Toffee Shot Glasses

Yet another experiment with shot glasses. I also made some fudge glasses....we'll just let that experiment rest in peace....nough said. The toffee glasses actually turned out quite nicely. A horde of tiny little bubbles in the glasses but they still looked pretty. They were easy to handle, sturdy little containers. They were a little tough to break apart though. I could see using toffee again.

I've been wanting to play around with using my shot glasses as a kind of a vase for some other nibbles. The new Honey Wheat, Wheat Thin Crunch Stix are kind of like salty graham crackers....neat flavor. They also make perfect stems/sticks to hold goodies. I wrapped some peanut butter dough around the sticks, trying out different shapes before dipping them in chocolate. The longer shapes I molded were harder to work with and manipulate into the shot glasses....but they were so cute! The single ball shape was the easiest to work with. A double ball would probably be fine as well....but I see I didn't have any middle ground when I formed up my sticks...ehehehe. It also occurred to me that the sticks dipped only in chocolate would make a great makeshift spoon to leave in the shot glass with a different filling....like caramel or cream cheese and chocolate.


Toffee Shot Glasses

Butter the silicone shot glass molds (available from Amazon) to help the toffee release....this isn't a critical step but it does help.

Cook up some toffee...

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt

In a heavy sauce pan combine the butter and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and let cook until temperature reaches 285 degrees, stirring often.

Pour or ladle the toffee into the shot glass molds. Tap mold on counter to release some of the bubbles. Let cool. Putting them in the fridge will speed up the chilling process. Demold.

Mix together some peanut butter center dough to make the pieces you want to display in the toffee cups.

Peanut Butter Centers

1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
2.5 tbls tub margarine
1 cups powdered sugar
6oz milk chocolate chips
1 tbls shortening

Melt the peanut butter and the margarine in the microwave. Stir often to prevent overheating. Stir in the powdered sugar. Shape the dough into whatever shape you desire and slide them onto the Wheat Thin Stix. Chill in the fridge or freezer. (I am thinking next time a little dab of melted chocolate at the tip of the Wheat Thin Stix when I attach the peanut butter centers to them will help secure them.)

Melt the milk chocolate chips and the shortening in the microwave, stirring often to prevent overheating. Spoon some of the melted chocolate into a toffee shot glass. Turn the glass on it's side to coat the interior of the shot glass in chocolate. Pour the residual chocolate back into your bowl. Dip the rim of the shot glass into the melted chocolate to coat it.

Take the peanut butter shapes out and dip them into the chocolate. You may need to spoon the chocolate over them instead of dipping. Rest the dipped pieces on waxed paper. When all your pieces are coated use a fork to drizzle some lines of chocolate over them. Put into fridge to set.

Arrange your dipped peanut butter pieces in the shot glasses. Take some of the extra peanut butter center filling and form it into tiny balls. Drop the balls into the shot glass so they fill up some of the empty space....not to mention they look super cute. Chill until you are ready to serve.


One lonely little shot glass....
I coated the rim of the shot glasses with chocolate to give them a more finished look....I could have taken this a step further with some crushed toffee on the chocolate....for a sort of salted margarita glass look.

Caramel Shot Glasses

Experiments with shot glasses continue. ;) Caramel, while a neat idea, is a no go. So very sticky and zomg almost impossible to consume the glass without nuking it in the microwave to make it pliable after eating the contents....that or melting it down completely. I don't want the glass to be so hard to eat....kind of defeats the purpose of making it edible ehehehe. Did I mention sticky?

I did make one chocolate shot glass testing out a way to get it out of the mold easier. Chocolate glasses still are my favorite...peanuts and chocolate a close second though they don't look as pretty.

Meanwhile....the caramel space invader toppers are wicked cute.


Caramel

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup tub margarine
14 oz non fat sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

In a large saucepan cook sugar, brown sugar, margarine, sweetened condensed milk, and corn syrup over medium heat stirring constantly until the temperature reaches 250 to 252. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt. Using a ladle or measuring cup pour hot caramel into shot glass mold and space invader mold. (You can butter or spray Pam into the shot glass mold to help pop the glasses free when they cool, but it's not a must. The smaller bite sized mold doesn't need it.) Tap mold on counter to get the larger bubbles out. Pop glasses into fridge to chill for a couple hours before removing them from the mold.

