Brownie Cupcakes Topped w/Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Squares

Who loves a really quick, yummy, and chocolaty brownie cupcake? What if they're made with a simple doctored up box mix? Yes, me! You too?

I first made these for Elizabeth's -my granddaughter's- birthday. They were a hit and disappeared fast!

Let's make some!

I used one package of Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownie mix, buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla. After baking, I topped them with Ghirardelli candy squares. 

After combining wet ingredients, I stirred in the brownie mix until moistened and scooped the batter into a muffin tin prepared with cooking spray.

Baked in a 350 degree oven, these only take 20 minutes!

Remove from oven and gently press in a chocolate square. Let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. I used a plastic knife to gently coax them from the tin.

Brownie Cupcakes

*note below*

One box Ghirardelli brownie mix

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup canola oil

1 egg

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

Combine wet ingredients.

Stir in brownie mix until moistened.

Scoop batter into a 12 cup muffin tin that has been prepared with cooking spray.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven. Gently press in a chocolate square.

Let cool in pan 10-15 minutes. 

I used a plastic knife to gently coax cupcake from pan.

*note*

Brownie box mix sizes vary.

Simply sub out equal amounts of water called for on box for buttermilk.

Use same amounts of eggs and oil and add 1/2 tablespoon on vanilla.

🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥

  

JOHN 3:16 

'til we sweet again, Karen💗

Chocolate Covered Caramel S'mores

Happy Birthday, Mickey Mouse!

We'll see ya real soon because we're taking the grandkiddos to Walt Disney World!!

So last year all I wanted for Christmas was our first Disney annual passes. My sweet Santa came through once again and boy have we had a blast using them! 

Can you guess what tops my list of must-dos every trip? Yep! I have to check out all the fun new treats created in the Disney candy kitchens.

I follow a lot of Disney vloggers so I already know which Christmas themed treats I wanna try and I'm going to be posting them right here at Sugartown Sweets so you can see all the festively sweet and sugary fun!

One of our favorite spots in all of WDW is, Karamell-Kuche (German for caramel kitchen), at EPCOT.

Everything in the shop is made using Werther's caramel!

Here I have recreated their caramel s'mores using my own homemade marshmallows and caramel recipes!

It sure was a fun way to gear up for our trip to see the Mouse!

Of course you can use store-bought marshmallows and Werther's caramels, but if you have the time and don't mind getting a little sticky, get the family together for some fun in your own candy kitchen!

For our marshmallows, we need: sugar, water, corn syrup, unflavored gelatin, and salt.

For the s'mores we will also use:

48 graham cracker squares, caramel, and 3 ten ounce bags Ghirardelli chocolate wafers.

Pour gelatin over cold water in mixer bowl with whisk attachment and set aside.

Combine sugar, hot water, corn syrup, and salt in heavy bottomed 4 quart saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until sugar is dissolved, attach candy thermometer, and continue cooking without stirring until mixture reaches 235 degrees (soft-ball stage)

Remove from heat.

Slowly pour hot sugar mixture into mixer bowl with gelatin mixture mixing on low speed.

When fully combined, add vanilla and turn mixer to high speed. Whisk for 10 minutes.

Prepare 3 cups fitted with decorator bags. Fold the tops of bags over cup edges and fill bags with marshmallow mixture. Cut tips off bags to pipe.

Pipe marshmallow onto 24 graham cracker squares. 

Let marshmallow set for 2-3 hours before popping into broiler for a couple of minutes to toast.

Make caramel or melt down Werther's chewy caramels to top marshmallows. If making your own, let cool down a bit first. Here is my caramel recipe.

Pour remaining caramel into lightly greased, parchment lined pan to set. Cut into squares to use later for drizzling onto s'mores.

Oh my word. Open-faced s'mores!

Top treats with remaining graham squares.

 

Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second increments on 50% power stirring each time until melted and smooth. Dip s'mores into melted chocolate and place on parchment lined pan until set.

Melt down about 9 caramel squares in microwave in 30 second increments until fully melted. Drizzle onto s'mores and let set.

If you're using store-bought caramels, I used about a cup of melted caramel.

C.A.R.A.M.E.L.

Time to taste!!

Oh y'all, I ain't gonna brag..well wait! 

Yes I am!!

Hubby really loved these and scarfed down two as soon as he walked in the door!

They're a hit!

Vanilla Marshmallows

2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in mixer bowl with whisk attachment and set aside.

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a heavy bottomed, 4 quart saucepan, combine sugar, hot water, corn syrup, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Attach candy thermometer and continue cooking without stirring until mixture reaches softball stage-235 degrees.

Remove from heat. Slowly pour hot sugar mixture into mixer bowl with gelatin mixture. Whisk on low speed until all combined. Add vanilla, turn mixer on high speed and continue mixing for 10 minutes.

If you simply want to eat these "out of hand", pour the mixture into a pan lined with parchment sprayed with non-stick spray. Let set and cut.

 

Since we are piping these onto graham crackers for our s'mores,  I set up 3 cups with decorator bags folding the top edges over the top of the cups. Then I filled each one with marshmallow mixture and snipped the tip off each bag to pipe.

With 24 graham cracker squares lined up on a parchment lined pan, pipe marshmallow onto each cracker. Let sit 2 -3 hours before popping into oven on broil for a couple of minutes to toast the marshmallow.

I piped the remaining marshmallow into my silicone mold pan lightly sprayed with non-stick spray.

Caramel

Now we can top each treat with a dollop of caramel and top with remaining graham cracker squares.

You can melt down caramels for this step or you can make your own. Here is my caramel recipe I posted last month to make caramel apples. It's my family's favorite!

