Homemade Dulce de Leche ( + End-of-the-Year Teacher Gratitude)

These last few weeks of school are taking a toll on me. I thought I was an emotional, sentimental mess in the weeks leading up to my son's first day of kindergarten, but I think I'm worse now that the school year is coming to a close. Between adorable kindergarten graduation programs and field days and the bringing home of all the folders/writing journals/papers/desk name tags, I'm really struggling. It was all I could do to not start bawling during the post-graduation slideshow of photos taken of my son's class throughout the school year.

It's not that I don't love summer or the idea of having Max home all day (hooray!), but I'm just sad that he isn't going to be a kindergartener anymore. There's just something so sweet and innocent about kindergarten -- it's this lovely combination between school and play. And the thought of Max being a first grader seems...well...so big. I'm hoping that this is just the typical emotions of a mother dealing with her firstborn in school; by the time my other boy goes to school, I'll be a pro and not take things so hard.

One other reason I'm sad to see the school year end: Max had an amazing teacher this year. I remember meeting Mrs. A and thinking, "She is how you'd imagine a perfect kindergarten teacher to be." She's young, smiles easily, is nice but firm, calls the students "friends", and sings songs to the kids to get them to clean up or sit down or stop what they're doing. Her room is bright and happy, with paper flowers hanging from the ceiling, shelves of full of fun little toys and activities, a reading corner with a full book rack and comfy cushions, framed photos from when she taught school in Africa, a mailbox for the kids to "mail" letters to classmates, darling artwork all over the walls, and a hundred other sweet little touches. Every time I went to volunteer in that class, I loved how simply walking into the room just made me happy; I can only imagine the effect it has on a class of five and six-year-olds. Mrs. A has set the bar pretty darn high.

Anyway, to express my family's appreciation to this wonderful teacher, we got her a card with an Amazon gift card. To personalize things just a bit, I decided to make her a jar of homemade dulce de leche. Sweets for the sweet, right?

I got this idea from one of my favorite blogs, Dinner: A Love Story, from a post about teacher gifts. (click this link for the post - it has some really great ideas. I wanted to get the alphabet tote but, sadly, didn't have enough time for shipping.)  I thought I would expound on what was written in the post -- give you some more pictures, a sort of play-by-play of how my homemade dulce de leche endeavor went.

There are various ways to make homemade dulce de leche; here's what worked for me. It takes around 1-2 hours to make, but there's hardly any effort.

To make dulce de leche, all you need is a can of sweetened condensed milk and a double boiler.

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to low so that the water is simmering. Place the double boiler over the pan. Pour the entire can of sweetened condensed milk into the double boiler.

Cover the double boiler. I used a plate. I didn't do this to begin with and I was wondering why the milk wasn't turning the color I wanted. Covering it made it things move along more quickly.

Once you've covered the double boiler, you only need to check on the milk occasionally to give it a stir. Also, check periodically to make sure your water level in the pan below hasn't gotten too low.

The milk will be begin to get thicker and darker in color as it cooks over the simmering water. You're going for a light brown caramel color. This does take a while, anywhere from 1-2 hours.

Try your best to not lick the spatula between stirs because you'll want to eat it all up. It's hard not to, believe me. My two-year-old kept sampling the milk that dripped from the spatula, eating it and saying, "Mmm. Nummy, nummy!"

While the milk is thickening and getting more delicious by the minute, you can make a cute chalkboard label for the jar. I also got this idea from that Dinner: A Love Story post.  I just think it's such a fun thing to do for a teacher gift.

I bought these chalkboard labels off Amazon (I only needed one for this gift, but I figured I could easily use these around the house -- they're cute and they're reusable since the chalk washes off). A lot of the reviews I read for these labels suggested using a liquid chalk marker, so I ordered one of those, too.

I wrote on the labels with both the marker and regular chalk to see if I'd wasted my money on the marker. I liked the look of the regular chalk on the label (the one on the right) better than the marker. It just looked more classic, you know?   What were all those reviewers complaining about? Chalk works just fine! I was a little annoyed that I wasted five dollars on the pen until I picked up the jar with the regular chalk label on it. You barely have to touch the label and the chalk comes off. It took hardly any handling before the the regular chalk had been totally smudged and practically erased. Moral of the story: use the liquid chalk marker. It stays on perfectly (and it washes right off if you mess up or want to change the label).

Also, while your dulce is cooking, you can make an instruction label between stirs.

