Winstead Wandering

Prone to Wander

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

by

With a rich brownie-like cupcake, smooth caramel filling, and a decadent from-scratch salted caramel frosting, these Salted Caramel Cupcakes will quickly become your new favorite treat.

With a rich brownie-like cupcake, smooth caramel filling, and a decadent from-scratch salted caramel frosting, these Salted Caramel Cupcakes will quickly become your new favorite treat.

I recently heard someone mention her aversion to the salted caramel “trend.” Maybe it is, in fact, just a trend or a fad, I will say that I am 100 percent in favor of it. I’m a huge fan of the combination of salty and sweet, especially when it’s delivered to me in cupcake form.

These particular Salted Caramel Cupcakes are an amalgamation of a few of my favorite recipes. The cupcake itself is the same one I use for my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes and my Triple Chocolate Cupcakes. While it’s wonderfully moist and tender, it also forms a slightly chewy top that’s reminiscent of a brownie. The filling is the recipe I used to top my popular Salted Caramel Cookie Bars, and the frosting can be found on my Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes.

Basically, I took a bunch of separate tried-and-true recipes and combined them into one super recipe. The result is perfectly satisfying Salted Caramel Cupcakes that just might be enough to convert even the most reluctant salted caramel eaters.

With a rich brownie-like cupcake, smooth caramel filling, and a decadent from-scratch salted caramel frosting, these Salted Caramel Cupcakes will quickly become your new favorite treat.

[Read more…]

Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies

by

Made with flaky pie crust and chunks of caramel, Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies are an adorable, mouthwatering version of the favorite holiday dessert.

Made with flaky pie crust and chunks of caramel, Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies are an adorable, mouthwatering version of the favorite holiday dessert.

Probably my favorite thing about hand pies is that they’re supposed to be rustic. You don’t get that pressure to make sure the rim of the crust is perfectly pinched, or make a fancy design with the top crust. Instead, you get the freedom to mold the pies by hand, to make imperfect seams and homemade shapes. It’s the perfect scenario for those who love to bake, but don’t care to get fancy with it.

Made with flaky pie crust and chunks of caramel, Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies are an adorable, mouthwatering version of the favorite holiday dessert.

Know what else is perfect? The filling in these Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies. The tart apples are finely diced to allow them to soften appropriately during the abbreviated cooking time. They’re tossed with traditional apple pie seasonings, and then they just sit for a while as the flavors develop. The crust itself doesn’t need to be anything special — I just use a prepackaged kind — because, in addition to the apples, the little pies are stuffed with chunks of caramel and flakes of salt. That right there would be enough, but to take them really over the top, the pies are drizzled with a rich caramel sauce that offers the perfect finished touch.

Made with flaky pie crust and chunks of caramel, Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies are an adorable, mouthwatering version of the favorite holiday dessert.

[Read more…]

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

by

Perfectly sweet cupcakes with a ribbon of creamy filling and a topping of decadent frosting. You’ve got to try Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting!

Perfectly sweet cupcakes with a ribbon of creamy filling and a topping of decadent frosting. You've got to try Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting!

A friend asked me recently to make cupcakes for a wedding shower she was hosting. Because I’m always up for spending time in the kitchen creating decadent treats, I immediately said yes. And then I spent the next couple weeks narrowing down my flavor choices.

I knew right away I wanted to do some sort of spin on my to-die-for Triple Chocolate Cupcakes, and I knew I had to a berry version with cream cheese frosting. It was only at the last minute that I decided to whip up these Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting, too.

Perfectly sweet cupcakes with a ribbon of creamy filling and a topping of decadent frosting. You've got to try Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting!

The pumpkin in these cupcakes is subtle, but not underwhelming; they’re perfect for those who haven’t yet seen the light when it comes to the magic of pumpkin desserts. Plus, nothing helps win over pumpkin skeptics quite like a ribbon of rich cheesecake filling. Top the whole thing with made-from-scratch salted caramel frosting, and who can resist?

Whether you’ve got a fall party coming up, or a tailgate to attend, or you just want to surprise your coworkers or family, these Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting are the perfect treat.

Perfectly sweet cupcakes with a ribbon of creamy filling and a topping of decadent frosting. You've got to try Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting!

[Read more…]

Double Chocolate Brownies with Salted Caramel Frosting

by

Double chocolate brownies with salted caramel frosting are a rich, decadent homemade treat that’s perfect for an indulgent dessert or weekend gathering.

Double chocolate brownies with salted caramel frosting are a rich, decadent homemade treat that's perfect for an indulgent dessert or weekend gathering.

One of my favorite ways to show people love and appreciation is through food. I’m sure this is at least partly due to my own love for food, but it’s also because food is universal. You don’t have to know someone’s preferred lotion scent or shirt size to express gratitude with food.