If you do make your own, let it cool down a bit before you dollop! When cool, dollop caramel onto marshmallow and top with another cracker.

Pour the remaining caramel into a lightly greased, parchment lined pan.

You can cut these into squares later and melt down to drizzle on top of the s'mores.

Dipping Chocolate

3 ten ounce bags Ghirardelli chocolate wafers

Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second increments on 50% power stirring each time until melted and smooth.

Dip each s'more in chocolate and place on parchment lined pan to set.

Caramel Drizzle

Now that our s'mores are ready for their caramel drizzle, melt a few squares of caramels (I used about 9) in microwave in 30 second increments until melted. I added just a smidge (teaspoon or so) of cream to make it more "drizzly".😊

I made 20 s'mores and used a little less than a cup of caramel for my drizzle.

Drizzle away!

Hope you enjoy your Chocolate Covered Caramel S'mores!

Ok! Disney, here we come!

John 3:16

'til we sweet again! Karen 💗

Caramel Apples

 

My grandson called me the other day and wanted to know why he couldn't find my caramel apple recipe on the blog! Well I was flabbbergasted as I realized that I had never posted it! And seeing how we are already a third of the way through fall,  I thought now is the perfect time. Thanks, Isaac! 

There are tons of beautiful caramel apples on the web. Today I am sharing with you how I make mine! 

Five simple ingredients of, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla are all you need to cook up this sweet confectionery treat.

I couldn't believe my luck at finding a pack of these adorable treat sticks in my sugar supplies. You can always use candy apple sticks or popsicle sticks as well.

After thoroughly washing and drying apples, insert sticks. I use a dab of dish soap to wash my apples and I also wash my tomatoes and citrus fruits this way and have for many years. 

Now let's make some caramel! Melt butter over low heat. Stir in corn syrup and then condensed milk.

Attach candy thermometer and crank up the heat to medium, stirring candy mixture constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Set aside to cool 15 to 20 minutes so the caramel won't slide right off the apples!

You can do a dip test to see if the caramel has thickened up enough to adhere to apple.

Yep! It's just right. Dip and then place on parchment lined pan.

If you look closely at the core, you can see the juice sizzle a tiny bit as you dip the apples!

Oh yum!! We did it! 🍏

Y'all! Ain't these perty?!

It's time to dig in and enjoy!

Caramel Apples

12 medium Granny Smith apples

Caramel Recipe

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

2 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup light corn syrup

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in brown sugar, then add corn syrup and condensed milk, mixing well.

Clip on your candy thermometer while making sure the tip does not touch bottom of pan. 

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until temperature reaches 246 degrees F. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Set aside for 15-20 minutes to cool slightly.

While caramel is cooling, wash apples and dry thoroughly. I use a dab of dish soap to wash mine.

Insert sticks into apples.

Line a pan with parchment paper.

By now, caramel should be ready for dipping. Test an apple to see if caramel adheres without sliding off. 

Dip apples and place on parchment paper.

I made 6 caramel apples and poured up the other half so my sweet hubby could have his favorite caramels! 😋

Happy Fall Y'all!

John 3:16

'til we sweet again, Karen! 💗

Caramel Filled Chocolate Clam Shells With Candy Pearls

School may have already begun, but it is still Summer and I'm not ready to let it go!!

We have just recently returned from a trip to St. Augustine. It is such a pretty and unique beach town and of course we visited the Fountain of Youth. I got one hilarious video of my hubby drinking from that famous fountain! Does it really make you look younger? Well, let's just say, the jury is still out on that one!😛

We made another couple of beach trips earlier this year..one with the kiddos and grandkiddos to Destin, and our anniversary trip to Cape Cod and Nantucket. That's where the idea for these chocolate clam shell candies came from.

I found the cutest little trinket bracelet in Destin with a clam shell and pearl! I thought, how sweet would it be in sugar form?!

Then, upon check-in to Union Street Inn, they had an adorable box of anniversary candies waiting for us!
There were these teeny little adorable chocolate whales. Well, I had to check out the candy shop that they came from, so we took a walk over and found all kinds of delightful and yummy candies. I fell in love with their chocolate and caramel oyster shells with candy pearls! 

So here we go..making them with the clam shell molds!

A candy pearl surprise! 

Here are the items needed to make the clam shells. I haven't bought ready-made caramels in a while since I like homemade better. But I wanted these to be super easy. If you'd like to try my homemade caramels recipe, you can click on the link.

I used these chocolate molds with six 3 inch shells that I found on Amazon.

After melting the chocolate candy wafers on the stove-top over low heat, I used a food only paintbrush to fill in the chocolate molds. 

Add a little more melted chocolate into each mold and refrigerate till candy is set.

Gently turn candies out onto parchment paper.

I dusted my candy shells with gold pearl dust. I think I went a little overboard.
Less is more!

Caramel! Oh this is gettin' good!

I used about one caramel for each shell. I placed six caramels in a small microwave-safe dish, added a dash of heavy cream, and melted in 30 second increments on defrost power. It took about 45 seconds total.

Spoon a little dollop of melted caramel into chocolate shell.

Mmm...this combo!

Spoon a little more melted chocolate over the caramel, add a sprinkling of sea salt and plop on the candy pearl!

Oh yeah, baby!😋

My sweet inspiration..which just so happens to be the name of the candy shop on Nantucket!

I shouldn't have used the first shell i made..it looks kinda rough. But you get the idea!

We so enjoyed our time here in Nantucket. Biking to the beach, sailboating into the sunset, and of course eating! Here we are celebrating our anniversary at Galley Beach. They had a lovely table set up for us inside, but then I saw these set up on the beach!
It was so cold, but they gave me a blanket and I sure used it!

Let's just keep on celebrating this sweet summer, Karen 😊