Sweet Weekend

Good afternoon, and happy Monday! All hell has broken loose at work today, and I am doing about a gagillion things at once....so if my writing seems a little chaotic, THAT is why!

This weekend was full of sweet things, literally and figuritively. Zak and I went to bruch on Sunday, which is a VERY rare occurance, and I had the most spectacular bluberry pancake that was just ever so slightly undercooked so that it was deliciously gooey in the middle. Also, I haven't had real blueberries for months, and it perked me right up. We spent the meal drawing goofy things on the chalkboard above our table, reading the onion to each other, and holding hands. Mushy yes, but just the kind of quality time you start to crave when you both work fulltime jobs and don't get to see one another during daylight hours very often.

Now on to more substantial things, cooking! This summer, I discovered a meathod of making Dolce de Leche (caramelized milk) on my favorite food blog, Not Without Salt. It is so easy it feels like cheating. Dolce de Leche is so delicious you could eat it all on its own, but it is also spectacularly versitile for cooking. You can use it as a spread on just about anything you want to put caramel on (bread, apples...), or you can use it in pastries, because it keeps its form very well when baking (no giant pool of burnt caramel on the bottom of your oven!).

Super Easy Dolce De Leche

All you need for this recipe is a can of sweetened condensed milk and a deep pot for boiling water. Basically, all you have to do is submerge a can of the SCM under boiling water for 3 hours, that's it! There are however, a few things to note.

 It's very important that you use sweetend condensed milk and not its neighboor evaporated milk, because you need that sugar in order for the caramelization to occur! When you are boiling the can of SCM, make sure there is at least 1 inch of water above the top of the can at all times, if the water level goes below the top of the can, it might explode! You don't want to scrub sticky caramel off your kitchen celing do you? I didn't think so! Finally, after the can has been in the boiling water for 3 hours, take it out and let it cool until you can touch it with your bare hands before you open it. The first time I made Dolce de Leche, I was so excited to see inside the can that I tried to open it right away, big mistake! As soon as the can opener pierced the can, a stream of hot caramel shot out across my kitchen! You need to let the pressure from the heat subside before you open the can :) Also, let me just say, it is so enjoyable to open that can and see the gorgeous caramel, and your first bite will be heaven, I promise!

I got the idea to put the Dolce de Leche into coffee from The Pioneer Woman. I just brewed some extra strong coffee, stirred in the ddl, topped with hommade, unsweetened vanilla whipped cream and cinnamon to create these little concoctions.

A very welcome treat on a snowy, cold, horribly grey, Sunday afternoon. You might also consider adding in a little Kahlua, or Whiskey if you're feeling fancy.

Also, caramel apple pastry...I will post the recipe for this later in the week, but for now, I will leave you with this: