Things have been a little hectic around here with all the weddings and traveling that has been going on. I sort of missed the timing on looking back to when Walker moved to Seattle but I still wanted to share.
Last year at the very beginning of June Walker moved to Seattle. I went along and took a 2 week vacation with him while he settled in. Here are some of my favorite memories from that time. Even though it was Walker’s second time there it was all new because the first trip lasted about 36 hours and was basically spend interviewing.
I love caramels! In fact I love most sweet things but caramels are just so buttery and wonderful. A couple of months ago when I decided to eat a more vegan diet I slowly came to realize all the things I would be missing out on, one being caramel.
I never even considered that out in the world there might exist a vegan caramel until I read this post. So I did some researching around and found a few different recipes but most vegan caramel recipes I found called for vegan butter and I wanted to avoid that so I ended up concocting one of my own. How were they you ask? Um heavenly! Shall I share my recipe? Alright I suppose so.
Vegan Caramel recipe:
-3/4 cup of coconut milk (use full fat canned and scoop 1/4 cup of the thick cream on top and them mix and measure out the remaining 1/2 cup)
-1 cup cane sugar (I used organic)
-2/3 cup brown rice syrup
-course sea salt
Note: This would make a pretty big batch so you may want to half the recipe especially if you want to make a few flavors
Before you begin place a piece of parchment paper on a large baking sheet for the hot caramel to get poured onto. Combine all the ingredients in a heavier saucepan and place on stove over medium heat. Stir ingredients to combine and get the coconut solids melted completely. Attach your candy thermometer to the side of the pot. Stir frequently and keep an eye on the thermometer. When your thermometer reads 242 degrees F quickly pour candy onto prepared parchment paper and sprinkle with salt. Let cool completely before cutting (preferably in a non humid area). Cutting may be tricky and if you have trouble fold over the parchment paper onto the caramel and cut long strips and then into squares or rectangles-whichever you choose. I wrapped mine in wax paper to keep them fresh and so I could gift them.
Variations:
-lavender caramels/Add only the coconut milk to the pan plus 2 teaspoons of lavender flowers, bring to a boil, remove from burner and let steep for 20-30 mins, strain the flowers out, add coconut milk back to pan, add sugars and proceed. I also added some lavender flowers to the salt for sprinkling on top.
-anise caramels/Add to the pan 1 teaspoon of ground anise seed. You can also add ground anise to the salt as in the lavender caramels.
-pecan and chocolate caramels/Right when the caramel reaches 242 degrees F add in about 1/3 cup of chopped pecans, stir quickly, and pour on parchment paper. Let cool completely, melt some vegan chocolate and drizzle on top, let cool completely again.
Enjoy! Also let me know if you try these or if you have any other flavor suggestions. I might try peanut better next. Mmm…This could be dangerous.
So if you’ve been following along you know about my monthly projects. If not I am choosing a different topic each month and doing something ever day. Up until May it involved some sort of picture a day. In May I discovered the blog every day in May challenge and decided that would be a perfect choice for May and a great way to join in with the blog community.
Through it I was introduced to another northwest blogger and she has been diligent in leaving comments and I absolutely love it! If you want to go back and read some of the entries search May project in the side bar (or just scroll through).
For June I have decided to take a picture a day of something that makes me happy. It should be quite a breeze compared to digging deep for some of the blog posts in May. Want to join? Take a picture a day or just leave a comment with something that is making you happy right now.
