Homemade Salted Caramel Latte

Since I’ve been pregnant I’ve been trying to steer a little clear of coffee. At least to keep the caffeine intake down to an acceptable level. I’ve discovered, though, that a latte has less caffeine than a brewed cup of coffee, so I have found a new love.

This recipe will be a copycat Salted Caramel Latte. I do use brewed coffee for this, but put less in my cup than usual, so we’re still good on our caffeine intake, don’t worry.

To start out with, you will probably want to go ahead and invest in a milk frother. They are fairly inexpensive and it will definitely pay for itself by your having skipped a few Starbucks runs. Wouldn’t take long at all, especially if you make a coffee run that includes more than one drink.

Here are a few options. I have both, my sweet hubby got them both for me for Christmas this year, not sure which one would work better, and honestly, I love both of them.

Pros and cons for each.

The battery powered one

PRO: A little faster to wash

PRO: Less pieces to get out/wash

PRO: Easy to froth milk right in your cup. (Make sure it’s just milk. Don’t add your coffee yet.)

CON: Takes a battery

CON: Must not overload your cup, or froth after you’ve already creamed your coffee. Trust me, you don’t want the mess.

The self-contained one
PRO: Make a double batch easily

PRO: Self-contained beaker makes for less mess and easier to know how much you can froth at once without making a mess

PRO: Does not need a battery

CON: More pieces to get out/wash

CON: (Obviously) Have to froth milk in a separate container from your cup

So equal playing fields, all in all. Just depends what you want to try first.

Okay. Here’s how to do it.

First, go ahead and get your coffee brewing. I make mine the regular strength that I usually do.

Now, warm up some creamer or milk or some combination thereof. About 40-60 sec in the microwave is great. For a big mug, I’m using about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of creamer and about 6-8 oz. coffee. If you like yours a little more or less creamy, adjust accordingly. My hubby is the candy-coffee drinker, and likes his the same way I do, with about 1/4 cup creamer. Play with it and see what you like best. You can always add more creamer after you taste your creation, so start with a little and go from there.

Froth! This is the most fun part. Both my frothers say to let the milk set for one minute before using, and this does seem to help the bubbles stay in my cup longer. Make enough froth to fill your cup half-full.

Doesn’t matter what order you put the items in your cup. When I’m using the battery frother, I warm the creamer directly in my cup, so coffee comes second. When I’m using the beaker, I warm it up in the beaker, and usually put coffee in my cup first. Again up to you. If you take sugar, go ahead and mix it in your coffee before adding the froth, or just add it to the creamer before you warm it. I’ve done it all combinations of ways and it seems to work just fine.

If you’re wondering how I got the coffee in the pre-foamed cup without destroying the foam, it’s not as hard as you might think. Just pour the coffee along the side, and watch the foam rise. It’s kindof fun.

Last, after your coffee with its nice topping of foam is in your favorite mug, drizzle caramel ice cream topping over top.  Shake a few shakes of salt over top and enjoy!

See also my salted caramel mocha recipe.

Variations: Add some English Toffee Torani syrup for an extra treat! It's delicious.

Notes: I use homemade creamer, made from milk and sweetened condensed milk. I actually make my own sweetened condensed milk too, and the recipe for both can be found here. I like that I can count (and pronounce) all the ingredients in my creamer. Milk, dry milk, sugar. C’est tout. Not all the preservatives you’ll find in a creamer from the store. Up to you. Not sure how store-bought creamer performs with the frothers, but if you’ve tried it, let me know.

Find me and lots of other yummy recipes on Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday Link Party

4 Ingredient Granola Bars

I'm a snacker. Not a big time snacker but every now and then I just need a bit of something to go with my coffee. And every now and then I really really want that snack to have some actual nutritional value.
I really like granola. Why does it have to be so expensive? Oatmeal is cheap, right?
Enter Pinterest.
Enter too many options.
Here's what happened. When I decided I should embark on making my own granola bars, I looked at all the options, and found a few several that I thought looked good, with ingredients I could handle, such as peanut butter, oatmeal, honey, flax...
Then I went to the store, (without the recipe) and got what I needed. Or thought I needed.
Here's why having all those options was a problem.
I had purchased components of several different recipes.
What now? I'm not going back to the store.
I decided it can't be that hard, and just decided to wing it.

