Brown Butter Caramel Chip Cookies

Delicious brown butter cookies with caramel or butterscotch chips make a perfect any time of day snack !

I won a contest. This doesn't happen very often.
A few months ago, Vahiné - which is a baking ingredients brand here in France - launched a contest : all you had to do was post a picture of something you'd baked, with a hashtag. And I was one of the winners ! I received a box with a bunch of their products, including these chocolate caramel chips. I knew right away how I was going to use them.

My chocolate chip cookies recipe is a favorite of mine, it just seemed too simple for these caramel chips. BUT, brown butter cookies ? Now we were talking. I'd tried a recipe for brown butter cookies once but it didn't turn out great. I went around online trying to find THE recipe I was going to try, and found this one, which appeared on several recipe blogs. I modified it slightly, and the brown butter cookies turned out amazing. Yes, amazing. I could've eaten them all in one go.

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Apricot Tart with Sweetened Condensed Milk Cream

Sweetened condensed milk cream and fresh apricots make this tart the perfect summer dessert !

To be honest, I'm not really sure what to say in this post. I had a craving for apricot tart. I made apricot tart.

Maybe it was all the chocolate I'd eaten, but I needed something fresh and fruity.

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Fondant au Chocolat

A classic French dessert, fondant au chocolat is an easy-to-make chocolate cake that you'll want to bake if you can't choose between chocolate brownies or chocolate lava cakes.

Hi !
After a break, we're back to chocolate ! In cake form, obviously. Let me introduce you to fondant au chocolat, a classic french dessert, the lovechild of chocolate brownies and chocolate lava cakes. Yep, you read that right. Fondant au chocolat is smack dab in the middle between those two desserts. It is delicious.

In French, fondant means melty/melting, so you can be assured that this chocolate cake is just melt-in-your-mouth heavenly goodness. Eat it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or cooled with a couple tablespoons of vanilla custard or whipped cream.

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Tarte Tropézienne

Tarte Tropézienne is a classic French dessert. You're going to love this brioche filled with cream (pastry cream folded into whipped cream) !

This week I'm sharing one of my favorite dessert : Tarte Tropézienne ! What the heck is that, you're asking ? Well, "Tropezian Tart" is a dessert that's originally from St Tropez. It's a brioche that's filled with a mix of pastry cream and whipped cream, and it was apparently named by none other that Brigitte Bardot !

I first made one a couple months ago, and gave a couple slices to my grandparents, who spent a lot of holiday time around St Tropez. My grandma assured me there was nothing missing, not even orange blossom water, which I'd seen added to some recipes. So if you give this recipe a try, you'll most definitely feel like you're seating in the sun in the South of France ;)

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Triple Chocolate Brownies

Milk and white chocolate chips are added to a dark chocolate brownie base to make these brownies a delicious triple threat !

It was so hot outside the day I made these Millionaire's Shortbread that the caramel wasn't cooling down and the chocolate top wouldn't set. I had to put it in the freezer for 20+ minutes so it would set, and even when taking pictures of it, I had to go back and forth between the freezer and my photo set-up. Why am I telling you this ? Because a few days later the weather did a 180 and we had rain and wind. What does that weather call for ? Chocolate brownies, of course.

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Millionaire's Shortbread

A millionaire's shortbread is a biscuit base covered in chewy caramel and topped with melted milk chocolate. It's also known as homemade Twix bars !

See, I think this is called Millionaire's Shortbread because a small bite of this thing has about a million calories. I could have eaten the whole plate and then I'd have gained six pounds. Millionaire's Shortbread is that delicious but also very not healthy (I mean, hello, biscuit base + caramel center + two types of chocolate to top it all off = me not looking like a supermodel on the beach this summer. Heh, who cares.)

Also, fun fact : Millionaire's Shortbread tastes like Twix bars ! So now you'll know how to make them. I suggest you make a batch and impress everyone, tell them you spent a reaaally long time laboring over "homemade Twix bars" when in reality it's super easy and relatively quick to make ;)

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Homemade White Chocolate Spread

This quick and easy homemade white chocolate spread only requires three ingredients, and it can be made in the microwave !

