I have a thing for cupcakes. Maybe because they are small? And salted caramel. Well because it's caramel and butter is involved.

I have a good friend, Carrie, who tells me all the time she doesn't like salted caramel. So if you're like her, you can make the caramel without the salt and it would be caramel buttercream!

I'm so glad to be working with Land O'Lakes again to bring you another recipe and because this one's a little special, I consider this a holiday recipe.

You can make your own caramel sauce or use store bought. If you use regular caramel, you can easily make it salted caramel by adding sea salt (to taste) to it.

Also, when I'm making these cupcakes, I usually put the cupcakes in the oven, make the salted caramel and then the buttercream but you can honestly make the caramel and the buttercream ahead of time, even a couple of days before!

Sift all of the dry ingredients, especially, the cocoa powder because it always has hard bits in it, except the salt. Mix together all of the dry ingredients with the salt.

Take two tablespoons of the dry ingredients and mix in with the chocolate chips ahead of time, then set aside. I do this so the chips don't sink…some still will but that's ok. Also, I use the miniature chocolate chips because the big ones…no matter what you do, they sink to the bottom of the cupcake!

Cream the butter and the sugar together.

Add eggs and mix.

Then, add the coffee, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and the milk. Once you mix it up, it will look curdled.

I always carefully add the dry ingredients in two or three batches and mix.

Add the chocolate chips.

And mix with a rubber spatula.

I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup for these cupcakes.

And then bake at 350 degrees F for 16 to 18 minutes.

While those are baking, make your caramel sauce. Don't stir once you turn the heat on. You can pick up the pot and swirl around but don't stir.

Once they are an amber color…

Add the butter and whisk vigorously.

Then, add the heavy cream and whisk vigorously again.

Remove from heat and add vanilla extract and sea salt and mix together.

And now for the buttercream! I like to use both salted and unsalted Land O Lakes® butter for buttercream.

After mixing the butter, vanilla extract and powdered sugar. It's a regular ol' vanilla buttercream…

Until you pour in the salted caramel!

And there you have it!

Check out the short little instagram video I posted of frosting one of these cupcakes…below!

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream yesssss! @landolakesktchn (thanks to @loveandoliveoil for the video help!) recipe ???? ???? http://littlekit.ch/choccupcakes

A video posted by Julie Deily (@thelittlekitchn) on Nov 3, 2015 at 3:52am PST

Cupcakes that I KNOW you'll love! A few friends taste tested for me and they really enjoyed them. Now time to make these for your next holiday get together! Stat!

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Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Recipe

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings 24 to 28 cupcakes

Ingredients

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter Stick 1/2 cup, softened
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup brewed coffee cooled
• 3/4 cup milk

Salted Caramel

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream room temperature
• 1/2 Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter Stick 1/4 cup, cubed, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons sea salt

Salted Caramel Buttercream Icing

• 1 Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter Stick 1/2 cup, softened
• 1 Land O Lakes® Salted Butter Stick 1/2 cup, softened
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup salted caramel cooled

Instructions

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

• Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin tins with cupcake liners.
• Sift cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix together with a large spatula in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Measure out mini chocolate chips, place in a small bowl and add 2 Tablespoons of the dry mixture and mix. Set said both bowls.
• Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, on medium for 2 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl halfway through with a rubber spatula. Add eggs and mix for 2 minutes (scrape the bottoms and sides of the bowl). Add vanilla extract, vegetable oil, coffee and milk. Mix thoroughly for about 1 minute (batter will look curdled).
• Add the dry ingredients in two batches and mix together until they are combined (don’t over mix and don’t forget to scrape the bottoms and sides of the bowl). Add chocolate chip mixture and fold into the batter using a rubber spatula.
• Portion out 1/4 cup of cake batter into lined muffin tins. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes on 350 degrees F or when inserting a toothpick in a couple of cupcakes in the center comes out clean. Carefully remove cupcakes from the muffin tin and cool on wire cooling racks.

