Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Loaf

My coworker Jen’s birthday was in the summer while I was off on vacation. Jen, being the awesome coworker that she is, made me a super delicious banana cake for my birthday last March. It was seriously amazing. So I was feeling really bad in October when I still hadn’t baked her up a late birthday treat. Jen was very gracious about the whole thing, given that September was beyond crazy in library land, and she was pleased enough to celebrate in October. We hemmed and hawed but when I saw this recipe by Peabody of Culinary Concoctions, we decided this was the one.

We were too busy eating the cake to focus on taking pictures, hence the slightly lame photo. But the cake was delicious, what’s not to like when pumpkin, cream cheese and caramel are involved? I think this would be great for afternoon tea over the Christmas holidays. I’m just sayin’ you might want to try it.

Caramel Squares

You know how there are foods that just totally mean home to you? Mine are scones, soda bread, banana muffins and these squares. They are a simple caramel square (aka millionaire’s shortbread), nothing too exotic, yet they are so good. They are often sitting in a tupperware waiting for any one of us when we come home to our parents house. My brother in law loves them and Claire makes them frequently. I don’t make them very often but I made them this week and they turned out just fine. So fine in fact that I whipped up another batch for my parents friend who has been visiting this week.  He raved about them and kept sneaking them out of the fridge. When he left today we tucked a pan into his suitcase, they are that kinda square.

caramel ingredients, gooey goodness

This is another Company’s Coming recipe. It is on p. 116 of 150 Delicious Squares.

Base
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Mix together butter, sugar and flour until crumbly. I use a pastry cutter but can use your hands, spoon, whatever. Bake for 20 minutes in a 9×9 pan @ 350 degrees.

Caramel Layer

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsps corn syrup
1/2 cup condensed milk

Mix together the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then boil for 5 minutes, stirring continuously to prevent it from burning.  Remove from stove top and beat for a few minutes. Pour over base.

Chocolate Layer

1 1/4 cups of milk chocolate chips (you can use any chocolate really, chips, bars, dark, semi sweet etc)

Melt chocolate and pour over caramel layer.

Make them now, you won’t be disappointed.

TWD – Caramel Crunch Bars

I was excited for this weeks recipe because I love caramel. Some of my favourite treats have caramel in them. So I made these last night because some of my classmates were doing a presentation at the hospital today and I figured it would be a nice treat. Plus it would mean I wouldn’t eat them all myself! The base was easy enough to make. Then came the melting of the chocolate over the base. This didn’t work out for me so I ended up melting the chocolate in a pot over low heat and spread it over after. Then I used Skor bits because Heath bars are not available in Canada!

To be honest, these were not quite what I expected. They were ok and everyone at work ate them up but I didn’t love them. Perhaps I needed to bake the base a little longer!? Who knows! But at least they look pretty for the picture:)

Thanks to Whitney of What’s left on the table for choosing this weeks recipe and you can head over to her blog to get the recipe.