caramel - I'm Topsy Turvy

Ice Cream Parlor Birthday Party

September 29, 2011 27 Comments

It’s time to show off my Ice Cream Parlor Birthday party! I am so excited to share this with you. I started by collecting ideas and inspiration on a pinterest board. Then I started creating labels… I was originally going to use white brown and pink, pretty classic ice cream parlor colors. BUT I switched to green, mint ice cream green! Vanilla, chocolate and Mint Ice cream! My favorite ice cream flavor! And a different twist on some of the classic color schemes. Thanks again to my sister Chelsea Peterson Photography not only for her help finishing up and setting up, but also taking and editing these amazing pictures for me!

I really REALLY wish my table was just a foot longer. It ended up being a BIT crowded and could’ve used a tad bit more space, but two tables would’ve been too much… I WANTED to make a table, but ran out of time, plus what would I do with it afterwards? We decided to risk having an outdoor party in September. The worry was rain, but it was actually not only sunny, but INCREDIBLE hot! SO hot everything started melting!

I MIGHT have overdone how MUCH I did, but honestly I actually cut back on quite a few of the toppings, sauces and food items I wanted to make! Also I originally planned on copying the cake from One Charming Party, but then last week was hit with inspiration! You can see how I made my ice cream cone birthday cake in yesterday’s post!

For sauces I made my Grandpa’s Hot Fudge, Kara’s Sinful Caramel Sauce and Peanut Butter Sauce and my Marshmallow frosting

I had a TON of toppings, probably too much, BUT I wanted to make sure I had stuff for all the different tastes coming. Some guests are like me, into candy, and other guests are more like my husband into fruits and more “healthy” stuff. I had crushed candy bars (butterfingers), sprinkles, toasted coconut, mixed nuts, toffee, mini chocolate chips, mini M&M’s, apple pie filling, raspberry pie filling, granola and Reese’s pieces!

I also made cookie bowls, I should have made a second batch, they were by FAR the most popular way to serve the ice cream! I used my Dad’s famous chocolate chip cookie recipe with mini chips and the back of a muffing tin for the shape. Not as pretty as the ones floating around pinterest, but delicious and they worked just fine! I planned on making brownie bowls as well as chocolate wafers for homemade ice cream sandwiches but ran out of time, and in the end had no room for them anyway!

I had my classic mini water bottles of course (it took me weeks to find these galvanized steel tubs in this oval shape! Thank you Lowe’s). And I made Ice cream cone wrappers (they have three different phrases on them: I scream, you scream, we all scream). I thought the kids would love the cones, but only a few got eaten… I guess I know better for next time, more cookie bowls, less cones!

I also made Ice cream pops from oreo balls (instead of cake balls, nasty) AND I tried something new! I made my favorite cheesecake recipe (without the sour cream topping) and froze it. Then I chopped it into small triangles and froze them, again. I stuck them on sticks and dipped them in semi sweet chocolate and refroze them! They were the HIT of the day… Good thing I made such a large cheesecake! I still have a FEW more in the freezer that I’m still enjoying!

My favorite find was this mason jar water tank! LOVE it! It fit my mason jar theme so well and it’s simple enough to use over and over again! Wanting to keep the milk cold so I froze some milk in a huge cube and it worked great!. The kids LOVED it! So did my father in law, chocolate milk is his favorite drink of all time!

The only mishap was the butter-cream and ganache melting right off the cake because of the surprising heat… But while it didn’t stay pretty for long it still tasted amazing! So I just got the knife out and served it, problem solved!

The kids were SO patient as we finished up the photo’s and then told them they could go to town! They had a ton of food, not surprising they didn’t eat much dinner that night! Because of the sun and warmth we put up a huge tent and put it over the table to help with the melting. About an hour after the party started it cooled down enough that the melting slowed down to almost a halt! I guess I started the party just an hour too early! Who knew the middle of September could BE so warm! I made the party open house so people were coming and going all afternoon/evening. It was great to spend some time relaxing and socializing with family!

If anyone is interested in any of my labels here is the silhouette studio files you can download and use them! If you want any of my labels without the silhouette cut lines let me know, I’m happy to send them to you!

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Filed Under: birthday, brownies, cake, candy, caramel, carved, cheesecake, chocolate, cookies, family, fondant, ice cream, kids, me, parties, pictures, treats

Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles

September 12, 2011 8 Comments

I love truffles! They taste great and have an amazing texture. Also? They are pretty darn easy to make. A bit expensive because of the high quality of the ingredients needed, and a tad time consuming because of waiting for the ganache/truffle to cook, but in the end pretty easy and super versatile! Instead of the normal Cream over Chocolate this time we’re making a caramel cream (that goes over the chocolate).