Salted Caramel

• Add 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons water to a stainless steel pot (that has a heavy bottom and high sides). Mix to combine and then turn heat to medium high.
• Lift the pot and swirl but don't stir. Cook until the sugar turns to a caramel color, about 10 to 11 minutes (watch carefully so it doesn't burn).
• Turn heat down to low. Add butter (it will be really hot so be careful) and whisk until thoroughly combined. Again, being careful, add heavy cream and whisk thoroughly.
• Remove from heat and add vanilla extract and salt (add more if you like it even more salty) and whisk thoroughly. Allow to cool completely before putting into an airtight container and refrigerating.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

• In your stand mixer bowl using the paddle attachment, mix thoroughly the softened 1 Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter Stick and 1 Land O Lakes® Salted Butter Stick on low to medium speed. Add vanilla extract and mix well.
• Turn off your mixer and in two batches, add the powdered sugar and mixing until well blended (it will look like a dough). Be careful, the powered sugar can go everywhere!
• Add salted caramel sauce and mix for about 3 to 4 minutes. I like to refrigerate my buttercream before using. Refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes (overnight even), just place on the kitchen counter for a little while before icing your cupcakes.
• Pipe buttercream over cupcakes using your favorite tip in a decorator/frosting bag. Drizzle leftover caramel sauce on top and serve!

Disclosure: The Little Kitchen has partnered with Land O’Lakes for an exclusive endorsement of Land O Lakes® Butter for their Kitchen Conversation blogger program. This blog post is sponsored by Land O’Lakes.

The post Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

It's Ben & Jerry's week– presented by Shelly and Kristan. When they invited me to join, I had to say yesss! I love ice cream, in fact, my first job was at an ice cream shop! But making a dessert inspired by an ice cream flavor, I chose Americone Dream immediately. It's vanilla ice cream with chocolate dipped waffle cone bits/crumbs and caramel. I love it!

I was going to try to make a cookie but then I worried the waffle cone would get all weird. I woke up the other morning and thought blondieeeees! And the rest is history…it's so easy because I used store bought waffle cones and a jar of caramel sauce (next time I'm going to try it with salted caramel!).

I melted the chocolate in the microwave and used a silicone brush to brush the chocolate on. I picked 7 cones — because it's lucky number seven. It was the perfect amount of chocolate to coat all 7 cones!

Then, I refrigerated them for about 2 hours but you can get away with doing them for an hour.

While those were in the fridge, I prepped my blondies and baked them! They are plain blondies, I didn't add any nuts or white chocolate to them. I did however add a little extra vanilla extract to them.

I used a meat mallet but be gentle, okay? These waffle cones didn't do anything to you. I didn't want to use my fingers because it would make the chocolate melt again.

And how about a collective sigh? I feel so good and bad about this recipe…don't ask how many I had. Let's just say, I really enjoyed them and they are perfect for when you're having a super stressful day.

No other words — and by the way, there are more than enough waffle cone bits for this recipe…save them and put them on top of your ice cream tomorrow night for dessert. You're welcome!

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Americone Dream Blondie Sandwiches Recipe

Inspired by Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream ice cream! Waffle cone bits dipped in milk chocolate with caramel sauce sandwiched between vanilla blondies...it's so good!

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings 16 blondie sandwiches

Ingredients

Chocolate-Dipped Waffle Cones

• 7 waffle cones
• 9.5 ounces milk chocolate baking melts or chocolate chips

Blondies

• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 1/4 to 2 1/5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 8 Tbsp 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 14 ounce jar Caramel Sauce

Instructions

Chocolate-Dipped Waffle Cones

• Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl on 50% power in 30 second intervals until melted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Line a plate or baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a silicone brush, brush melted chocolate on the insides and outsides of the waffle cones and place on baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Using a clean meat mallet or heavy tool, lightly break apart the waffle cones.

