Caramel-Swirl Cheesecake Bars

When my husband orders dessert, he'll always go for something with caramel or cheesecake. Last year he asked for caramel cheesecake for his birthday. So I shouldn't have been the least bit surprised when he asked for mini caramel cheesecakes for his birthday this year. 

Well, I came up with a slightly different, but completely delicious, solution. Caramel-swirl cheesecake bars are easily transportable and can be eaten with your hands. I am all for anything that you can just pick up and stuff in your face. 

At the foundation of this treat is a crisp, buttery shortbread crust. If you don't love shortbread, you've completely lost your mind. The silky cheesecake is swirled through with ample amounts of sweet, amber-colored salted caramel. It's a creamy, crunchy dream. 

If you cut them small, you can feed a crowd. Or you and your sweetheart can devour the whole pan. If it's your birthday, you can do whatever you want. Trust me, you'll want to eat them all. 

Photos by Monica Szczupider

Butterscotch Muffins

Let's get one thing straight. Muffins are not frostingless cupcakes. They should be more dense, with larger holes, and have a wonderful crust surrounding the whole shebang. That's why I never bake muffins in paper. They have to be naked to be at their best.

I've been making these butterscotch muffins for quite a few months, and thanks to Monica, they now look just as delicious as they taste. They are perfectly muffiny, and studded with sweetness from the butterscotch chips. They've also got a gorgeous drizzle of caramel sauce on top that sometimes forms the most perfect crunchy bits around the edge from the burnt sugar.

And with ten seconds in the microwave, you can keep eating these for a couple of days. When they're warm the butterscotch chips quickly become gooey pockets of sweet bliss. I could eat a hundred of them. And the base muffin recipe is highly adaptable. You can add just about anything to it to get to your ideal muffins.

Morning, noon, or night, you can't go wrong with eating a dozen of these, but if you want to share, I'll understand.

All photos by Monica Szczupider

Caramel Cheesecake

I first made this cheesecake for my husband's birthday. Caramel and cheesecake are pretty much his two favorite words in the food world. How could I refuse this special request? He dug into it before I could get home from work and immediately declared it the best cheesecake he'd ever eaten. I consider this high praise, indeed.

I made it again for someone's Thanksgiving dinner. She later reported that her guests absolutely loved it.

Trust me, you're going to want to eat this. It's rich and creamy and simply dripping with salted caramel, then wreathed in crushed Heath bar to add a bit of delicious crunch.

Don't wait. Get this cheesecake now. Let me make one for you. It's amazing!

Triple Caramel Cupcakes

I'm a chocolate freak myself, but my husband LOVES caramel (which must be pronounced with three syllables).  So when it came time to find ideas for last weekend's Taichung Improv show, he, of course, suggested caramel cupcakes.  These cupcakes delivered on all fronts.

It starts with a dense sticky caramel cake made with brown sugar.  Then there's a secret filling of homemade caramel sauce.  Piled on top is a caramel butter cream and a drizzle of that caramel filling, just in case you hadn't had enough caramel already.  Sadly, they all sold out before I even got to try one, but I hear they were divine.  If you love all things caramel, you're gonna melt when you sink your teeth into one of these.

Inspired by Sprinkle Bakes