place of heavy cream.

Even though the bars had a solid consistency and looked great, they didn't taste great.  The blondie bottoms were neither very sweet nor very flavorful (yet they were probably the best part of the bar).  Meanwhile, the caramel tasted slightly burnt.  Caramel is difficult to make, so I may have cooked it for too long or made some other mistake.  But, many Epicurious recipe reviewers also had trouble, so the recipe might need some tweaking, too.  I'm not going to write out the recipe here, but feel free to view the original.

In the end, I whipped up a batch of fudgy brownies instead of serving these blondie bars at the party.  If you do make these bars and you're successful, please let me know how you do it!  I believe they have the potential to be incredible.

Chocolate Fudge and Caramel Corn

Another item on my to-do list this week: make candy to bring in to my office as a holiday treat.  Check!  Simon and I made two very easy recipes, Chocolate Fudge and Caramel Corn.  This was my first time making the fudge, but I made the caramel corn once over the summer for my extended family's week at the beach.  Everyone loved the caramel corn before and fudge is pretty hard to dislike, so I'm hopeful that each treat will both go over well at the office.

Cooling Caramel Corn

Chunks of Fudge

Recipe:
Chocolate Fudge

• 1 - 12 ounce bag Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips or a bar of dark chocolate
•  6 tablespoons vegan butter
• 3.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup soymilk

First, lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan with vegan butter.  Set aside.

Place all of the ingredients in a double boiler.  Stir occasionally until the mixture melts together and becomes smooth.   Pour the mixture into the baking pan, cover, and chill for at least 3 hours before cutting into squares. 


Recipe:
Caramel Corn

• 14 cups popped popcorn
• 1 cup dry roasted peanuts (optional)
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup vegan butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

First, lightly grease a shallow baking pan, such as a roasting pan, a jellyroll pan, or a high-sided cookie sheet.  Place the popped popcorn in the pan, spread the peanuts evenly over top, and set aside.  

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.  Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend.  Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for five minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.  The mixture should turn light and foamy.  Immediately pour the caramel sauce over the popcorn and stir to coat.  (Don't worry about coating every inch of the popcorn at this time.)

Bake the caramel corn for 1 hour, stirring the mixture every 15 minutes.  Then, cover the counter with wax paper and dump the popcorn onto it, separating chunks of caramel corn.  Allow the corn to cool completely and store in an airtight container. 

Comments:
Both of these recipes are great.  I tagged them as both "quick and easy" and "advanced preparation required" because they're quick to prepare but both involve some extended down-time.

Fudge variations:  Add one or two tablespoons of peanut butter to make it peanut butter fudge!  Or, add 1 cup chopped nuts to make nutty chocolate fudge.