I'm not crafty at all when it comes to paper and scrapbooking and the like. I do have a stash of scrapbooking paper (I tried scrapbooking...really I did. Kinda.), so I cut out a little square with some kiddie serrated scissors. I wrote some serving suggestions on there, along with how to store it and for how long. Then I punched a hole in the corner, found some extra ribbon with my sewing supplies, and tied it around the jar. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. (Yes, I wrote that in honor of Mrs. A. It's one of her class catchphrases.)

Your dulce de leche is done once it's a nice light brown color. Let me just tell you: this stuff is gooood. It's not quite like regular caramel -- it's creamier and milkier and tastier. I've now become kind of addicted to the stuff. I want to dip apples in it. Today's all dark and cold and rainy -- maybe it'd be good in hot chocolate. Oooh, and brownies...it'd be so good on a brownie!

Who wouldn't love to get a jar of this stuff?

Many thanks to Mrs. A and all the wonderful teachers out there. The work you do is certainly among the most important and life-changing.

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

{This post is linked up to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, From the Farm Blog Hop, and Little House Friday.}

Mama K's Peanut Butter Squares

The old saying goes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. With this in mind, I decided to whip up a batch of one of my husband's all-time favorite treats for Valentine's Day: peanut butter squares. These aren't just any kind of peanut butter squares -- these are made from his mom's recipe. He loves them. Early in our marriage, he called his mom, wrote down the recipe, and stuck it my recipe file. I don't make these bars very often, but when I do, Kevin is a very happy man.

From what I've been told, these peanut butter squares are like the ones that were served in school cafeterias back in the 1980s and 90s. Seeing as I could probably count how many times my mom paid for school lunch on one hand (as much as my brothers and I begged, Mom always sent us kids to school with homemade lunches), I don't really have that point of reference to draw from. I will say, though, that these peanut butter squares are absolutely delicious and dangerous beyond all belief; you can't stop with one.

I thought about tinkering with the recipe for this post since I'm still following a sort of paleo-ish diet. Maybe substitute all that sugar with honey, maple syrup or sucanat; perhaps toy with the flour and use almond flour instead (though gluten-free baking still intimidates me). Maybe I could make these treats little less dangerous to the waistline.

But I cast that idea aside quickly because these bars were for my valentine, a guy who doesn't totally buy into, as he would call it, all the natural/health food mumbo-jumbo (but he is totally patient and cool with me buying into it). I say, a treat now and then won't kill anyone (eating the entire pan, which you will want to do...well, that's another story). I even diverged a bit from the paleo stuff and indulged this past Valentine's Day.

Now, I recognize that Valentine's Day is over, but that shouldn't stop you. Why not make a batch today for Presidents' Day and raise a peanut butter square (and a glass of milk) in honor of George Washington's birthday?

So, without further ado, I bring you the peanut butters squares from my husband's childhood, in all their peanut-buttery, chocolaty, and sugary goodness.

Mama K's Peanut Butter Squares

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cups peanut butter 
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Topping:
peanut butter (around a cup)
chocolate frosting (my go-to chocolate frosting recipe can be found here).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

First, beat the butter and sugar together until relatively light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, salt, baking soda, and vanilla. Mix.

Add the peanut butter. I used chunky peanut butter in this batch, though either creamy or chunky is fine.

Add the oats and flour. Mix.

Personally, I like the batter even better than the baked squares. As you can see, my almost-two-year-old was of the same mindset. Tread with caution here, folks.

Turn the batter out onto a greased cookie sheet.

Press it and shape it with a rubber spatula or you can use your hands like I do. See all those finger indentations? This is where I should mention that I don't fill the whole cookie sheet; it only goes about half-way. No big deal. Just trim of the ragged edge when you cut these up and no one will know.

Bake for around 10-12 minutes. The edges should be browned and the top won't be wet or sticky.

Spread peanut butter all over the top of the squares. Word to the wise: you might want to use creamy peanut butter for this step (though, as you can see, I didn't) because it makes spreading the chocolate frosting (next) on top of the peanut butter easier.

Then spread the chocolate frosting. I used my favorite chocolate frosting recipe for this step -- I did halve the recipe and I used vanilla in it instead of almond extract (the almond and peanut flavors just clash too much. The almond extract in that recipe is awesome with other desserts, though).

Love in square form, right there.

We ate some of these on Valentine's Day and then I sent most (we had to keep some) of the leftovers to work with my husband, so he could share with his carpool and anyone near his office. Really, it was better that way.

