Because I am famous for not being patient enough to bake, and I almost never do baking from scratch, I have had to come up with ways pull a few tricks out of the hat over the years that pass as dessert but won’t be a huge, messy production that ends in an inedible or embarrassing flop.

Recently, I was charged with creating a dessert for a birthday party, and rather than attempt to fuss over a cake, I decided on something with a little flair that would be much easier than layering stacks of crumbly cake and forcing frosting over non-compliant edges.

I am a caramel person. I know they’ll take away my woman card for saying so, but I’m really not that into chocolate. And yes, I’ve had good chocolate, and yes I know chocolate is a much more sophisticated flavor, and still, I’m a caramel devotee. So this time I decided that I’d try to make both me, the caramel queen, and the rest of the world, the chocolate masses, happy.

Generally, I am against nuts in desserts, unless they are involved in some sort of praline action, but I’ve been seeing these salted caramel/fruit concoctions lately that really had me intruiged. A dessert idea was born, then, of my desire to dunk fruit in salted caramel.

I started with salted caramel strawberries, rolled in crushed peanuts. Not only does this get a ten for taste (salty, sweet, fruity, nutty, and of course, caramel-y), but it has a really excellent textural element as well. The crunchy coating, the gooey caramel, the fleshy fruit all wrap together like a little mouth symphony.

Now, there is a caveat to my recipe. Most recipes would call for you to make your own caramel sauce, or at least make a thick sauce of melted caramel cubes, which I will admit, does work best. The thick caramel sauce (melted caramels and whipping cream combined) holds the peanuts far better than my version.

But take heart, there is a method to my madness. I wanted the caramel not only for the strawberries, but for the “bread pudding” part of the show also – and the thick stuff would not work for the later application. Rather than make two sauces, I made do with the one runnier version.

I started with two jars of caramel ice cream topping, and I added just two tablespoons of whipping cream because I wanted the creamy factor but I didn’t want to make it any runnier than it already was. I whisked that together with a tablespoon of sea salt, and it was ready to use.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2010/sep/5/198073/

(Note: if your caramel and cream won’t combine, microwave it for 20 seconds and it will.)

Meanwhile, I had my strawberries lounging around in an ice bath, because it adds to the succulence of the berry and it helps the green tops to perk up to their brightest and cutest selves.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2010/sep/5/198074/

I set up my process station, which consisted of a bowl of the caramel sauce (drippy as it was), a sheet of waxed paper, and two cups of peanuts I crushed on a cutting board.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2010/sep/5/198075/

I used a Pampered Chef food chopper to get the nuts to the rough chop I desired. As a side note, it really is a handy kitchen gadget. I use it a lot, on account of my inherent laziness.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2010/sep/5/198076/

At this time, I also started my oven preheating, for the baking part to come.

Then, I dried each strawberry thoroughly, gave it a good dip in the caramel, rolled it in the nuts, and laid it on the wax paper. Usually I’d sprinkle a few extra nuts onto the caramel after it rested, for a heavier coating.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2010/sep/5/198077/

That is all. They look fancy, taste amazing, and are really versatile. You can serve them just by themselves, stuck on the end of a bamboo skewer (which, by the way, makes the dipping and rolling mess-free), or you can use them atop another dessert, which is precisely what I did.

My “dessert” was to be caramel brownie bread pudding. And all that means is this: you bake a batch of your favorite brownies, either from box or scratch (I usually use Ghirardelli double chocolate), only you take it out of the oven about seven minutes shy of its full baking time. You don’t want runny, but you want it really sticky and moist – very under baked. I used a nine inch round cake pan, because I wanted the brownies thick.

When the brownies have cooled, poke holes all around the top with the end of a wooden spoon, and then pour the rest of the caramel all over the top. It will look like far too much sauce, but trust me, over about ten minutes the goo will all absorb into the brownies. Then top the whole thing with your strawberries. I had quite a few so I really loaded them on, which made it a really pretty dessert.

That’s it!

The brownies will not hang together – they’re not supposed to. This is best served over a little ice cream in a bowl. Spoon the brownie goo out of the pan on top of the ice cream, and top with a nutty strawberry or two.

The combination of flavors – the richness of the brownie pudding, the tartness of the strawberry, and the saltiness of the caramel and nuts is absolutely my favorite. Basically, I do not want any other dessert again. This covers all the bases, and is easy enough for even a baking noob like me.

I regret I don’t have a picture of the final product to show you. It got eaten before I got a chance to shoot it. Which you should expect to happen to yours too, if you make it. It’s okay, though. You know what a pan of brownies looks like, right?