Lire la recette de la pâte à tartiner au chocolat blanc

First published June 2nd, 2017. Edited June 29th, 2019.

Homemade white chocolate spread. Three ingredients. Microwave. Do I really need to say more ?

This white chocolate spread is very easy to make, only requires one bowl, 3 simple ingredients, and a couple of minutes in the microwave.


How to make white chocolate spread :

Break the white chocolate into small pieces and put in a microwave safe bowl with the heavy cream.

Microwave in 30 seconds intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Add in the sweetened condensed milk, stir until smooth. Transfer to a glass jar and keep in the fridge.

Tada ! You now have white chocolate spread you can use on bread, brioche, pancakes, or just eat straight out of the jar.

Oh, one more thing : you might want to double the recipe for this white chocolate spread, just in case half a jar disappears mysteriously. If you know what I mean 😜



Here is the recipe for homemade white chocolate spread :

HOMEMADE WHITE CHOCOLATE SPREAD
by A Cup of Sprinkles
Adapted from Les 30 Recettes Cultes, Lait Concentré Sucré

Quick and easy homemade white chocolate spread with only 3 ingredients

Ingredients :
100g of good quality white chocolate
15ml (1 tbsp) of heavy cream
100ml (1/4 cup + 3 tbsp) of sweetened condensed milk

Instructions :

Break the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, and pour the heavy cream on top. Microwave in 30 seconds intervals, strirring in between, until the chocolate has completely melted.

Add in the condensed milk, and stir until the mixture is smooth.

Pour in a jar, and let cool in the fridge.

Keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Original pictures :

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Tarte au Sucre

Tarte au sucre (literally "sugar tart") is a specialty from the North of France. A thin round brioche is topped with a mixture of heavy cream and light brown sugar. This classic French dessert is easier to make than it looks !

Lire la recette de la tarte au sucre en Français

So, I already complained about the weather in my last post, but here I go again : where is spring ? It's been so cold and rainy and ugh lately. I need comfort food.

So I made this tarte au sucre.

This is comfort food for me. When I was younger, there was a bakery in town that made the Best Ever Tarte au Sucre. We'd have one on birthdays, or just on a random Tuesday after school. It was the most delicious dessert in the world. Unfortunately, the bakery changed owners, and then closed down, so I'll never have the Best Ever Tarte au Sucre again.

This recipe won't ever come close to what I used to eat when I was a child, but it is still a perfectly good tart.

This is a specialty from Northern France, where I live, and it has nothing to do with Québec's sugar pie (who knows why the French Wikipedia page puts them together).
The base of this tarte au sucre is a brioche, and it is topped with cream and light brown sugar, making it the perfect treat to ruin your diet :) I had some pearl sugar on hand after making a Tropézienne, so I added a tablespoon before baking and one after for good measure ;) This sugar tart is very easy to make, don't let dry yeast discourage you !

TARTE AU SUCRE
by A Cup of Sprinkles

Tarte au sucre (literally "sugar tart") is a specialty from the North of France. A thin round brioche is topped with a mixture of heavy cream and light brown sugar.

For a 10" pan

Ingredients :
For the brioche :
25g of sugar
5g (1 tsp) of salt
7g (2 tbsp) of dry yeast
10cL of milk (room temperature)
300g of flour
2 eggs
100g of softened butter, cubed
For the topping :
5 cL of heavy cream
150g of light brown sugar
2 tbsp of pearl sugar (optional)

Instructions :

Make the brioche : Mix the sugar in half the milk, and the dry yeast in the other half of the milk.

Mix the flour and the eggs, then add in the milk. Knead the dough, and add in the butter.

Let the dough rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

Spread the dough in a pie or tart dish or cake pan, and let rise in a warm spot for 40 minutes.

After the 40 minutes, preheat the oven.

Prepare the topping : mix the cream with the light brown sugar.

Using a toothpick, poke large holes in the dough, leaving about an inch around the edge, and making sure you don't go all the way through.

Pour the topping on top of the brioche. Add the pearl sugar if using it.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tart is golden brown.

Eat warm.

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