a gift worth its salt…from the belle gift guide

07 Wednesday Dec 2016

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We’ve told you belles about this before, but thought we would do a little mention again. The salts from Beautiful Briny Sea Salt will really ring some holiday belles for the cooks on your list. Petite belle first learned of these beautiful briny concoctions from her (forever older) sister (sorry, Wendi) and quickly became a fan.

Here are some of our favorite purchases…

We are thinkin’ all of our friends need a “Hot Steve”…just sayin’

You might expect one or two of these from us this year, so get ya salty selves ready!

a&a

gettin’ salty…a belle-icious discovery

12 Thursday May 2016

Posted by theRAREbelle in belle-icious

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artisan, Atlanta, Beautiful Briny Sea, salt, sugar

We were recently introduced by a dear sister-belle to a belle-ringin’ line of culinary products that we just HAD to share (again…’cause sharin’s what we are all about).

Meet Beautiful Briny Sea and their amazing line of “artisan dry goods”…

Based in Atlanta, Beautiful Briny Sea makes their products as “close to the earth” as possible…focusing on local, sustainable ingredients. To quote them, “From start to finish our products are 100% handmade.” Now that’s impressive!!

from Beautiful Briny Sea

And the Beautiful Briny Sea folks have a sense of humor…which is a major bonus in our book! With flavor names like “Magic Unicorn” and “Hot Steve“, we get to giggle while we cook. (gigglin’ makes a belle happy!)

from Beautiful Briny Sea

Speaking of giggles, they even have a hibiscus-flavored sugar called “Mr. Gigglepants“!

Just imagine sugar cookies, cupcakes, or ice cream sprinkled with this happy deliciousness!

Just brings a smile to our faces. We suspect it will work the same for you!!

a&a

off to the races with bourbon salted caramel

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by theRAREbelle in belle-icious

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bourbon, caramel, salt

Talk about winning the trifecta!! Bourbon, sea salt and caramel! In preparation for the Kentucky Derby this weekend, we thought we would share this winning recipe…a true triple crown winner courtesy of shutterbean and Bon Appetit magazine.

We were perusing the magazine and came across these caramels and just knew we had to make them! Especially since one of our manly belles was having a birthday and he is quite partial to bourbon. A perfect addition to the birthday menu! shutterbean gave it rave reviews and some great tips. Of course, our favorite tip was the addition of extra bourbon.

We plan on making these again soon….sooner if we can…and since the Derby is all about bourbon…well with a little horse racing thrown in for good measure…let’s just say it’s an opportune time to have your way with bourbon in the kitchen.

We made this twice and the second time was better because we decided to add that extra touch of bourbon (you couldn’t taste it the first time…what a waste!!)

So off to the races:

Nonstick vegetable spray

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup (1stick) unsalted butter ( we used salted and it was fine)
3 Tbsp. Bourbon
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Flaky sea salt ( such as Maldon )

You will also need a candy thermometer

Lightly coat an 8×8 baking pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper,leaving a 2″ overhang on 2 sides. Spray parchment!!!

Bring sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water to boil in a medium saucepan over medium- high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook swirling pan occasionally ,until mixture turns a deep amber color, 8-10 minutes.

Remove pan from heat, and whisk in sweetened condensed milk and butter( mixture will bubble vigorously) until smooth. Fit pan with thermometer and return to medium- low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until thermometer registers 240 degrees . Remove from heat and whisk in bourbon and kosher salt. Pour into prepared pan..let cool. Sprinkle with sea salt.