Here's what I decided.

And here is the granola-bar secret:You just need to mix the right ratio of gooey with the right ratio of dry and you really can't go wrong.

So play with it, have fun, and don't get too hung up on ingredients if  you don't have all the "right" ones. Use what you like. Or don't. But I'll bet you'll enjoy them better if you do. Just sayin'.

So I had fun playing. I even tried a batch of no-bake ones and a batch of baked ones. They both were awesome.
I am going to actually post all three recipes that I made at some point, but for now, here's the batch that ought to be the healthiest.
Oh yeah, that was another thing, I really wanted them to be gluten-free, and not have a bunch of sugar or corn syrup... oats are already carbs after all.

Here's one with just 4 ingredients:
Dates (or prunes), flax-seeds, oats, honey

Puree the dates or prunes.

(my dates were old and a bit dry, so I stuck them in the microwave on high for about a minute and they pureed up so easily after that.)

They will look like this all minced up. If you use prunes, they will make more of a creamy brown paste. These are for your gooiness part of the recipe.

Mix fruit, seeds & oats.

Then mix the next ingredients 1 T  at a time, adding until you get the right consistency. You'll know its right when it presses together into a ball without crumbling.

TIP: To make up for my dry dates, I did add 1-2 T of peanut butter, but if you have fresh ingredients you shouldn't need the PB. Like I said, play with it and make it work for you. 

Spread into a 9x9 dish, pressing down with rubber spatula.

Bake at 350 for 10 min.

Cut and eat. A 9x9 pan makes about 8 bars.

1/2 C dates or prunes, pureed
1/4 C flax-seed
1 C oats
1-2 T honey
1-2 T water (ok, yes that's 5 ingredients, but since it's water, I just didn't think we needed to count it.) 

Puree dates or prunes
Mix fruit, seeds & oats.
Then mix the next ingredients 1 T  at a time, adding until you get the right consistency. You'll know its right when it presses together into a ball without crumbling.
Spread into a 9x9 dish.
Bake at 350 for 10 min.
Cut and eat. A 9x9 pan makes about 8 bars.

Homemade Salted Caramel Mocha

Yummo!
Quick little post about my little big cup of coffee.
I got this nice white mocha recipe that works amazingly well last year or the year before, and have delighted in making homemade white mochas since then.

Today, however was not a white-mocha kind of day. Today was a salted caramel "brown" mocha kind of day. (Or is it just called a mocha? Not entirely sure but we're gonna call it what we wanna call it today.)

The wonderful rain is drizzly.

And so is the caramel.

I'm glad we had redi-whip because we often don't.

     Here's how I did it, adapted a bit because I wasn't looking at the recipe- I was going from memory, and it is delightful how it is.
     Ok, on with the short version, because we all wanna just get right to it. If you want a longer version, then read it slower. hehe.

You will need:
Milk, Chocolate Chips, Caramel Ice Cream Topping, Redi-Whip, Table Salt (Or Sea Salt if that's your thing.)
Oh, and a nice hot steaming cup of joe. Or Espresso if that's your thing.

husband birthday truffles

1/2 C. Milk (or so. However much you're gonna put in your mug. Whole milk works best but all we had today was 2% and it was fine)
1/4 C. Chocolate chips. (I actually used the leftover almond bark that was in my bowl/double boiler from the truffles I made my honey for his birthday. You know, the bit that is too shallow to dip truffle in?)

1) Stir together in a double boiler. Whisk till you've got some nice bubbles, or until your arm gets tired, or until you get impatient to drink your mocha.

2) Stir into your hot coffee.

3) Squirt Redi-Whip on top, and drizzle with caramel ice-cream topping. 

     Take a deep breath, the next part feels weird unless you've done it before...

4) Shake some salt on top.

     Don't forget this last, most important step... if you're even still with me....

5) Enjoy!