Sunday, March 31, 2013

coconut caramel clusters

Caramel is my achilles heel. I manage to pull it off only about half the time. In fact, whenever I attempt it, I always make sure I have extra ingredients on hand in case I need a redo. I've tried to make caramel many times, and when I mess up, it's obvious that I've done so. But even when I think I get it right, I'm never certain that I have. 

I made caramel for the first time a few years ago, using a recipe from Simply Recipes. It's the only time I've managed to pull it off successfully- and know it. I guess it was beginner's luck, because caramel has been my nemesis ever since.
Without meaning to, I continued to make homemade versions of Girl Scout cookies last week. This time, I made Coconut Caramel Clusters, a recipe from Baked Elements. I have three Baked cookbooks, and while I'm drawn to the glossy pictures and the creative recipes, I'm not sure how I feel about the cookbooks. Some of the recipes seem hit or miss, but maybe that's just me. And they're pretty high maintenance, so when there's a miss, it's really annoying. 

These bars look really good, and they are, but they are strange. For one, the caramel making process was quite time consuming and a little unorthodox (this is true of some of their other techniques). But perhaps more importantly, the caramel hardens so much that the only way we can eat these is to first heat them up in the microwave for a few seconds. It is impossible to eat them otherwise. Aside from that peculiarity, they are quite good, but very rich. And without a doubt, better than the Girl Scout cookies, Caramel Delites (previously known as Samoas). 

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