Inventing the Wheel
I thought I was so smart. I really did. I made a mug of coffee. It’s one of my guilty pleasures, the other major one being all the plastic wrap I use in pie making workshops. I enjoy a mug of java…and sometimes two…in the morning. I like the ritual of it all…strong coffee with plenty of cream and sugar. When I’m out of cream, I use a bit of whipping cream, or milk of any kind….cow, goat, almond, soy, hemp. If I’m splurging on sugar, a lump or two of rough cut cubes. Yum! But, on this day, I had no cream, or milk of any kind to add. 
In the back of the fridge hiding, were bottles of caramel sauce–salted caramel, pecan caramel, coffee caramel. I used them when working on a recipe last year and tucked them away. The light went off. Ooooo! Caramel is sugar and cream with some salt in it. How about a big spoonful of that in my mug! I thought of the Star Trek words…to boldly go where no coffee drinker has gone before.
I opened one jar, and put some in. Yes, I must confess that first I tasted a spoonful straight out of the jar, and it was good! Into the mug went another. I stirred it around. It colored my brew to a lovely au lait hue. Then I sipped. YES! This is the best thing ever. Well, maybe not quite that, but darn good. I sipped and sipped some more, sighing contently as I finished the last of the mug.
I thought, I must tell everyone about this. It will be a new and very easy trend. 
I looked online to see if anyone else had discovered this brilliant idea…and guess what? There are lots of recipes online for JUST this very thing. I had not invented the wheel. I was crestfallen…for a moment, until I decided to make myself a second caramel laced mug of coffee. You only live once, right? 
Morning Ritual
There are many caramel sauces on market shelves, perfect for adding to coffee, drizzling on top of ice cream, or eating straight from the spoon. Here’s one of my favorites.
The post Inventing the Wheel appeared first on Art of the Pie®.