caramel Archives - Jenny is baking

New Edition: Alfajores Marplatenses

I probably sound like a broken record, but my very favorite cookie from my birth place Uruguay is alfajores marplatenses. This translates to a chocolate sandwich cookie, which is filled with caramel aka dulce de leche. A decadent delicacy. Obviously I already have a recipe on the blog, however, this time I thought I may give another recipe a try. The recipe below follows the recipe by Isabel Vermal, an Argentinian pastry maker. Her dough is slightly different from my first recipe, it is slightly drier and contains more flour. It is a beautiful contrast to the dulce de leche filling. May I interest you in making below recipe?

10/01/2025

Scottish Tablet or Fudge

I think I have mentioned that we went to Scotland in fall. You know what we ate a lot? Tablet or Scottish fudge. Their version is slightly harder, it has a more sandy texture. Funnily enough, my husband knows something pretty similar from Colombia, which he calls “panelitas”. Obviously I had to give this candy a try once we made it back to Munich, Germany. So I quickly looked up some recipes and gave it a go. However, the first batch didn’t really turn out great, it turned rock hard and was extremely sandy. So I had to try again. I scoured the Internet and found the Youtube channel “Granny’s Scottish Kitchen“. This lady has a very unique method, she does it at very low temperature. Yes, you will have a pot on the stovetop for at least an hour, but I was like, sure, let’s try. And alas, her recipe worked. I like its simplicity, you don’t need to stir often, you don’t need any thermometer, you just have to wait for the right consistency and you are golden. Are you interested?

06/12/2024

Updated Version: Chocolate Cookies with a Caramel Center

If it were for me, we could skip Halloween all together and dive right into Christmas season. Do you also feel that way? For me fall is perfect for a nice cookie, they are simply comfort food for me, cozy and simple. I remembered that I have a wonderful chocolate cookie on the blog with a caramel center. So I decided to revisit the recipe and tweak it a little bit. I mean, I originally published the recipe in 2017 and I do have a bit more baking experience under my belt. You won’t believe how many cookies I have baked in the last seven years as a pronounced cookie monster. The below recipe has a slightly lower amount of butter and chocolate chunks and I also decided to make them a bit smaller. Also, I decided to sprinkle the cookies with sea salt after baking. Seriously, it took nothing for the cookies to disappear and I need to make more again…

23/10/2024

Quesillo Custard from Venezuela

Today I am introducing the Venezuelan dessert to you named “quesillo”. Quesillo is the Venezuelan name for a custard that is normally known as flan. Flan originates in Spain and is commonly consumed and enjoyed in Latin America as well. There is a reason I have several flan recipes on my blog, you may try the classic flan, flan with pineapple, flan with coconut, chocoflan with a chocolate cake and the cousin called leche asada, which does not require a watherbath. There are a lot of recipes out there, each family has their little secret. However, what they usually have in common is a) the caramel layer on top and b) milk or heavy cream and eggs. But that is about it, some recipes require only egg yolks, others use the full egg, some may ask just for milk and others only cream. Quesillo does use sweetened condensed milk and usually a dash of rum for extra flavor. Preparing this dish only requires around 10-15min, the rest will be taken care of by the oven and fridge. The word “quesillo” comes from the Spanish word “queso” as a slice may look a bit like a slice of queese with some holes in it.

02/08/2024

Isla Flotante – A Fluffy Meringue Cake with Caramel

If you are in the mood for a fluffy and airy dessert, this is for you. This is meringue made in a waterbath and there is a reason it is called isla flotante or “floating island”. It is so airy, it is only floating. It is perfect for anyone who can’t eat gluten as it does not contain any flour. As stated, you will prepare a meringue and bake it in a waterbath. The top is caramelized. You may serve it just like that or you can serve it with the custard called Sabayon. I also caramelized some strawberries since I like some fresh component. Even if you serve it with all these extras, you will only need five ingredients in total: eggs, sugar, vanilla, alcohol and strawberries. May I interest you in this dessert?

