Filed under: drop the cupcake and no one gets hurt
I think.
**YES!!! Very tasty! I can hardly keep from scarfing down an entire jar!
It’s still too hot to taste.
Too hot to touch actually, so I had to use an oven mitt to open the cans. But I just could.not.help.my.self. I let them sit on a cutting board for about 30 minutes, and then I had had all the waiting I could take.
First, the cans in the simmering water:
Fast forward 3 loooong hours…
And here are the cans out of the water. I noticed something odd when I took the cans out though…
Hmm. Why can I still see the cans in there? Hopefully that will come off….eventually.
And now…the moment we’ve all been waiting for….*drum roll please*
When I opened these, I got this blast of ooey gooey caramely goodness smell. *mouth watering*
When it cools off enough for me to take it out of the cans, I’ll take more pictures. And then of course, when I figure out what I’m going to do with it (probably brownies….or maybe dipping fruit in it….or over cupcakes….the possibilities are pretty much endless at the moment) I’ll be posting many more pictures for you all to drool over! Hey! It’s easy to make! Nothing except adding more water when needed is involved. Y’all should try this. Post some pictures of what you make (just remember to take the labels off before heating!) and make us all drool! Hee hee
*****UPDATE******
It’s finally cooled off! (FINALLY!!!) And I’ve taken it out of all the jars and kind of mixed them all together (even though it’s all the same thing) just to get a nice creamy consistency….
I know, right? God help me, I’m gonna eat the whole bowl.
After stirring a little bit, I spooned it into jars I had left over from making jam a while back.
I couldn’t waste a drop so I had to find a teeny little container for even the littlest amount that would have been left in the bowl.
So there you have it! Dulce de Leche! YUM!!! Now all I have to do is do something with it! I’m pretty sure this will be something I do again and again. This would even be something great to give as a gift (larger jars, maybe)!
To sum up, from what I’ve heard, a small jar of this costs $8+ at the few places that sell it. (That’s one of those jars in the picture or smaller). And you have to find a specialty store that actually sells it. Even in the Mexican grocery stores, it’s not cheap. But the entire batch that I made cost me a grand total of $4. Granted, it took some time, and just the smallest amount of effort (keeping the cans submerged and the water at a simmer for THREE HOURS (longest three hours of my life)) and a heck of a long time to cool (okay, maybe that was the longest three hours of my life…maybe 4) but the end result is totally worth it. I’d say if you have a Saturday or Sunday free and feel like making something unusual that is just out of this world! This is your project!
The end!
Next it’s on to some doggy treats tomorrow and then maybe a turkey if I can make up my mind which one to make.
Filed under: drop the cupcake and no one gets hurt
Okay…while my now-developing dulce de leche sauce stuff (nice name, huh?) simmers away on the stove for about another hour, I’m left sitting on the couch tapping my fingers and reading a rather boring issue of People.
So now I’m trying to pick which turkey recipe I’m going to make with my practice turkey (considering the last time I cooked a turkey was three years ago). I figured I ought to brush up on my “turkey-makin’ skillz”.
Last time I used Alton Brown’s recipe where you brine the turkey and then roast it stuffed with aromatics (apple, cinnamon, onion, and some other stuff I can’t remember). It turned out sooo yummy and moist. And with NO basting, whatsoever! Like I’ve said before, low maintenance=happy me.
This year, I’m looking at trying Tyler Florence’s turkey with sage butter. This year, I’ve tried several of his recipes and have never been disappointed. An amazing occurrence considering how damn picky I am! I’ll give any 5 year old a run for their money! Hee! So, although I was very happy with how the first turkey came out, I’m still itchin’ to try a new one.
And hopefully I won’t forget to take all the icky stuff out before I cook it this year!
Oops.
**Updates of the dulce de leche to come soon! I figured I’d wait until I had more than a picture of cans in a pan (rhymy!) to show you. So check back later. They should be done in about an hour. Although I’m not sure how long they will take to cool.
