Homemade Caramel

We had a slow weekend. Thank goodness! It had been a while since we'd truly had a weekend where we had no plans and nothing to do. Saturday morning I was still trying to figure out something low key that we could do. I wanted to get out of the house, but by the time we had lounged around and relaxed enough it was nap time, so instead I decided we would do something fun at home.

Since I went to Baking Alley a few weeks ago, I've been inspired to try to bake (or make) something new. Cooking doesn't really scare me, but baking and any type of candy-making (as you probably already know...see Baking a Cake...and Eating it too!) scares me to death. Nonetheless, one of the things I've been missing is caramel. On Friday, I found this recipe for "Copycat Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate" and it sounded like the perfect motivation for me try her caramel recipe (I love savorysweetlife.com...she has great, simple recipes and she's a Christian living in the Seattle area. How can you go wrong?)

In spite of the comments where people said they "finally got it right on the 8th try!" and my great fear of candy making, I decided to go for it. I was even pretty successful for my first try. It's not 100% smooth, but it tastes delicious!

Then, after dinner, we settled down for some delicious Caramel Hot Chocolate (topped with whipped cream that I made using my homemade vanilla!) and watched "The Polar Express" as a family. A wonderfully, relaxing Saturday! I see a new tradition in the making!