08/06/2024

How to Remove Hard Caramel Fast

Today you will get a lot of tips on how to remove hard caramel fast. You can watch in this reel how I do it. The short answer is: you need (boiling) water and a bit of time. This is possible without any hardcore scrubbing. In addition, you will find my favorite recipe for caramel below plus a lot of recipe ideas using caramel.

I will explain below how you get from the picture on the left to the picture on the right within five minutes

Below is also a recipe for homemade caramel

19/04/2024

Tarantella de Manzana, or Argentinian Bread Pudding with Apples

This blog post contains advertisement for Braeburn apples, Südtiroler Apfel g.g.A.

Yay, today I am present a recipe from Argentina, an apple cake slash bread pudding, which is prepared similarly to “flan“. I was fortunate enough to make this cake named “tarantella de manzana” with tart apples, the variety Südtiroler Apfel g.g.A. When the package arrived with Braeburn apples, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. But let’s get back to this dessert from Argentina. Legend has it that this cake is named after an Italian dance (tarantella) as a) Italian immigrants supposedly invented this cake in Buenos Aires and b) this cake is a bit wiggly when you take it out of the oven. You either need to dance as you are so excited for being able to eat this delicious cake, or the wiggly movement actually is similar to the movement of the dance. If you are interested in further theories, check out this article in Spanish. Regardless of its origin, this cake is so popular, you will find it basically on every menue of any restaurant in Buenos Aires.

05/04/2024

Dulce de Leche Made in a Frying Pan

Dulce de leche is the Nutella of Latin America. I may sound like a broken record, but I don’t get tired of saying this. Dulce de leche is made from sweetened milk and becomes caramel. Just as here in Germany Nutella is spread on bread, you may just eat it by the spoonful or make a lot of baked goods with it, dulce de leche is used the same in Latin America. Yes, I do have fond memories of smearing dulce de leche onto bread. Jam could only be cut (and is called dulce de membrillo), so I spread dulce de leche on my bread and topped it off with some cheese. Yes, I know this sounds crezy, but I loved it. Yes, of course there is already a recipe on my blog for dulce de leche, check out how to make dulce de leche in this blog article. Essentially, we are going to boil sweetened condensed milk for long enough in unopened cans until they become caramel. This usually takes about 3 1/2 hours, so today I am going to introduce a quicker version, making it in a frying pan. This will take about 30-40 minutes. So if you are restrained timewise, this may be for you, but this dulce de leche is more liquid than the one from the can.

11/08/2023

Tomatoe Tart (Tarte Tatin Style)

Tomatoe tart or tarte tatin with tomatoes, pizza margherita with puff pastry dough, I don’t really know how you want to call this beauty, but you will find tomatoes simmered in caramel, baked with the dough on top and then turned upside down. Sprinkle with additional mozzarella, pine nuts and basil, and you can dig into this summery dish. I had the audacity of eating the entire thing in one go, approved of it and therefore decided to put it on the blog.

21/07/2023

Donuts from Argentina, bolas de fraile

Today is national Donut Day or Doughnut Day and I am going to celebrate it with donuts from Argentina or Uruguay. They are called bolas de fraile or berlinesas. In Germany donuts are called Berliner, Berliner Pfannkuchen, Kreppl, or Krapfen as this probably already explains where “berlinesas” are from. Apparently, German immigrants took this delicious donut to Argentina. However, one main difference is the filling. Whereas German Berliner are filled with strawberry jam or jelly traditionally, Argentinians will rely on their beloved dulce de leche, which is a caramel made from sweetened milk. A small difference is also how these are dusted with sugar, in Germany you will traditionall dust only the top part with icing sugar whereas in Argentinia regular sugar is used to roll the entire ball in it. Be it as it may, I hope you will enjoy these sweet little yeast treats, which are fried, filled with dulce de leche and rolled in sugar. Regardless of whether Germans brought them or not (another name is bolas de fraile, which literally translates as “balls from Monchs”), these little donuts will for sure sweeten your day.

02/06/2023

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