As recommended, Sandy and I chilled the caramels in the freezer for a bit to ease the slicing and dicing process one evening while visiting my folks, my sister and her boyfriend. Pro tip: For a crowd bigger than four, get another box - slicing these roughly smaller-than-an-inch cubes into representative bites smaller than a fourth is not an easy task. If you don't get quite the right bite, it's amazing how closely blood orange balsamic can taste like strawberry black pepper. But oh what fun.
We sampled each, listed our wagers, and at the end, compared our answers against the master key included - the only one we all agreed on was the chili pepper. My sister, local pastry/dessert chef legend, and my mom, home culinary genius, led the scores with *only* eight right each. Sandy and I got seven correct, my dad six...and my sister's boyfriend won the participation award with only three right! Well, I filled all of his with toothpaste, actually, so he's as lucky a guesser as he is good a sport.
All caramels were delicious and thankfully nothing like those awful pumpkin spice abominations. Be adventurous and snag your own box(es) of gamble caramels - definitely worth the pick up.
Bottom line: Trader Joe's Taste Test of Caramels: 9 out of 10 Golden Spoons.
Bottom line: Trader Joe's Taste Test of Caramels: 9 out of 10 Golden Spoons.
Can't wait to do this! Sounds like fun and a great gift for caramel lovers. Gotta make a run to TJ tomorrow to see if these are still in. Of course you missed another fun use for these.... Hide them high in the pantry when you need a sneak of something yummy over the holidays.
ReplyDeleteLol....just hope you get the one you REALLY want when you need them then :)
DeleteWe get this every year! I cut them into quarter pieces and each person in the family has to guess which caramel flavor it is. Fun and tasty way to have dessert.
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