I’ve just spent a fantastic week with my niece Maya.  On the second day of our stay-cation together I discovered how much she loooves her Dunkin Donuts Coffee Coolattas.  I myself hadn’t ever had one, but given my attachment for McCafe’s Iced Caramel Mocha Latte I was all in. The Coolatta is frozen vs. the Caramel Mocha Latte which is served on the rocks.  So while the coolatta was very tasty, I prefer my iced coffee the way I prefer my margaritas….on the rocks.

It’s not surprising that Maya is a fan of coffee flavored drinks.  This is the kid whose favorite ice cream flavor has always been Coffee.  On the last day of her visit I thought it would be fun to recreate our favorite coffee treats at home.  The night before I brewed up a strong batch of coffee and turned some into coffee cubes and chilled the rest for our drinks.

We started our coffee adventure with basic Iced Coffee, served over coffee cubes with a little cream (and sweetened if you like).  We then moved to Vietnamese Iced Coffee served with a good drizzle of sweetened condensed milk (about 2 tablespoons).  I looove this coffee.  It reminds me of the Thai Iced Tea that Maya’s dad used to make for us years ago.  I’m working on getting his recipe.  Hmmm Hemm.  Next up was the Iced Caramel Mocha Latte of love.

~ Iced Caramel Mocha Latte ~

1 cup strong coffee, chilled
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbl. chocolate syrup
2 Tbl. caramel sauce, plus more for drizzle
whipped cream
ice (preferably coffee cubes)

Drizzle inside of glass with caramel sauce.  Fill with ice cubes then top with chilled coffee.  Whisk together milk, chocolate syrup and caramel sauce until well combined; pour into coffee and stir.  Top with Homemade Whipped Cream and drizzle with caramel sauce.  Enjoy!

Our final attempt was to recreate Maya’s favorite Coffee Coolatta.  We brought out the big guns and loaded the Vitamix with a handful of coffee cubes, chilled strong coffee, milk, and chocolate syrup.  Gave the blender a good whirl and voila.  Nope, not quite right.  Our mixture was tasty but too thin.  We added more ice and a little more chocolate….couldn’t hurt.  Ooo maybe a bit too strong…a touch more milk.  Too thin.  By this time we were out of coffee cubes so we added a good handful of regular iced cubes.  If you like really thick, very strong, chocolateey coffeeeey milk….we nailed it.

I just love this kid.  On our first movie night we watched Miss Congeniality.  And if you’ve seen it, you’ll understand when I say I want to huuug her.  I want to squeeeeze her.  I want to keeeep her.  We had a really great vacation together.  And we will perfect the Coolatta during our next vacation together.

As a bonus I’m linking up our recipe for Almond Joy Iced Coffee.  It’s a delectable sweet treat, especially if you’re an Almond Joy fan like me.

The post Iced Caramel Mocha Latte appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

If after reading the title and seeing the picture you’re still looking for more… it’s likely you have an insatiable sweet tooth like me.  I saw these Chocolate Chip & Oreo Caramel Brownies on Pinterest from the site Betchacanteatjustone and immediately pinned it to wait patiently for the right occasion.  These brownies are dangerous and should not be left unattended…they will disappear and potentially wreak havoc.  Which is precisely why I made them to bring to my tennis match.

Four layers:  chocolate chip cookie dough, Oreo cookies, caramel sauce, brownie batter.  If you’re feeling ambitious go right ahead and whip up your favorite cookie dough, caramel topping (great trick online using sweetened condensed milk), and brownie recipe from scratch.  I however took the easy way out for all of it and literally had it assembled in less than 10 minutes.  I used:

1. Pre-made cookie dough
2. Double Stuf Oreos (why cut calories at this point)
3. Caramel ice cream topping from a jar
4. Boxed brownie mix

I also used an 8″x12″ square sided pan instead of 9″x13″ but either would be fine.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line pan with parchment paper (not waxed paper…made that mistake only once) and press cookie dough evenly across the bottom.  Trust me, you will need the wax paper to be able to lift these out of the pan.

After reading several comments on other sites about these babies being too gooey, I decided to pre-bake the cookie dough for 5 minutes, while making brownie batter (according to instructions on box).  Yes those are Triple Chunk Brownies.  You’re either all the way in or you’re out.  Clearly I’m in.  Then add a perfect layer of Oreo goodness and as if there wasn’t enough sugar sweetness going on already….lets add caramel sauce.  It was a little tricky getting this evenly spread…recommend slowly pouring or even spooning it over the Oreos.  Lastly pour brownie batter over everything else… hehehe.

It really is quite gluttonous and rather ridiculous but in a good way of course.  Back to being ‘gooey.’  The instructions say to bake these until almost done….they should appear slightly under baked.  I went 30 minutes to start, then went another 5.  Mine were definitely gooey in the middle, kind of like finding a molten lava cake surprise :)  Next time…yes, there will be a next time (I got more facebook comments on this teaser post than any previous post and I know my work family would love these), next time I will go 40 minutes total and take my chances on the edges getting a little over done.

Be sure to completely cool before lifting the parchment paper out of the pan…wouldn’t hurt to refrigerate until nice and firm.  Cut the Chocolate Chip & Oreo Caramel Brownies into bars, cutting through the middle of each Oreo to get the full layered effect.

Because they were so sinfully sweet and I wanted to spread the love…I cut these into bite size pieces.  Pretty sure everyone who tried them had multiple bites.  Yum!

Print

Chocolate Chip & Oreo Caramel Brownies

Author Betchacanteatjustone

Ingredients

• Pre made cookie dough
• Double Stuf Oreos
• Caramel ice cream topping from a jar
• Boxed brownie mix and added ingredients like oil, eggs, water

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line 8×10 or 9×13 pan with parchment paper.
• Press cookie dough evenly across the bottom and pre-bake for 5 minutes.
• Prepare brownie batter according to instructions on box.
• Add a layer of Oreo cookies.
• Slowly pour or spoon caramel sauce over oreos.
• Pour brownie batter over everything.
• Bake 35-45 minutes. They will appear slightly under baked.
• Cool completely before lifting parchment paper out of pan.
• Slice into small pieces, cutting through the middle of each oreo.

Notes

Option: serve warm with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge ;)

Additional Adventures in Chocolate…

S’Mores Brownies

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Oreo

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