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Orange Whiskey and Maple Caramel Sauce

Orange Whiskey and Maple Caramel Sauce

When I was in the Netherlands a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to bake and shoot with Renee Kemps, a fellow blogger I'd met at the Saveur Blog Awards. At the awards, she and I hit it off right away, mostly by camping out at the food table during the ceremony and helping ourselves to copious amounts of Wilma Jean's fried chicken and tequila shots. We then realized that we would have an opportunity to continue our adventures — it just so happened that a few weeks after the awards, I would be flying to Amsterdam, where Renee currently lives, for my sister's wedding. We excitedly made plans to bake and shoot together.

The initial plan was to make a traditional Dutch baked good; Renee was insistent that we make stroopwafel cookies (that is, an incredibly thin waffle sandwich pressed together with thick caramel syrup). But, well, that just didn't happen. We ended up with these shortbread-like sandwich cookies instead, along with the best caramel syrup I've ever made:


You can read all about our (mis)adventures over on Renee's blog and why we ended up with the cookies that we did. Also, if you haven't checked out her blog already, hurry over! Renee shot all the photos for this post (those callused and veiny rock-climber hands in the photo are yours truly), and, as you can see, is a crazy talented photographer and the well deserved winner of this year's Saveur's Best Food Photography - Editor's Choice Award. Not only is her blog visually stunning, but her incredibly sweet and kind personality just radiates through all her posts!

So get your butt over there:


And for now, I'll leave you with this quickie recipe for orange, whiskey, and maple caramel sauce:
get the recipe »

Available link for download