Blondies

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare an 8-inch square baking pan by adding parchment paper -- making a sling.
• Cream brown sugar and egg using a until it's light and fluffy using an electric mixer. Add vanilla extract and melted butter and mix well.
• In a separate bowl, add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well with a rubber spatula.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches and incorporate with a rubber spatula. Don't overmix the batter.
• Pour blondie batter to the baking pan. Spray an angled spatula with baking spray and use the spatula to spread the batter evenly and smooth over the top.
• Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Place baking pan on wire rack and allow to cool for five minutes. Remove from baking pan by grabbing a hold of the parchment paper sling and placing on top of the wire rack. Allow the blondies to completely cool before cutting.

Assembly

• Cut blondies into 16 squares and then slice each piece in half creating two halves like a sandwich. Add chocolate dipped waffle cone bits and drizzle 1 to 2 teaspoons of caramel sauce and assemble like a sandwich!

Notes

Blondies based on this recipe.

Check out the other amazing Ben & Jerry's inspired recipes!

What a Cluster Bars
Cherry Garcia Cake
Phish Food Pie
Karamel Sutra Cupcakes
Everything But The…Cake
Everything But The…(kitchen sink) Brownies

This isn't a sponsored post. Just a fun series organized by Shelly and Kristan. Ben & Jerry's don't know who we are! There are affiliate links in this post.

The post Americone Dream Blondie Sandwiches appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

Is it okay that I'm not feeling it this week? It's been a hard few days. As I mentioned last week, a close family friend, Keith, passed away last week and I guess I'm still in a little bit of shock. And I can't even begin to imagine what his wife is going through. They were married for 40 years and of those 20 years, they have been cherished friends, even family to us.

It just makes me hug my husband a little tighter and a little longer. It makes me want to keep in better touch with my siblings who live all over the country and even in another country. It really shouldn't take someone's passing to shake you a little bit to make you appreciate those around you more. But it has. Thank you for all of your kind thoughts on the site here and on facebook. We will gather this weekend to say good bye to Keith and I'm so glad that all of my siblings, even the ones that live far away, will be there.

My Mom reminded us all that it was almost exactly 20 years ago when Keith and Carolyn came into our lives and helped our family through one of the darkest moments we've ever had. We literally had no where to go and we even feared for our safety. You see, my biological father was a violent man and my parents were going through a divorce. Keith and Carolyn gave us a place to stay and didn't ask for anything in return. They taught me the true meaning of friendship and even the meaning of family. I don't think they have ever realized how much they gave us. And I can never truly repay them. They say you are shaped by the people who come into your lives and I only wish I can pay a fraction of what Keith and Carolyn gave us – forward.

About this recipe… This is one of those recipe non-recipes right? Like cheating? But my logic is when you're fumbling around in the morning to make your coffee at home, you want it quick and you want it good. It's really easy to make the caramel. Open up a jar of your favorite store bought caramel and measure out 1 tablespoon and add a pinch or of salt. Stir it and then zap it in the microwave at 10 seconds or less. Drizzle over the whipped cream on your coffee and you're good to go! And I have to tell you, I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin but I love the pumpkin spice flavor in it.

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Pumpkin Spice Latte with Salted Caramel Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Pumpkin Spice Coffee K-Cup
• Creamer/Milk/Half & Half
• Sugar
• Whipped Cream
• 1 Tablespoon caramel sauce
• 2 pinches salt

Instructions

• Brew your pumpkin spice K-Cup in your Keurig brewer (according to manufacturer's instructions). Add as much creamer and sugar as you like.
• Add a dollop of whipped cream on top.
• Add caramel sauce to a small microwave safe bowl and add a pinch or two of salt and stir. Microwave for 5 to 10 seconds. Drizzle over whipped cream and serve immediately.

Use the code ESCAPE8172 on GreenMountainCoffee.com for 15% off all Café Escapes® products through 12/4/2012 @ 11:59 pm EST. And don't forget to enter in this giveaway for a chance to win your own Keurig.

Disclosure: I’m a paid K-Cup Ambassador. I only share and work with brands I love – and always share with you my own opinions.

The post Pumpkin Spice Latte with Salted Caramel appeared first on The Little Kitchen.