I have always said I couldn’t give up bread amidst the whole gluten-free fad. I say fad because I don’t think everyone who gives up gluten needs too. I have no doubt that once the dust settles only those who have gluten issues will stick to it.
However I had been doing research because of chronic pain and inflammation which I’ve had enough of. I did get bloodwork done but I have the family trait of not presenting the normal way for medical issue so they came back negative. My doctor, who is normally really good, said that some people are just built this way and are weaker. Given that I was a 3rd degree black belt I don’t accept that. So I am on a 30 day experiment to go without gluten to see what happens. I’ve done it for a week now and I think I’m making progress but it’s too soon to tell.
Right now because I am being strict with it I have to be creative with the recipes as I don’t want to do two sets of meals for all of us. Someone I know who loves to bake has also gone gluten free and she suggested finely processing oats and use that as flour as a substitution for certain desserts. I thought this would be perfect for my date bars or this week apple bars given that we have a massive amount of apples.
And because I was baking with apples I thought I would try my hand at salted caramel.
For the caramel you will need:
2 cups sugar
12 T butter
2 tsp sea salt (some recipes call for fleur de sel but that’s crazy expensive)
A cup of heavy cream
Spiced rum to taste
Brown sugar to taste
This will make a lot so you can half the ingredients. In a saucepan heat up the sugar.
You need the heat to be medium, medium high and stir constantly while the sugar melts. It will get chunky then will smooth out.
Turn off the heat when the temp reaches 350F/175C and add the butter a bit at a time.
Stir until the butter is fully incorporated. Then add the cream and stir well. This is where it almost went wonky for me. When you are cooking the sugar you have to be very careful not to burn it. I had a slightly burnt taste so I needed to fix it. I incorporated some brown sugar and a couple of tablespoons of spiced rum while adding the sea salt. Turned out to be similar to toffee flavour and everyone gave it a thumbs up. A happy left turn!
Let that cool while working on the apple bars.
Cut up 4-5 apples into smallish pieces and start to heat in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of apple cider.
Add 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste and simmer until the apples soften.
Pulse enough oats to give you 1 1/2 cups of oat flour to replace the flour.
Mix this with 2 cups of oats, 1 cup sugar, and 1 tsp of baking soda. I added 3/4 cup of melted butter like the original recipe but I think next time I would add a cup to keep it moist. Spread out half in a 8 x 11 pan then spread out the apple mixture.
Top with the rest of the oats and bake for 25 minutes. Drizzle with the caramel and serve.
The caramel can be kept in the fridge for a few weeks. To soften just microwave for 10-15 seconds. I’ll have to come up with a few more desserts to use up the caramel!
My husband would love these.
They didn’t last long! 😊
Wait a minute…I’m a 3rd degree black belt too! 🙂 I’m serious! In Tae Kwon Do. Interesting. Well, sorry to hear about your pain and inflammation. Hope your experiment goes well and you find some relief. I have a bit of inflammation too (not too bothersome) and I drink fresh turmeric every morning. I whizz it in a bullet with a little water and drink it from a shot glass. It definitely helps. I heard fresh turmeric is wonderful for inflammation. Your apple bars are fabulous!
Kempo for me! 😊. I’ll have to look in to adding turmeric in our dishes.
🙂
Well, I love rum & caramel, and apple, so this looks delish. I make some bars (that I’ve been meaning to post) with oats done exactly the same way, so I know this has got to be good. I use tumeric & ginger both for inflammation, and guess what – Dr.’s don’t always know what they’re talking about…
Medicine, really, not as a way to treat specific illness or acute conditions, but to identify and treat chronic ailments is still in it’s infancy!
They look wonderful. Salt caramel has been a very popular flavour in this area of France for a long time. The old Roman salt pans on the Ile de Re still produce very fine “fleur de sel” that is used, among other things, to make caramel au beurre sale ( should be an acute accent on the “e” otherwise it means “dirty” rather than “salted”) 🙂
See this is my fear. I’m trying to learn French and I worry if I get the accent wrong I’m going to get slapped! 🙂
I’ll stay out of range of you and Tiny White Cottage. Still, these look delicious.
Don’t worry you’re safe! 🙂 And thanks, they were really good.
That looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
You’re welcome! 🙂
Sorry to read of your inflamation issues though I agree with Conor. You won’t get any guff from me. 🙂
Just when I think that salted caramel is the best thing ever, you add spiced rum to the sauce to make it so much better. I bet it’s the perfect topping for your apple bars. Love this!
Ha! Don’t worry you’re safe. 🙂 Sometimes it’s good when things go a little wonky because then you have to be creative to fix it!
I was going to read your recent roasted banana post but when I read “salted spiced rum caramel” I had to make a beeline for this recipe. I have GOT to try making caramel one of these days. Question: can I pour this into a pan, let it cool and cut it into squares for candy or is it too soft for candy?
It will be too soft to hold any shape. It will firm up in the fridge but be very gooey. It’s good just out of the bowl too. 🙂