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    Home » Everything Amish » Plain Culture

    Aster's Kitchen: Amish Caramel Cinnamon Squares

    Published: Mar 24, 2016 · Updated: Mar 24, 2016 by Kevin Williams | 4 Comments

    The pan of Amish cinnamon caramel squares before they are cut into squares....the caramel gives a pretty marbling effect.

    The pan of Amish cinnamon caramel squares before they are cut into squares....the caramel gives a pretty marbling effect.

    By Kevin Williams

    I do like to try Amish recipes and since this is heavily food-oriented site, it's a good thing I like to do it.   I think cooking and baking is a great activity to do with kids. It gets their brains moving and thinking and it's a fun way to spend time together. Aster is only 2 1 /2 and her attention span flits around like a butterfly in the spring so I'm trying to pick recipes that are relatively fast and easy. If she's bored and running into the other room and I'm finishing the recipe myself, that sort of defeats the "time together" part of my mission.

    So, yesterday, we tackled Amish Caramel Cinnamon Squares, a recipe from an Amish woman in Clare, Michigan.  Wow, these were/are good.  Between going to the Olive Garden for my Mom's birthday and nibbling on these squares, SIGH, I'm definitely slowing the diet down.

    The recipe I had called for a pan to be lined with foil.  That was probably my biggest mistake. I don't see any reason why it couldn't just be a lightly greased 9 X 13 pan, so I am going to edit the foil out of the recipe.  It's even worse if you do what I do and accidentally use the non-stick side of the foil.

    I just used these bought caramels, but I spent 10 minutes unwrapping them all. Someone who knows that they are doing could probably make their own homemade version in less time!

    I just used these bought caramels, but I spent 10 minutes unwrapping them all. Someone who knows that they are doing could probably make their own homemade version in less time!

    My little helper taking her task of unwrapping caramels seriously

    My little helper taking her task of unwrapping caramels seriously

    One version I've seen of the recipe calls for making your own homemade caramels. Forget that, no way I'd get through the whole recipe with Aster then.  So I took a short-cut - I thought - and bought a 14 ounce bag of soft caramels. Another version of the recipe says that is a good "short cut."  Well, it is - if you are like most Amish ladies and have 7 kids to help you - if you are doing it by yourself or with just one 2-year-old helper it is actually pretty time-consuming to stand there and unwrap 40 caramels.   They actually weren't that easy to unwrap (thank you, Brach's)  I was fumbling with them and trying to quickly unwrap them.  Aster managed to get a few unwrap and shrieked excitedly "I did it!!!" each time.  She's a very talkative two-year-old. At one point in the recipe she got bored and went into the adjacent room and sounded absolutely adult-like when she said "Daddy, I'm going to read now but if you need help just yell `help me' and I'll come running in."   Sheesh.  How did I become the kitchen help and she the director?caramelbar

    These bars do come out very thin, but they are rich and dense (but a cinnamony kind of rich) so I don't know that you'd want it to be thicker.  Well, I would....but....I don't know, I was trying to think of a way to bulk up the bars...I guess you could double the recipe and increase the amount of time in the oven.

    Anyway, if you ditch the foil (and maybe the store-bought caramels) these are definitely a keeper!  Oh, and in the instructions it says to melt the caramels on low heat on your stove top, I just microwaved the milk and caramels for 3 minutes and it was fine.  I stopped once half way through to stir.

    5.0 from 1 reviews
    Aster's Kitchen: Amish Caramel Cinnamon Squares
     
    Print
    Prep time
    15 mins
    Cook time
    30 mins
    Total time
    45 mins
     
    Serves: 24 bars
    Ingredients
    • 1½ cups flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • 1½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
    • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
    • 1 package (14 ounces) caramels, unwrapped (or make your own homemade)
    • ¼ cup milk
    Instructions
    1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
    2. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl.
    3. Set aside.
    4. Mix brown sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl until well blended.
    5. Add flour mixture; mix well.
    6. Reserve 1 cup of the batter.
    7. Spread remaining batter into lightly greased 13x9-inch baking pan.
    8. Bake 15 minutes or until firm.
    9. Over low heat melt caramels and milk stirring constantly.
    10. Cool 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.
    11. Pour over baked layer in pan, spreading to within ½ inch of edges.
    12. Drop reserved 1 cup batter by spoonfuls over caramel layer.
    13. Cut through batter with knife several times for marble effect.
    14. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until center is set.
    15. Cool in pan on wire rack.
    16. Lift from pan.
    17. Cut into bars.
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    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kevin

      March 24, 2016 at 11:30 am

      Hmmmm, Patricia, I bet that would go a lot easier than the caramel candies...the foil didn't work out because I goofed and didn't use the "non-stick side", but I'm not sure why you couldn't just grease a pan. Hmmmm, I see the Blueberry Buckle now, not sure how I missed that! Although for reasons that have never been quite clear to me: Blueberry, lemon or zucchini recipes, none of those ever seem to perform that well with my readers.

      Reply
    2. brenda

      March 24, 2016 at 12:19 pm

      KEVIN - hang in there with your "director"It will pay off later.
      we )my daughter and I) have a terrific cooky recipe we have requests for every Christmas that requires unwrapping caramels. we
      eased it quite a bit by refrigerating them overnight. think Asters little fingers would find it much easier to manipulate the wrappers.
      thanks again for such a cheery story. we really needed the ray of sunshine.

      Reply
      • Kevin

        March 24, 2016 at 12:50 pm

        Thanks, Brenda, and that is a good idea about the refrigeration, I'll try that next time!

        Reply
    3. Kathy Barnes

      March 25, 2016 at 9:28 am

      Kevin this recipe sounds wonderful but my husband doesn't care for anything Carmel. I may try these when we have a church get together. I really need a little helper. The picture of Aster is very cute.
      Thanks,
      Kathy

      Reply

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    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

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