Caramel - Coconut Heaven (Gluten Free)

This afternoon, in the frenzy of gearing up for Christmas, I busied myself in the kitchen making two incredibly delicious things: coconut macaroons and salted caramel sauce. The first is surprisingly easy. The second goodie is a bit more difficult, but SO worth it. The salted caramel sauce is that good. And I'm skipping dinner since I sampled WAY TOO MANY of my products. WAY TOO MUCH!!

 Salted caramel sauce in heatproof glass jars. Ready to be refrigerated for up to one month.

 Salted Caramel Sauce drizzled on top of a homemade coconut macaroon. Perfection.

Salted caramel macaroon on the left and (on the right) a macaroon topped with bittersweet chocolate and salted caramel. The test kitchen favored the cookie with only the caramel sauce. However, all interested parties loved the chocolate/caramel one as well.


THE RECIPES!

Coconut Macaroons (from Dec. issue of Food and Wine magazine)

One 14-oz. bag of Baker's sweetened coconut
One 14-oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with two sheets of parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine the coconut and the condensed milk with the vanilla. In the bowl for your stand mixer, beat the egg whites and salt on high until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into the coconut mixture.

Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds of the mixture onto the baking sheets, spreading cookies one inch apart. Bake sheets in the upper and lower one-third of the oven for 25 minutes, switching sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking. When cooking time ends, place sheets on racks and let cookies cool completely. Macaroons can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

OPTIONAL: melt 4 oz. of bittersweet chocolate. Either dip cooled cookies into chocolate or drizzle over the top.

OPTIONAL: Make salted caramel sauce. Drizzle over the top of macaroons. This is my family's favorite choice. See recipe below.


Salted Caramel Sauce

3/4 heavy whipping cream
1/4 light corn syrup (Karo's)
1-1/4 cup of white sugar
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (the flaky fleur de sel found at gourmet shops)

In a microwave-safe cup (like Pyrex), pour the cream and corn syrup. In a wide, medium saucepan (I used my All-Clad copper core saute pan) spread the sugar in an even layer. Cook over medium heat WITHOUT STIRRING until it begins to turn light brown (caramelize). Swirl the pan (DO NOT STIR) to incorporate the caramelized sugar. At this point, microwave the cream/corn syrup mixture for 2 minutes on high power. Continue cooking the sugar until it turns a medium amber color (caramel will have formed, about four minutes). Remove from heat and CAREFULLY add the cream to the mixture, stirring with a long-handled spoon. Use a long-handled spoon as the hot caramel can jump up and burn your hand when the cream is added.

Return the caramel to low heat and add the butter and salt, stirring until any hard pieces of sugar are melted. Transfer the caramel to a heatproof glass and let cool. Can be refrigerated for one month. Reheat before using.