(This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop.)

Remi's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

The pile of zucchinis on my kitchen counter is verging on ridiculous.  Almost every day, I'm bringing in yet another zucchini from the garden (as well as cucumbers -- hooray for pickles!).

Not that I'm complaining or anything...

If you've got a zucchini plant in your garden, I'm willing to bet you're in a similar situation. I've been grating them, freezing them, baking them, cooking them --  but there's still the seemingly unending pile of them. (I like how Barbara Kingsolver describes the pile:  "the pyramid of excess vegetable biomass that was taking over our lives.") 

What's a gardener to do with such a surplus? Foist them upon others, of course! As is the joke, a plastic grocery bag full of zucchini isn't always a welcome gift. Some people even shun this garden offering. But I know a sure way around this: give your zucchini away in loaf form.

The recipe I use for zucchini bread comes from my sweet friend and canning buddy, Remi. She gave me the recipe years ago and I'm not sure where she got the recipe or if it's something she came up with herself, but I'll just say that it's so good and so easy to make. Best of all, it makes two loaves -- one to give away and one to keep for yourself!

Remi's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon orange or lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9x5 loaf pans (Remi put a note on the recipe that she often does three mini loaves and 1 9x5 loaf with this recipe).

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda.

In a large bowl (I used my KitchenAid), beat the eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar and continue beating until well blended.

Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans (if using), chocolate chips, and zest.

Stir in the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter into the greased pans. (I love my new baking mold on the left --  I got from Ikea. Works so well, the bread pops right out!).

Bake for 50 minutes or until tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove loaves from pan and cool. Let them cool completely before slicing.

Wrap the bread in some plastic wrap (or do something cuter if you're crafty and gifted at packaging things up -- that is certainly not a talent of mine) and give a loaf to a neighbor, teacher, friend, or anyone else you think deserves a loaf of the moist deliciousness that is this zucchini bread. It's a nice way to make the pile of zucchini on your counter a little smaller.

{This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Homestead Barn Hop, and  Little House Friday.}

Abbey's Award-Winning Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I wonder who first thought to add zucchini to chocolate cake. I mean, who thought that chocolate and vegetables could mix?  Well, whoever it was, it was a smart move because the two mix up wonderfully, especially in this recipe.

My friend Abbey sent me this cake recipe after seeing all the zucchini recipes I'd been pinning on Pinterest.  Abbey is a marvelous cook and baker -- everything I've eaten that she has made is so delicious. She does all sorts of fun and interesting things with food (she just made her first wedding cake this past weekend). Once, she inspired me to make a fruit bouquet for my sister-in-law's bridal shower after she brought one to a dinner at my house. In fact, Abbey is the person who introduced me to Nutella (how crazy is it that I didn't have Nutella until I was an adult?!). A friend, indeed.

Her recipe for chocolate zucchini cake is A-MAZ-ING.  No wonder Abbey won first prize with it at the county fair years ago. I always struggle a little with cake because mine always turn out a little on the dry side. Not this cake. Every bite of this cake was perfectly moist. I also love it because it's sweet but not too sweet.

I'd better start freezing some grated zucchini because this recipe is going to be my go-to recipe for chocolate cake. I can totally see myself making it year-round -- for birthdays, for special occasions, whenever I have an excuse to have chocolate cake. It's that good.

To make this cake you'll need:

Cake:
1 cup oil (I used canola)
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
2 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini

Frosting: 
3 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

In a separate bowl (I used my KitchenAid), mix the oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and milk.

Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients.

Add the grated zucchini.

Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Move the cake to a wire rack to cool. While the cake is cooling, start making the frosting. Don't wait too long to do this -- you want to pour the frosting on the still-warm cake so that it soaks in some of the frosting. Oh, baby, this cake is goooood. 

In a medium saucepan, boil the milk, cocoa powder, and butter until it's incorporated and thickened a bit.

Pour the boiled mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer (or you could pour it into another bowl and use a hand-held mixer). Add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix everything together well.

Pour the warm frosting on top of the cake.  Let the frosting and cake cool and set before cutting.

Once it has cooled, cut a big piece out for yourself. Bask in the moist, chocolaty goodness of it. Then share it with someone, announce on Facebook to your neighbors that you have cake to give away (that's what I did), because you're going to want to eat the whole thing.

And to think that adding something from your vegetable garden makes chocolate cake even better...