I made these double chocolate brownies with salted caramel frosting a few weeks ago for two special coworkers. The first, a fellow English teacher, is currently fighting cancer. My mother-in-law was planning to bring her family supper one night and asked if I’d like to make something sweet to go with it. Naturally, I jumped on the offer because I’d had this recipe in mind to try and because I wanted to show love to the family.

Double chocolate brownies with salted caramel frosting are a rich, decadent homemade treat that's perfect for an indulgent dessert or weekend gathering.

Also, I’d been planning for quite some time to bake something chocolate for another coworker. His planning period is the last period of the day and he’s always quick to volunteer to cover classes for J and me when we have to leave early (usually for children’s doctor-related reasons). His wife, G’s kindergarten teacher, told me he loves anything chocolate, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with this recipe.

Like my triple chocolate frosted brownies, this recipe starts with my double chocolate brownies. It’s a homemade brownie recipe that’s thick, fudgy, and ten times better than a boxed mix. While the brownies are cooling, make a simple caramel on the stove, leave it to sit for a couple minutes, and then beat it with powdered sugar for a rich frosting.

Double chocolate brownies with salted caramel frosting are a rich, decadent homemade treat that's perfect for an indulgent dessert or weekend gathering.

[Read more…]

Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies

by

One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

If you’ve read any of my recipe posts– or if you know me in real life- you’ve probably picked up on my love for chocolate. I’ve got a lot of chocolate recipes. My addiction to love for chocolate means, if I’m going to get in the kitchen and bake something sweet that doesn’t contain chocolate, it better be really freaking good.

These Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies more than meet that requirement. The dough is made entirely with brown sugar instead of white, resulting in an unbelievably chewy cookie. Before baking, the cookies are rolled in white sugar. The coating makes the finished product sparkly and adds extra chewiness. As for the caramel center, it gets soft and gooey in the oven, turning an already-dynamite cookies into an over-the-top indulgence.

One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

[Read more…]

Chocolate Caramel Lava Cakes

by

Chocolate caramel lava cakes, oozing with molten chocolate and melted caramel, is surprisingly easy to make and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Chocolate caramel lava cakes, oozing with molten chocolate and melted caramel, is surprisingly easy to make and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

I say this all the time, but it bears repeating: we don’t keep a lot of junk food in the house. I don’t buy cookies or cakes or ice cream for a couple reasons. Mostly because I’ll eat it if we have it, and we try to be healthier than that. The other reason, though, is I’m kind of a food snob. When you know how to make perfect chocolate chip cookies from scratch, the store bought kind no longer cuts it.

Chocolate caramel lava cakes, oozing with molten chocolate and melted caramel, is surprisingly easy to make and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Here’s the problem: I love to bake. So even though we don’t usually have a pint of ice cream in the freezer or a package of cookies in the cupboard, I have no qualms about whipping up a dessert treat for J and I. Because I love to be in the kitchen, I don’t give a second thought to making a batch of cookies or, in the case of these chocolate caramel lava cakes, experimenting with a new recipe.

Baking is my idea of fun and these individual cakes are my idea of a heaven. The outside is just as baked and cake-like as you’d expect, but the inside… the inside combines two of my favorite flavors, chocolate and caramel, in a warm, melted mass of richness. The recipe takes less than 30 minutes start to finish and is the perfect indulgent treat for any night of the week.

Chocolate caramel lava cakes, oozing with molten chocolate and melted caramel, is surprisingly easy to make and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

[Read more…]

Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

by

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #mixinmoments #CollectiveBias

A chewy, flavorful store-bought cookie mix becomes salted caramel cookie bars with the addition of a rich and easy homemade caramel topping.

A chewy, flavorful store-bought cookie mix becomes salted caramel cookie bars with the addition of a rich and easy homemade caramel topping.

A few months ago, I took my decadent double chocolate brownie recipe and, because I could, added a homemade caramel topping. The result was out of this world, but it was a fairly time consuming process; I essentially made two different recipes from scratch. It was worth it, but it wasn’t something I typically have time to reproduce.

That’s why, when I found these Nestle Toll House Baking Mixes at Walmart, I knew immediately what I would create. The bars are awesome on their own. You get the coveted chewiness of a perfect chocolate chip cookie in a fraction of the time it would take you to roll out individual balls of dough, but you also get the option to customize them in a zillion different, but equally delicious, ways.

A chewy, flavorful store-bought cookie mix becomes salted caramel cookie bars with the addition of a rich and easy homemade caramel topping.

