Home and Lifestyle

I am loving the “sweet treats” Starbucks has come out with- little dessert treat under 200 calories. One of my favorite’s by far Starbuck’s Caramel Pretzel Square.
I tried making several recipes on the Internet that I found and none of them quite hit the right note of salty and sweet.
Soo… After a few attempts and some tweaking here is MY version of Starbucks Caramel Pretzel Square Recipe.

Tastes Like Starbucks Caramel Pretzel Square Recipe

Base:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine ( I used both and butter does taste MUCH better- also better texture)
1 tsp. REAL vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Topping
4 tablespoons milk
70-80 Kraft caramels ( or similar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup chopped nuts ( pecans or walnuts)
2 cups of crushed pretzels STICKS

Fudge
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk ( can use low fat no problem)
2 tbsp. butter
2 cups marshmallows
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F

Mix together is mixing bowl at medium speed the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until thoroughly mixed.. Bleand in flour. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife.
Press the mixture into 8 inch square pan. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes.

Combine milk and caramels and cook in double boiler or use microwave ( check at 30 second intervals) . Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and remove from heat.

Remove the crust from oven. Pour the caramel mixture (reserve some caramel for top) t. Sprinkle with pecan and pretzel mixture. Bake again at 375° for 15 minutes. Let cool.

Combine sugar, evaporated milk and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring often. Boil 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and marshmallows . Stir until combined. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour fudge mixture on top of cooled squares, then warm reserved caramel in microwave and add a pinches of salt and drizzle over the fudge layer. Take knife and gently run it through the salted caramel ribbon to make sure its swirled throughout.

Tags: Recipes by admin
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Dubious at first I finally did try making tea in my Keurig coffee maker – after some fine tuning I know make a cup of tea that is perfect.
I am an avid tea drinker and my biggest complaint is keep the tea hot enough while not burning it. My grandmother always had a pot of tea warmed on the stove growing up and I didn’t notice the burned taste the tea took on after several hours Maybe adding mountains of sugar killed the bitter burnt taste.

Fast forward many years and I now drink copious amounts of tea… My first cup always taste great and then its downhill from there.
I was actually very surprised- pleasantly so- that the Keurig could make such a great tasting cup of tea. The biggest plus for me is temperature- I like my tea hot and this makes a consistently hot cup of tea.

You can use My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter
to use you own coffee or tea in their machine. Their are other 3rd party adapters for the machine that you can buy- like EZ-Cup and Solofill Cup Refillable K-Cup For Keurig Brewers. I use the My K-Cup and happy with results and methods used here fine with other adapters.

First – You need tea. I prefer decaf and when I can find it I buy it loose. It is almost impossible for me to find decaf orange pekoe or decaf English Breakfast tea so I often resort to using bagged tea. I just open the bags. I know some people just pop a tea bag in the filter but I find that the taste just isn’t there.

The hot water comes out pretty fast and I don’t think it gives enough time for tea and water to mix. What I do is grind the loose tea up a little bit. ( You can use mini food processor,Magic Bullet
or clean coffee grinder)

After I grind the tea up a little- not TOO fine.. I put in filter basket of the My K-Cup. About a 1/2 teaspoon full. You can play with this amount.My Keurig has 2 cup sizes. I cycle it through 2 times on the smallest cup size. I find giving it two small passes make for more flavourful tea.

This method works well for almost any tea- herbal teas, loose tea and bagged tea. I also drink nettle tea for iron and this makes it perfectly!

Let me know if you have some other tips or suggestion for making perfect cup f tea in your Keurig Coffee maker.

Tags: Home and Kitchen by admin
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I’ve been looking at both the Tassimo and Keurig single serve coffee makers for several months.
Initially the entry level for Keurig was too expensive too consider never mind that it costs approx 75 cents for each cup vs. pennies for making a pot off coffee the old fashioned way.
Keurig’s have come way down in price- you can buy and entry level Mr. Coffee by Keurig for less than 50.00.

I am often asked which is better- Tassimo or Keurig? They both are good and your decision on which single serve coffee maker to buy should be based on your needs.
What will you be using it for?
Tassimo is great at making milk based coffee drinks- lattes cappuccinos, hot chocolates, etc. There selection of teas- including a sugar free Chai Tea Latte that I love, is excellent. If you are looking for something to make your latte or chai or hot chocolate for the kids then look hard at getting a Tassimo.

Where the Keurig wins out for most coffee purists is better coffee brands ( Starbucks now offers Starbucks K-Cups for Keurig Brewers
) and this is deal breaker for most- the ability to use your own coffee and not pay for expensive tho convenient K-cups. By using the MyCup by Keurig you can use your own coffee and not buy pre-packaged K-Cups.) and this is deal breaker for most- the ability to use your own coffee and not pay for expensive tho convenient K-cups.

You can buy Keurigs own My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter to use your own coffee as well as several 3rd party adapters.
I have used for making both coffee and loose tea and the quality is excellent.