Filling:
4oz reduced fat cream cheese
6oz milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup thinned caramel
1/4 cup crushed toffee pieces

Melt milk chocolate in microwave. Stir frequently to prevent overheating. Mix together the cream cheese, melted chocolate, and thinned caramel until smooth. Add in the toffee pieces. Chill for a 30 minutes or so before spooning or piping into shot glass molds. Nestle the caramel space invader pieces on the top of the filling. Chill until ready to serve.


A closer look at one of the glasses...
I had some busy bubble action happening in the caramel glass itself. Some of bubbles are from where I spritzed in some Pam to help the caramel pop free of the mold. The one section I didn't spritz anything in still had bubbles just not as many....they were a little more closely packed. The Pam did help free the glasses up easier from the mold...though it's not critical.....a little more manipulation and they will pop free of the silicone on their own.

Hmm....the top of the filling could have used some chocolate drizzle too. I thought that would be too much with the caramel topper, but I miss it now.

Caramel Toffee Brownies 1.0

I was going to make my usual brownies with a vanilla cookie swirl in the middle, but I was all like no no.....it must contain caramel....oh oh and toffee. Of course this led to a total side road of toffee making, but you have to roll with these things you know. The end result tasted wonderful, but they were on the gooey side. Did I mention they tasted....oh so wonderful? I had to chill them before removing them from the pan, however. Little too much caramel I am thinking....I'm thinking half what I used would be plenty for next time.


Caramel Toffee Brownies 1.0

Caramel Toffee Cookie Layer:
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup tub margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup thinned caramel (caramel with 2tbls or so milk added in)
1 cup toffee pieces

Cream together margarine, sugar, and brown sugar. Add in egg and vanilla. Mix in flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix in caramel. Fold in toffee pieces. Set aside.

Brownie Layer:
1 cup tub margarine
4 squares (4 oz) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla

Melt margarine and chocolate together in the microwave. Stir often and be careful not to overheat. Add in sugar and vanilla Beat the eggs lightly in a small bowl before adding them to the chocolate mixture. Stir in flour.

Pour half the batter in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Drop the caramel toffee cookie dough by spoonfuls over the bottom chocolate layer. Swirl it around a bit. Pour the rest of the brownie batter over the cookie dough. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 mins or until it tests as done.


Just another look at the brownies...
Thank goodness none are left in the house as I'd be stalking them through the kitchen!

Toffee

While I was in the middle of making brownies I realized they cried out for toffee pieces. I don't keep those on hand, but toffee is super easy to whip up....so I made some based on this recipe. Honestly though, I probably would have decided to make my own even if I was at the store looking at the bag rofl.....I'd just rather use my own caramel, fudge, ect ect. Ahem...I now have a spare stash of toffee bits in the freezer just waiting for action...yes yes.

I actually broke out the real butter too....I feel so naughty...ehehehe. So very much saturated fat in butter I tell you. I need to try out another one of the no trans fat margarine sticks again....I loathed the last one I gave a whirl though so I'm feeling gunshy about trying another.


Toffee

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

In a heavy sauce pan combine the butter and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and let cook until temperature reaches 285 degrees, stirring often.

Pour into buttered/greased cookie sheet with sides. Top with chocolate chips, allowing them to sit for a couple minutes to soften before spreading the chocolate around. Cool and then let set in the fridge. Break into pieces.


A couple pics of the process...
The toffee breaks apart very easily....I actually just used a butter knife, pressing the tip into the toffee to snap it apart. You could break it up by hand, but I'm pretty sure the chocolate would end up all of the place......which could be fun depending on your mood. ;)

The toffee should be a pretty caramel color when it's done cooking. I stirred more often than the recipe suggested as the toffee cooked....I found it needed it to prevent scorching. I could have been running my cook temp a little hot though. This shot is just after I poured it into my pan.