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Little House Friday, and Your Green Resource.}

Homemade vs. Pre-Made: Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

I didn't know you could buy pre-made cookie dough at the grocery store until I was probably ten or eleven years old. Even after that, I thought it only came in refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough. It wasn't until years later that I noticed that there were dry mixes for cookies, too.  Call it a sort of spoiled naïveté, I guess. I grew up making and eating homemade cookies.

Anyway, not too long ago, I was standing in line at the store and as I was loading up the conveyer belt with all my groceries, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between the clerk and the woman ahead of me in line. The clerk had commented on the package of cookie dough the woman was purchasing and saying how great it was. The woman said something to the effect, "Yeah, I just don't have time to make them the old-fashioned way. I think I've only done it like once."

As I listened, I just wanted to write down my go-to recipe (since I have it memorized), hand it to the woman, and tell her that I can make a batch of them in around 20 minutes, including baking time. It wouldn't be in a braggy, know-it-all way -- I just wanted to help out and let her know that from-scratch cookie-making really isn't such a formidable task. Plus, homemade cookies are much, much better than the kind made from a tube of dough.  At least I think so. I may be a little biased.

Not only do they taste better, but they're cheaper to make yourself. With the tubes and packages of cookie dough, you can spend up to 21 cents per cookie (that's for the new, all-natural dough put out by Pillsbury); to make an entire batch from scratch costs considerably less, maybe a $1, $2 at most, for a couple dozen cookies.

Another benefit of making them yourself is that you know exactly what goes in them. The refrigerated cookie doughs I looked up contained pretty standard ingredients, though a couple contained partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil (I try to skip any kind of hydrogenated oil, but especially cottonseed oil) and the ubiquitous and vague "natural and artificial flavor".  Some, I'm sure are much more processed and have questionable (as in, "What is that?") ingredients in them. A couple years ago, there was a recall of all Nestle cookie dough due to E. coli contamination. This isn't really common, but food recalls do happen with processed foods.  I like making things myself because I feel like I'm in better control of what my family eats, including treats. 


 Max thought it was hilarious to try to get into every picture.

And there's one big reason I prefer making homemade cookies -- it gets my son involved and comfortable in the kitchen. We started with cookies back when he was around 18 months old (even at that age, he would go to the pantry and start pulling out the ingredients we needed) and he's been helping me ever since. Now he's always at my side in the kitchen, whether I'm whipping up a batch of cookies, a loaf of bread, homemade pasta, or that night's dinner. I believe feeling comfortable in the kitchen and learning about food prep is an important skill for kids. Plus, I have so many good memories of working with my mom in the kitchen -- I wanted to pass that on to him.

If you Google chocolate chip cookie recipes, you'll get thousands upon thousands of results. Chances are, you already have your stand-by chocolate chip cookie recipe. But in case you're trying to get away from the pre-made stuff or just want to try a new recipe, I thought I'd share my current favorite recipe for classic chocolate chip cookies.

I used to have my tried and true recipe, but once I stopped using shortening, they were hit and miss. This was due to the temperature of the butter -- it would either be too hard or too melted. As a result, the cookies sometimes would be just right, other times they'd resemble pancakes. Then I came across this recipe on the blog, Smitten Kitchen, and I've been using it ever since.  I like it because I get consistent results, plus it uses less butter, sugar, eggs, and flour than my old recipe. The yield isn't that different, either.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Unlike many recipes that call for room temperature butter, this one calls for cold butter, straight from the refrigerator. Using cold butter has made my results much, much more consistent.  Anyway, cut up the butter into pieces that are about a 1/2" or so.

Beat the butter and sugars together until smooth. It takes a little while to really pulverize those butter chunks, but give it a few minutes -- it works, I promise.

Add the vanilla, egg, and baking soda. Try to resist temptation to start tasting cookie dough. Who am I kidding? Such resistance is futile in our household (Want rationalization and permission for eating homemade cookie dough?  Go to this link from Free-Range Kids. I love it.).  Mix, then add flour and salt. Mix again.

The chocolate chip to dough ratio is pretty high in this recipe. I think that's why you can get away with less flour. It will almost seem like you've got as much chocolate chips as dough in this recipe, but I promise it works. Mmmmm...it definitely works.

Scoop the cookie dough onto a lined baking sheet. Remember my mention of the Silpat a couple posts ago? Well, here it is. You really should get one.

Bake the cookies for about 16-18 minutes, or until golden brown.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Grab a glass of milk and bask the sheer and utter deliciousness of the warm, homemade chocolate chip cookie.