Don’t let the homemade caramel part fool you; this recipe is easy. Just add your caramels and your cream to a bowl and microwave until you have a smooth mixture. Spread it over the cooled bars and you’re done. The hardest part about making these salted caramel cookie bars? Waiting for the caramel to set up before you dig in.

A chewy, flavorful store-bought cookie mix becomes salted caramel cookie bars with the addition of a rich and easy homemade caramel topping.

[Read more…]

Easy Holiday Dessert Recipes

by

This year, don’t waste time trying to impress everyone by replicating your grandmother’s famous recipe; knock their socks off with something new, like one of these easy holiday dessert recipes.

This year, don't waste time trying to impress everyone by replicating your grandmother's famous recipe; knock their socks off with something new, like one of these easy holiday dessert recipes.

Do you have a signature holiday dessert? If so, by all means, stick with that this year. You wouldn’t want to disappoint the people who’ve spent 364 days looking forward to it.

But maybe you don’t have a go-to holiday dessert recipe? Maybe you’re the one who always volunteers to bring paper products to the gathering. Or maybe your idea of “homemade” is arranging store-bought cookies on a platter. Maybe you’re banned from the kitchen ever since the fire incident of ‘o9.

Whatever your reason for foregoing holiday baking, it’s time that changed. The easy holiday dessert recipes compiled here are all easy and mouthwatering. Some of them don’t even require you to use the oven. Be careful, though; you just might find a new signature holiday dish.

Easy Holiday Dessert Recipes

Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Caramel Icing

Brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing is a rich, moist cake, flecked with toffee bits and smothered in an easy, decadent caramel sauce.

This pound cake is a decadent alternative to even the most indulgent pie. The cake itself is moist, buttery, and flecked with melty toffee bits. The whole thing is smothered with the kind of rich, gooey caramel icing that you haunts your dreams in all the best ways.

Peanut Butter Cup Bars

This year, don't waste time trying to impress everyone by replicating your grandmother's famous recipe; knock their socks off with something new, like one of these easy holiday dessert recipes.

If you don’t think it was possible for a four-ingredient dessert steal the show at a holiday gathering, give these bars a try. They’re ridiculously easy to put together- no baking!- but your friends and family will go crazy.

[Read more…]

salted caramel hot chocolate

by

Homemade salted caramel hot chocolate that rivals the coffee chain version. It’s rich and smooth and, if made with almond milk or a similar milk substitute, it comes in at under 200 calories.

Homemade salted caramel hot chocolate that rivals the coffee chain version. It's rich and smooth and, if made with almond milk or a similar milk substitute, it comes in at under 200 calories.

I’m not a coffee drinker, but that doesn’t mean I don’t lament the fact that the nearest Starbucks is 80 miles away. EIGHTY. MILES. This is The South, y’all, and we don’t value our heated caffeine like our Northwest-living counterparts. I don’t even know how for I’d have to go to find the nearest drive-through coffee stand, but it’s far.

The reason I feel the need to whine about my lack of access to a beverage that I don’t even consume? Hot chocolate. Even though I’m not interested in coffee, sometimes I’d give my firstborn- most days, really, I’d probably get more for the second one- for a cup of hot, rich, decadent cocoa.

Don’t even get me started on the powdered packet stuff. Guck. I’ve tried a few homemade recipes, but it seemed like the ones that boasted richness called for melted chocolate and specialty syrups. No thanks. Others claimed to be a substitute for the coffeehouse version, but ended up weak, watery, or bitter.

Homemade salted caramel hot chocolate that rivals the coffee chain version. It's rich and smooth and, if made with almond milk or a similar milk substitute, it comes in at under 200 calories.

[Read more…]

brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing

by

Brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing is a rich, moist cake, flecked with toffee bits and smothered in an easy, decadent caramel sauce.

Brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing is a rich, moist cake, flecked with toffee bits and smothered in an easy, decadent caramel sauce.

Every June, the extended family of J.’s maternal grandfather gathers at the town community center for a reunion. J. and I have been married a while- seven years to the day as I type this!- so I’ve been to a few reunions.

Last year, I brought this brown sugar pound cake. There’s a relative, Ms. Ruth, who, according to the family, doesn’t eat a lot of sweets. She took a slice of cake, though, and she raved about it. And then she took another slice. I heard, from no fewer than three relatives, how great that cake must be for Ms. Ruth to have two pieces.

This year, a couple days before the reunion, I got word that Ms. Ruth wouldn’t be able to make it, but that she was hoping I would make the brown sugar cake again. She promised me some of her famous chocolate-covered peanut butter sandwich crackers in exchange for a slice.

How could I say no to that? I couldn’t, of course, which is how this cake became a family reunion staple.

Brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing is a rich, moist cake, flecked with toffee bits and smothered in an easy, decadent caramel sauce.

[Read more…]