Also we’re using Feur De Sel to go with the caramel. Feur De Sel is a french salt, that contains a higher mineral content than normal table salt, so as the pieces of salt melt in your mouth you get layers of a great natural salt flavor through out. Because it’s a fine salt it melts very quickly and easily so don’t add it to your dishes until the very end!

Caramel Dark Chocolate
makes about 30
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, divided
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon Fleur De Sel

Melt chocolate in double boiler, stir until chocolate is smooth. Remove chocolate from over water.

Combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in small saucepan.

Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, swirling pan occasionally, about 4 minutes.

Add cream (mixture will bubble). Stir over very low heat until caramel is smooth.

Mix caramel into melted chocolate and finally stir in the Fleur De Sel! Chill until truffle filling is firm, at least 3 hours.

Using 1 tablespoon truffle filling for each truffle, roll into balls, then roll or dip in chocolate, cocoa or sugar. Chill overnight.

My favorite: Dip the truffle balls in melted chocolate and sprinkle truffles lightly with additional Fleur De Sel. Let stand until coating sets, at least 1 hour. Cover and chill. This way you get more of the salt flavor, and it tastes great, but they were gone first and so I didn’t get a single picture of them! They were super pretty too!

Second Favorite: Cocoa, but not everyone loves this as much as I do!

Third favorite: roll in large sugar (I like the crunch!) This picture was from when I made them at Christmas one year!

Filed Under: caramel, chocolate, recipe, treats, truffle, tutorial

Chocolate Caramel Tart

February 25, 2008 Leave a Comment

I’m not dead, just sick family and late at posting

So this month for our Chocolate Therapy we chose Tarts. Since She likes fruit and I like Caramel we chose different Tart Recipes. Although I plan on making the same tart as she did for a suprise for my Hubby soon. I picked a Caramel Chocolate tart I had seen on many Daring Bakers pages back in Aug 07. I’ve been wanting to make it since then and now I can say I did. It wasn’t too hard or even very time consuming. I did run into a little issue that I’ll fix the next time I make it (definatly a repeat)

Chocolate Shortbread Crust
Single 10 inch crust

9 1/2 Tbs unsalted butter, room temp
5 Tbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C plus 3 Tbs flour
1/4 C Cocoa
1/2 C ground nut (I used Pecans, but macadamia, or almonds would work too)

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy about 1.5 mins. Add the flour and mix until light and fluffy about 2 mins. Gather dough in ball and press into bottom and sids of a 9 or 10 inch tart pan. Cook at 300 for 40-45 mins, let cool before filling. (if cooking more with your pie then cut time in half)

The crust was easy enough. I made a double batch and filled 2 tart pan with a bit of dough to spare. We made a few cookies out of the rest. I was suprised how good it was. I was worried that it needed a bit more sugar. And while a little more sugar would have made it a bit better, it was still quite good.

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart
1 10-inch round tart

half baked shortbread crust
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
1 tbs corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2 ½ tablespoons flour
1 ¼ cups whipping cream
½ lb dark chocolate

In a sauce pan bring the sugar, water and syrup to a boil over medium high. When the mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring and wait until it turns a golden caramel color. Incorporate the heavy cream and then add butter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl, beat the whole eggs with the extra egg yolk, then incorporate the flour.
Pour this into the cream-caramel mixture and mix thoroughly.
Spread it out in the tart shell and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Prepare the milk chocolate mousse: beat the whipping cream until stiff. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie, and fold it gently into the whipped cream.
Pour the chocolate mousse over the cooled caramel mixture, smoothing it with a spatula. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator.

Here is where I ran into some difficulties. I’m not sure WHAT happened. It might have been the visitors I had in the middle of the crucial step of making the caramel… My caramel never reached the color I wanted, and then started to separarate. I am still kicking myself that I just didn’t start over at this faze. I’ve made caramel enough that I should have known better. In the end it was a sweet sugary jelly type center. That had nice texture, but was missing the cooked caramel flavor that I was going for!!! I turned it down too low since some visitors came by, and I shouldn’t have done that.
But over all we all really liked it. It was a great balance between the super thick and crunchy crust, the sweet center and the dark chocolate thick, yet creamy mousse. I am looking forward to trying it again, but cooking the caramel right. I’ll update you!
I have one more tart recipe to make for the month, but it will have to wait until March, as there are few days left this month and they are all a bit on the full side.

Filed Under: caramel, chocolate, chocolate therapy, pastry, recipe, treats

Ice Cream Parlor Birthday Party

Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate Caramel Tart

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