miso caramel | Bewitching Kitchen

If you like salty-sweet things, these are for you. If you are not into baking, or – dare I say – if you describe yourself as a total bake-o-phobe, these are for you. No baking involved. A little stirring, a little melting, a lot of fun. Beware: they are addictive!

MISO CARAMEL CRACKER COOKIES
(from Molly Yeh)

11 ounces store-bought caramels (Like these)
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 + 1/2 tablespoons miso paste
About 2 1/2 sleeves butter crackers, such as Ritz (about 72 crackers)
8 ounces chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips (see my comments)
Sprinkles, for topping

In a medium pot, combine the caramels and heavy cream. Heat over medium low, stirring, until the caramels are melted and the mixture is smooth, about 7 minutes. Stir in the miso and remove from the heat. Let cool for a few minutes, so the caramel can thicken slightly.

Arrange half of the crackers salty-side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment and drop about 1 teaspoon caramel per cracker. Top each with another cracker salty-side up. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
In a double boiler or a microwave in 30-second increments, melt the chocolate, stirring until smooth. Let cool slightly.

Dip the crackers halfway into the chocolate and place back on the baking sheet. Add sprinkles. Let set in the refrigerator or at room temperature until the chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: These got super nice reviews from our departmental colleagues. You can change the caramel by omitting the miso, adding orange, or anything you might fancy. Maybe use white chocolate to coat and different types of sprinkles. But the combination of miso caramel with the dark chocolate and the crackers is hard to beat. To coat, I used a 50:50 mixture of bittersweet chocolate with compound chocolate, which gives a little more smoothness to the coating and also tends to dry harder than untempered chocolate would. Feel free to temper chocolate if you prefer, or use any coating you like. The soft caramel with a hint of salt from the miso goes very well with the cracker and the intense chocolate coating. Truly delicious!

If you are looking for something to take for a potluck party, or to serve to friends watching a football game, or to sweeten up your book club reading, consider making a batch.

ONE YEAR AGO: Mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival

TWO YEARS AGO: Almond-Raspberry Triangles and a Special Cookbook Review

THREE YEARS AGO: Sweet and Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

FOUR YEARS AGO: Roasted Cauliflower Salad over Hummus

FIVE YEARS AGO: Queen of Sheba

SIX YEAR AGO: Brunch Burger

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Mango Salsa with Verjus

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Raspberry Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk Brownies

NINE YEARS AGO: Scary Good Pork Burgers

TEN YEARS AGO: Review of exercise program Focus25

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Thai Seafood Curry

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Post-workout Breakfast

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Semolina Barbecue Buns

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Lavash Crackers

Americans who love the show will be very happy because Netflix is releasing each episode just a few days after they air in the UK. I was lucky enough to watch the opening show in London, but now I have to be patient and wait from Tuesday to Friday to indulge. This year the group of contestants seems surprisingly young. Or, does that mean I am getting so old that I noticed the trend? Hard to tell, but I have the feeling that in other seasons the ages were a bit more widespread. Still, they picked a bunch of folks with interesting personalities so it should be fun to watch. I decided to bake some of the challenges this year, and will start with the signature from episode 2, Biscuits. The theme is deceptively simple: make 12 chocolate-covered biscuits. I went Japanese with my interpretation. Matcha cookies with a miso-caramel filling. Coated with tempered dark chocolate.

CHOCOLATED-COATED MATCHA COOKIES WITH MISO CARAMEL
(inspired by Japanese Patisserie)

100 g all-purpose flour
150 g cornstarch
1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons baking powder
75 g granulated sugar
113 g softned butter (1 stick)
2 egg yolks
3 g matcha powder
for caramel:
160 ml whipping cream
1 tablespoons corn syrup
1 tablespoon water
200 g granulated sugar
50 g miso paste
to coat and decorate cookies:
500 g dark chocolate, tempered
100 g white chocolate, gently melted and placed in piping bag
sprinkles of choice (I used edible golden stars)

To make the cookies, mix together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.

Beat the sugar with the softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until creamy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, then the matcha powder and beat until fully combined.

Gently fold in the flour mixture to form a crumbly dough. If the dough is too dry, sprinkle a few teaspoons of cold water, a little at a time until it forms a dough that adheres when you press portions with your fingers. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 350 F. Roll out the dough, using as little flour as possible on the work surface, to a thickness of around 1⁄4 inch (6mm). Stamp out rounds with the cookie cutter. Roll the scraps again and cut rounds of the same size, but use a smaller cookie cutter to remove most of the central part, so that you can form a barrier for the caramel to be poured inside (as shown in the composite picture). Place the top portion over the circles that will form the base, prick the surface with a fork. Bake in the preheated oven for around 12 minutes until set but not browned. Remove the cookies from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

To make the miso caramel, place the whipping cream into a microwaveable bowl and warm gently for 30 seconds. Put the corn syrup, water and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently, until it turns into a dark, golden brown caramel color. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the warm cream, stirring constantly. Once the cream is fully incorporated, stir in the miso paste. Allow the caramel to cool and then scrape into a piping bag. Add the caramel to the center of the baked, and fully cooled cookies. Refrigerate several hours up to overnight.

Temper the dark chocolate using your favorite method. Dip each cookie in the tempered chocolate, then drizzle melted white chocolate to decorate. Add sprinkles of your choice.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Best component of this recipe is definitely the miso caramel. I could enjoy it by spoonfuls, staring at the trees in our backyard, daydreaming… Come to think of it, a drizzle over vanilla ice cream sounds pretty amazing also. Matcha is a flavor that not everyone is fond of. I like it because it cuts through excessive sweetness and since the caramel is obviously quite sweet, it pairs well with it. If you prefer a less sharp and assertive cookie, omit the matcha powder, add some vanilla or lemon zest. But please do try the miso caramel, it goes more or less along the lines of salted caramel, but more subtle in its savory nature.

After coating the cookies in tempered chocolate, avoid the temptation to put them to dry over a rack. They might stick to the rack, so the best way is to carefully lay them over parchment paper once the excess chocolate drips away. This tip is a courtesy of the one and only Philip, from Phil’s Home Kitchen… And since I mentioned him, stop by to see his recent takes on the technical challenges of this GBBO season with a click here and here.