It Is what it is

I am so far behind on the times...its kinda sad.  So last weekend when we were in Tahoe, we went to Harrah's to blow some scratch, and on the way out I wanted my yearly treat.  I very very rarely go to Starbucks, but when I do it is around this time of year.  I go and get my Spiced Pumpkin Latte, then in a couple of weeks I will go and get my Peppermint Latte. then end it with an Eggnog Latte. 

SO....The nice little girl behind the counter asked me if I would like a Salted Carmel Latte...I said no thank you, and she looked at me like I had horns, and I had asked her if her soul was for sale.  WTH??  Two weeks ago, my mom gave me a Salted Carmel candy, ( Mrs JellyMan found it before I remembered it and devoured it )....what the heck is up with Salted Carmel?  I asked Mrs. JellyMan and she just got this vacant look on her face and was like mmmmmmm Salted Carmel.  So...I went to work.  I need to get down to the bottom of this phenomenon.  I have searched the all mighty search engine Google, and it seems that I am way far behind.  So I decided to make Salted Carmel Cheesecake today, along with all of the other things that I am cooking.

Mrs JellyMan has made a Pinterest page just for cheesecakes.  I started there.  I found what i thought was a good Salted Carmel Cheesecake recipe....then I printed it out, and took the midgets to the store.   In looking at the directions....alot was desired.  It Kinda sorta didn't make sense, so I winged it.  I used their Carmel recipe, but that was just about it. 

The problem that i have, is when I make something, its hard to take it to work, and send it with Mrs. JellyMan.  So....I got creative.

Oh Yeah, We're rolling cup cake style!  ( Notice that they are PINK!! and have PINK ribbon? )

I wanted to go simple with the crust.  I was trying to come up with something that would not mess with the Salted Carmel flavor, so we went with Vanilla Wafers.  ( The recipe actually called for it, but I was unable to figure out if it needed 32 2 ounce wafers, or 32/2 ounces of wafers, or 3 1/2 ounces of wafers.  So...I winged it and dumped in half a box, with a stick melted butter. 
I processed them in the food processor till all of the big chunks were gone, then pulsed in the melted butter.

Cheesecake was fairly straight forward.

YUM!!

Since we are going to cover them, I did not do the water bath method, I just baked them as they were.  They came out a bit cracked!

I let these cool, and moved off to Carmel.  I have never made my own Carmel.  Grandma made it every year for Christmas, and could probably do it with one hand tied behind her back.  Actually...if she would have tried it today it would probably have gotten ruined.  It was a close 49er game....very few things would ever mess with her coolness....a close 49er game is pretty much the only thing!

SO...Off to Carmel!

Pretty Straight forward.  Except....Castor Sugar?  I was like wow...wth?  So...Out came great almighty Google.  WHEW!!  Ultra fine sugar!  I so was not looking forward to towing the midgets around looking for something weird!

Carmel was Ultra fine sugar, water, and heavy cream.

I really do not like working with sugar like this.  Its like liquid Napalm!  So I made my Carmel, and something dawned on me.  How can you tell if it is amber, in a BLACK pan.  Note To Self: I need so get some silver Non Non Stick pans.  So after much sweat, fear of burning sugar into my pans, and the potty dance, I was done.  Let it cool a bit, and topped the cheesecakes!

Okay..so I can only see a half picture.  Lets just say the camera phone I was using leaves alot to be desired!

So in all, a very productive day.  Made cheesecakes, and a soup for the freezer.  Umm no, I am not telling you what it is now.  I have to have something to blog about later don't I?  Yes, you do have to wait!

Busy work week ended, and another busy week on tap starting tomorrow.  Onky a couple of weeks until my supposed good friend comes back from Maternity leave...and maybe my days will go back to normal, and I can actually cook during the week, and maybe have some energy to blog. 

Catch ya later!