*Wayne’s World-esque* We’re not worthy….we’re not worthy….
Hee!
Anyway. A big, HUGE THANK YOU to Beth! The link to the recipe you left in the comments of my previous post lead me to this recipe. And I’m totally going for it!
Super simple is definitely the way to go in this house! LOL
So now I’m off to the store to get my 3 cans of sweetened condensed milk. And guess what? That’s the only ingredient. It takes 3 hours, but hey….ONE ingredient. Well…plus water. But still! And I don’t even have to open the cans!
Woo!
I’ve been looking for this caramel-type sauce called dulce de leche lately. Supposedly, it’s in the Mexican food section of “well stocked grocery stores”. Liars. The lot of them.
I’ve been to 5 different “well stocked” grocery stores and still here I sit. With no caramel cupcakes. No caramel brownies. No caramel ANYTHING.
Hmph.
These grocery stores carry at least 50 different kinds of salsa, but can’t be bothered with one little jar of my sauce. Shocking. I know.
I guess tomorrow will have to be devoted to driving around town looking for little-known, non-advertised little Mexican market type places. Yeah. I’m not looking forward to that. These places can be very well hidden and most often have next to no parking.
Sorry for the whine, but I’m at a loss for any other material at the moment.
Maybe I can find some cheese to go with it. hee hee
Filed under: dream for an insomniac, drop the cupcake and no one gets hurt, it was all his fault, vacuum cleaner kitties, whineyness
So pretty much just “lag”.
I’m up at *checking watch* 1:40 in the morning….again. Well, tonight’s not as bad as yesterday when I was up until about 6. And then got up at 8.
Personally, I blame Rat for this. He had last Wed, Thurs, and Fri off so we’ve been watching movies and stuff until the wee hours of the morning for 5 days. Until last night. When Rat promptly went to bed at 11. And I was left alone and totally awake.
I have a hard enough time falling asleep when I’m in a “routine”. Sometimes I’ll just lay there for 2 or 3 hours. Starring at the ceiling. Or the wall. Or the clock. And I hate that. It drives me crazy. And my bad back doesn’t help things at all since it dictates what side I can sleep on and for how long. So I always end up tossing and turning. And we have a horrible mattress. It’s awful. I hate it sooo much. And I’ve also complained about it soooo much. So much so that Rat kinda gets pissy about it now when I bring it up. So I’m just going to complain about it here from now on. Hee! Lucky you!
So what have I been doing all this time awake you ask? (oh hush, you know you were going to ask) Well yesterday I looked at a lot of boring stuff on the internet. I caught up with my blog reading and some other lists that I’m on and had been ignoring. I watched a lot of Family Guy and King of the Hill. And I’m sure I did other stuff that I don’t remember at the moment.
Tonight, on the other hand, I decided to be productive.
MY BROWNIES, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM!
And that’s caramel swirled into the top there. I know it’s not the greatest picture, but it’s freakin’ 2 in the morning and I just finished baking “Caramel Swirl Hunks” from scratch. SCRATCH, people! No mix at all. I’m talking I chopped up chocolate hunks for this. I measured and mixed and folded and blended! And all without waking Rat up.
I don’t know why I have this thing for baking stuff in the wee hours of the night (morning?) but I do. I think I like it because it’s quiet and I’m by myself and I can dance around the kitchen and make funny faces if I want to. Also, I talk to the kitties when they make their appearances in the kitchen to beg for scraps which they don’t get. Winston will usually plop down in the middle of the floor and keep me company for awhile. Once Neezie realizes she’s not getting any meat she rolls her eyes and goes to drool on my dining room chairs.
Winston’s had some sort of bug up his butt tonight though. I’ve been doing everything I can to keep quiet and he’s tearing around the house chasing one of his jingly balls that makes a lot of noise on the hardwood floors.
Though looking around now, I can’t seem to find him….and I don’t hear him either. Although….he does kind of have built-in camouflage.
CHAMELEON CAT IZ BLENDYN.
