dosants

Well I know it's been ages since I've blogged and I don't have any reason for it, other than I've been busy with other interests. I took the time to truly enjoy the summer and I'm so glad I did because now it's busy (I'm sure pretty much everyone can relate to me). Elise Ruby just started preschool and I'm working more, so there's not a lot of extra time. The posts might be a little sporadic until I get into a better groove, so if anyone still reads this thing (thank you!) it'll be easier to subscribe to the blog (on the right-hand side of the site) so that you know exactly when I put up a new post! 

In the spring Kent and I went to Sweet, a dessert-focused restaurant (um, best idea ever!!!) made popular by chef/owner Alina Eisenhauer, who had been on a Food Network cooking competition show.

The restaurant had a fun vibe and good food, but the dessert was amazing (as it should be since that's the theme!). We chose their best seller: dosants. Remember when I made cronuts? Well these are similar since it's fried puff pastry, but instead of cutting it into a classic donut shape, like the cronut, these are rectangular so that they can hold dark chocolate oozing inside.

So yes, they're basically a chocolate croissant, but fried. Then they're tossed in a bit of sugar and the over-the-top-moment is when you can dunk them in Salted Caramel Sauce. I was so excited about eating these that I burnt my tongue. I just didn't have the patience to wait for these to cool, and who can blame me? These are incredibly good. Amazing. Worth pulling out the candy thermometer for.

Salted Caramel Bars

Salted caramel sauce... bittersweet chocolate chips... pecans…all housed in an buttery oat crust. Are you drooling yet? There's no way you can you go wrong here.

Since these are bars, it goes without saying that they travel well. These also make a wonderful gift- just put them in a pretty box with a small jar of the salted caramel sauce and a note about how you should win “Gift Giver of the Year” for giving this away.

Maybe you’re in a time-crunch and don’t have time to make the homemade Salted Caramel Sauce. You could technically cheat and use a good-quality store bought sauce, but then you miss out on licking the spoon as the caramel is cooling. Or having some leftover sauce stashed away for a midnight spoon dip. 

reserve 1 1/2 cups of dough for topping

the toppings for the cooled crust

hot & bubbly, fresh out of the oven

The first time I made this recipe I thought it was just ok. The caramel, which should be the star ingredient, seemed like it absorbed into the crust. This time I used a different recipe for a Salted Caramel Sauce (rather than the one recommended with the original recipe) and adjusted the crust proportions. I also added more Salted Caramel Sauce to make it really stand out. I don't think you'll be disappointed. (recipe to follow)

Salted Caramel Sauce

Oh the obvious, delicious things you could drizzle this sauce over- ice cream, hot cocoa, cheesecake, your tongue… there are endless possibilities. Since it’s the holidays, this would make a fantastic present. In fact, that’s exactly what I did. Last year I poured this liquid gold into cute, little jars adorned with even cuter, littler labels and gifted it to my neighbors.

It also holds up to frequent microwaving amazingly well. But if you make this try to save some for a recipe that I’ll be sharing next week. It will blow your mind!

(recipe after the jump)