Salted Caramel Rice Krispies Treats

One of my favorite things about Christmas is getting tins and boxes of cookies and treats from friends and family. I don’t know why people can’t regularly bake all year-round, but it makes me so happy to get somebody else’s baked goods. This year, I’m deciding to share my favorite treats with my family and friends with special treat boxes. 

I have been brainstorming about what to make for my boxes for a while now. My baking is very cake and cookie heavy, so I have been trying to come up with other recipes to share with everybody this Christmas. I have a few solid ideas, now onto testing.

Last night, I tested these salted caramel rise krispies treats. I wanted to take a classic crowd pleaser and just spice it up a little bit. These were super simple and super cheap to make. Try them out, they’re really good!

Salted Caramel Rice Krispies Treats

For the Salted Caramel -

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt

For the Marshmallow Creme - 

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 10 oz bag mini marshmallows

• 6 cups rice krispies cereal
• 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

In a small saucepan, combine condensed milk, butter, and brown sugar over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to low heat. Stir continuously for 5 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and golden brown. Transfer into another bowl and stir in sea salt. Set aside.

In another saucepan, melt 2 tbsp butter over low heat. Once melted, add the marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are fully melted. Add the caramel and stir until the two mixtures are smooth and homogenous.

In a large bowl, add the mixture to the rice krispies. Quickly stir until all are covered in the caramel marshmallow mixture. Press into an ungreased 9x13 baking pan. Let the treats set in the fridge for about 30 minute before removing. Cover with optional chocolate drizzle (caramel and sea salt would be great too!). Cut into squares and serve. 

Cranberry Orange Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing

Over the weekend, I decided to do take out my mixer and test some recipes for Thanksgiving! After a few hours and an exploded bag of powdered sugar (it was literally EVERYWHERE), my kitchen counter was covered in desserts. The best? This cake. 

I've been brainstorming over the perfect cake for Thanksgiving dinner, and then I remembered the most delicious Lemon Blueberry Cake that I made this summer. It was a such a hit with my friends and family, that I had been dreaming up variations ever since! 

Cranberry and orange is one of my absolute favorite flavor combinations for the holidays. It was a no-brainer that I just had to make this cake this holiday season. So I did, and damn was it good. The cake is perfectly most and has a light orange flavor, studded with fresh cranberries throughout. My favorite part is the icing. I took my traditional cream cheese icing and added both orange zest and orange juice. I swear I could've eaten the whole bowl if I had no self-restraint! And on top of all of that, cranberry syrup! 

Seriously, y'all. Make this. You won't regret it. 

Cranberry Orange Cake

• 2 cups and 6 tablespoons cake flour
•  2 tsp baking powder
•  1 tsp salt
•  2 ½ cups fresh cranberries
•  1 cup whole milk
•  2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp orange zest
•  1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup pecans (optional, but we all thought they would be perfect!)

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

•  1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
•  2 lb. powdered sugar (the big bags!)
• zest and juice of 1 orange
•   vanilla to taste

Cranberry Orange Syrup

•  1 ½ cups fresh or frozen cranberries
•  ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup orange juice
•  ½ cup light corn syrup, maple syrup, or honey

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 9” round cake pans.

Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, combines cranberries and 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture and coat the berries. Set aside. Stir whole milk, vanilla, and orange zest in small bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add the in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture. (Start with the flour, then add half of the milk, more flour, the rest of the milk, more flour). Fold in cranberries and pecans. Divide batter equally among pans.

Bake cakes until set, about 25 minutes.

For the icing:

Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add extracts, zest, and juice and blend once more.

For the syrup:

 Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to boil. Simmer the mixture for 7-12 minutes, until the cranberries pop. Remove from heat and let cool before topping the iced cake. 

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Cranberry White Chocolate Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

 ‘Tis the season for all things festive! So I just looked up at my calendar and it’s November 20th. Come again? Is it just me or does Christmas start earlier and earlier each year? The day after Halloween I went to Target to buy cheap candy and BAM! Christmas everywhere. I’m sitting here now, a week away from Thanksgiving, making sure I have time to bake all of my favorite fall treats before we’re too far into the land of eternal candy canes and gingerbread. 

So let me tell you a few things about these cookies. 1) They’re really good. 2) I’ve made them for like every holiday party in the past year. 3) They’re really good. I made these a few weeks ago for the annual Blackall pig roast. Le me tell you, these are a crowd pleaser. I don’t know what it is, but you’d think that I sprinkled cocaine throughout the dough because these were gone in two seconds. Seriously, these get rave reviews every time I make them! For those of you who have been asking me for the recipe, here it is (finally)! 

These cookies are perfect for the holidays. I took a traditional oatmeal cookie and threw in anything and everything that I thought would be good. This time, I decided to go with white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, some toasted pecans, and a few dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg. So good! If you don’t like those flavors, feel free to substitute anything you like. Coconut, white chocolate, and macadamia nut sounds divine. Dark chocolate and orange? I bet that would be delicious. What other combinations would be good? Let me know in the comments and maybe I’ll make you some! 

Cranberry White Chocolate Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

·      ¾ cups unsalted butter, softened

·      ½ cup sugar

·      ½ cup brown sugar

·      2 eggs

·      2 tsp vanilla

·      2 cups all-purpose flour

·      1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats (not steel cut!)

·      2 tsp cinnamon

·      1/8 tsp nutmeg

·      ½ tsp salt

·      ¼ tsp baking powder

·      1 tsp baking soda

·      1 cup white chocolate chips

·      1 cup dried cranberries (cherries would be good too!)

·      1 cup chopped pecans (any nut will work)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking trays with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients — flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder, and soda — and mix until combined. Add the nuts, chips, and dried cranberries and mix one last time!

Scoop 2 tbsp mounds of dough onto prepared trays. Bake for 8-10 minutes (9 minutes was perfect for me!). Allow to cool on trays before serving! 

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