Salted Caramel Mocha Cookies.

Yeah, you totally heard me right.

Salted. Caramel. Mocha.

COOKIES!

Just like this years fall special at Starbucks.

You just won't even believe your taste buds.

I originally wanted to make just a salted caramel cookie, but when I was digging out all my baking ingredients from my pantry I spied my instant espresso powder.

I swear lightning struck.

In my house.

I added one and half tablespoons of instant espresso powder to this recipe.

The end results are AH-MAZING!

I've also been tinkering around making some Halloween decorations for the front entry.

Some little glass vials I picked up at the local salvation army got labels, water, glycerin and glitter.

A little spell book inspired by a project I found on Pinterest, inspired by the Snow White story.

My fellow geeks out there will recognize the labels.

I'll give you a hint: The intials are H.P.

This one is my favourite.

Water, Ameri-color Gold coloring gel and drink sparkles from Wilton.

Although these cookies weren't originally for Halloween, the rich, dark brown from the cocoa gave these cookies an almost black colour.

Also lets face it, a cookie that oozes anything is just perfect for Halloween!

Butterbeer and a farewell to Harry

The time is upon us.

Us geeks, that is.

The last Harry Potter movie comes out tonight.

I will not be among the madness, but I will toast to the finale!

With a frosty glass of butterbeer!

It's not actually beer, but it has butter, so it's gotta be good.

I searched the Internet for ideas and recipes and found a few that looked promising.

They just HAD to be good, they were from 'real' wizards.....

Yeeeeaaaah.

Anyhoo, I combined two that looked the best, but it's hard trying to make something taste real, that doesn't really exist.

I gave it my best shot and was really happy with the results!

Here's what you need to make my version of Butterbeer: 

(4 servings)

1 2L bottle of clear cream soda (I used Fanta, the only clear one I could find)
3/4 cup of whipping cream
1 cup of lightly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons of water
6 tablespoons of butter, cubed
1/2 teaspoon of Rum extract
2 ounces of butter ripple schnapps, you can omit this if you want to serve to kids
2 tablespoons of icing sugar


1.  Combine brown sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat, and let dissolve and heat to 240 degrees.
2. Add 1/2 cup of cream and cubed butter & stir. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp.
3. Once at room temp, add rum extract and Schnapps.
4. Put in fridge and let cool, as long as possible, I did mine over night, but I did a test batch after an hour in the fridge and it was great!
5. In a separate bowl, add remaining 1/4 cup of cream, icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of cram soda. Whisk until frothy, but not whipped.
6. In each of the 4 chilled mugs or glasses, pour 1/4 cup of chilled brown sugar mixture, then 1/4 cup of cream soda, and stir until blended well.
7. Pour more cream soda into each cup until it's an inch left.
8. Top with frothy cream mixture.
9. Serve immediately to Harry Potter fans, trust me no one else will get it.

I have to say that it was kind of difficult trying to make something taste like something you've only ever tasted in your imagination.

Did that sound mildly crazy?

Maybe a little.

I think it came out just as I'd imagined it would taste like.

Creamy, sugary, salty, fizzy and kind of nutty too. 

Delicious!

Man's feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell.  ~Jean Paul Richter