Turtle Pie

The other day we went to dinner at the Hays House. This is a local restaurant in our small town and one of the oldest continually operating taverns in the US. Great atmosphere and even better food. If you ever travel along the Santa Fe Trail, stop in here for lunch. And always, always, save room for dessert. They have the most amazing pies. This is actually what got me hooked on real whipped cream. I will never be the same.

The Girl wanted dessert. She always wants dessert. So do I, but I try not to give in that much. Anyway, my only requirement was that she share.

She picked the Turtle Pie.

All I can tell you is that it was so amazing that we came home and immediately set about creating our own recipe.

Cream a package of cream cheese with 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 cup powdered cocoa.

 Fold in 2 cups of whipped cream.

 Add a layer of toasted pecan to the bottom of a baked pie crust.

 Cover those pecans with caramel sauce. I used homemade, but you could use ice cream topping, too.

 Pour the cream cheese mixture over the caramel. Chill for about an hour until it all sets up.

 I had quite a bit of filling left over, so I made popsicles.

The pie was amazing. The popsicles were amazing. Everything just melts in your mouth. This could possibly be my favorite dessert ever. And I like a LOT of desserts.


Click here for Printable Recipe

Turtle Pie

1 Baked Pie Crust

8 ounces Cream Cheese

3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 Tablespoons Milk

2 Cups Heavy Cream, whipped with a little sugar to sweeten

1/4 Cup Roasted Pecans

1 Cup Caramel Sauce

Beat the cream cheese, cocoa powder and powdered sugar until smooth. Add the milk. Beat the mixture until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Set aside the remaining whipped cream in the refrigerator. Add pecans in a layer at the bottom of the baked pie crust. Pour caramel sauce over pecans. Pour cheese mixture over the caramel. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until the pie is set.

Arrollado con Dulce de Leche

Have you ever tried dulce de leche? It is a miracle of a caramel spread found in the ethnic section of most grocery stores. It is delicious on chocolate graham crackers or just on a spoon.

When I came across this recipe, I was excited to try it, if for no other reason than it takes about a half an hour from start to finish.

Beat 1 cup of sugar and 6 egg whites together.

After a few minutes, you will get some nice peaks form.

Add in the yolks, flour and vanilla; stir until it's all combined.
Pour into a parchment lined (this is important!) jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for about 11 minutes. The cake will be springy when touched.
While the cake is still warm, remove it from the pan and spread on the dulce de leche.
The heat from the cake will melt this just enough for you to be able to spread it out to the edges.
Roll up longways, using the parchment paper to help lift the edges.
Slice into one inch rolls.
I'm still on the fence with this one. It was good, but kind of bland. I think the cake was the problem. It didn't complement the caramel filling so much as compete with it. I think if I were to make this again, I would maybe use a tad less sugar.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Arrollado con Dulce de Leche
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup sugar
6 eggs (separated)
1 t. Vanilla
One can dulce de leche, 13.4 ounces
Beat egg whites until fluffy add sugar until soft peaks form, then add egg yolks, flour, and vanilla. Line an 11x15x1 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper, be sure a little over laps to assist with rolling later. Spray lightly with Pam. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until golden and cake springs back when touched. Remove from oven and while still hot, drop spoonfuls of dulce de leche over top of cake. Wait a minute then spread evenly. Grabbing the long end of the paper, start rolling the cake toward you while pulling the paper free. Once rolled tight, wrap with the parchment paper and let cool. Once cooled slice and place on pretty platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serves 10-12.

Caramel Chip Bars

A friend recently brought these to a dinner. I knew I had made them before, but had forgotten how wonderful they were. Before I left, I made sure I asked her for the recipe. She gave me kind of a funny look and asked me if I was sure. I asked her what she meant and she said, "Tracie, I am one hundred percent certain that you gave me this recipe!"

Thank goodness for community dinners :)

Melt 32 caramels, a stick of butter and a can of sweetened condensed milk on low heat. Stir this quite often and do not be tempted to up the heat. You have time. Be patient.

In between stirs, mix together a yellow cake mix with two eggs and a half cup applesauce. The recipe says half a cup of oil. You can use that or substitute any portion of the oil with applesauce. I went for 100% here and it worked great. Don't forget to stir your caramel.
Mix in every kind of chip you can find. Almost. Two cups of mini chocolate chips and one cup of vanilla chips. Also a chopped up Heath bar. I didn't have one, but I did have some left over toffee chips from when I made the incredible Toffee Rolls. (Hmmm...in my desire to reacquaint you these, I have discovered that I never posted them. I am SO SORRY. You will see why when I get them up.) Anyway, stir these all into your cake mix.

Go stir!
Spread about 3/4 of the dough into the bottom of a well greased pan and bake for about 15 minutes.
By now your caramel should be getting pretty close to completely melted. Remove it from the heat and let it cool a little bit. DO NOT taste test this. You will just keep coming back and "tasting" more. Before you know it, you will have to start over and make a new batch.
After the 15 minute cook time, let the almost cookies cool for at least 10 minutes. This is important or the soft, not quite done dough will scrunch up. Once it is not so squishy, spread the caramel mixture over the top of the dough.
Use a regular spoon to drop the remaining dough onto the top of the caramel. You want the drops pretty close together. Your goal is to have a fairly solid top with a bit of caramel peeking out at random spots.
Return to the oven for another 30 minutes.

Don't make these.

They are evil.

You have been warned.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Caramel Chip Bars

1/2 c butter

32 caramels

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 pkg (18 1/4 oz) yellow cake mix

1/2 c vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 c miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup vanilla or white chips

1 Heath candy bar (1.4 oz) chopped

In a large saucepan, combine the butter, caramels, and milk; cook and stir over medium low heat until smooth. Cool. In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, oil, and eggs; mix well. Stir in chips and chopped candy bar (dough will be stiff). Press 3/4 into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 15 min. Place on a wire rack for 10 min.

Pour caramel mixture over the crust. Crumble remaining mixture onto caramel layer. Bake for 25-30 min or until edges are golden brown. Cool for 10 min; run a knife around edges of pan. Cool 40 minutes longer; cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.