I’m probably opening myself up to some ridicule (or intense dislike) for saying this, but if I’m being honest I would have to say that while I really do like chocolate, I think I like caramel just a little bit more. Fall is one of my favorite seasons ever, for lots of different reasons, but apples dipped in caramel is definitely one of them!
I have had one caramel dip recipe for years that I really loved, but I wanted to try a couple other recipes to see if I was missing out. So the other day I got my original recipe, found two others that looked good but had completely different ingredients, and I made all three! I tasted all of them and was having a really hard time picking a “winner” – they are all soooo good! I took them to an extended family dinner where I had about 15 people cast their votes…and there still wasn’t a clear winner, although two of the recipes beat out the other one.
The result of all of this research? Three fabulous caramel dips that are all quite different from each other, use very different ingredients, yet will all still satisfy those caramel cravings. The first two are super easy…as in takes less than 3 minutes to make easy. The last one took about 20 minutes to make, is a little more complicated, was delicious, but also came in last place amongst the famous family vote. I’m excited to have three different recipes for caramel now – at any given time the odds are pretty good that I will have all the ingredients for at least one of these options!
We dipped apples in all three, but I’m sure you could dip lots of other things too – bananas, graham crackers, pretzels, marshmallows…I doubt there is much that wouldn’t taste good when dipped in caramel!
Recipe #1 (this is the one I grew up with – not sure where it came from!)
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Recipe #2 (got this one from a friend of a friend)
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Sarah Carletti says
I love caramel too! Thanks for sharing. Sarah from The Ease of Freeze
Jaime @ Mom's Test Kitchen says
I'm thinking #2 would be my favorite simply because I'm not a fan of cream cheese! But I love caramel & apples and may just have to try all three of them!! And your pictures are absolutely amazing!! Thank you so much for joining in at Mom's Test Meal Mondays!!
Pears says
Oh my those look so good! I'll have to make some. I'm a new follower, feel free to stop by and follow back if you would like<br /><a href="http://iheartpears.blogspot.com/2012/10/bubble-necklace-giveaway.html" rel="nofollow">www.iheartpears.blogspot.com</a>
Mariel says
I'm a sucker for dips! These all sound delish! Thanks for sharing this on 'Or so she says…' at last week's link party! I would love to have you add the party to your list and stop back to share more of your great ideas. There's actually a party going on right now (it's every Saturday through Tuesday.) Thanks a bunch! ~ Mariel http://www.oneshetwoshe.com
LisaB says
I love caramel so much more than chocolate!!!!!