Delicious salty sweet recipes: A round-up of my top 6!
Firstly, a confession. I don’t really love desserts. I’m more of a savoury girl. Or at least I was. Recently I jumped on the bandwagon of a wonderful trend that is taking the food world by storm. Desserts with a pinch of salt! Yep, salty and sweet can be utterly delicious.
Salted desserts are often simply created with a finishing sprinkle of flaky sea salt. Or a drizzle of thick, salted caramel. Or both! But they can be so much more… Whether it’s cookies, cakes, pies, doughnuts, ice creams, tropical fruit or anything else found on a dessert menu, if it’s sweet, you can salt it. The salt brings out the subtle flavors that can get lost in the dessert’s sweetness. It makes the experience of eating your dessert feel wonderfully unpredictable and new.
But it’s not all about taste. We crave sugar because carbohydrates fuel our bodies, and our bodies need salt because it’s an essential nutrient. So if it makes you feel better about indulging, you can tell yourself your body made you do it!
While there are approximately a bazillion salty sweet recipes on the internet for salted chocolate brownies and other salted chocolate treats, I have recently been collecting some of the more untraditional salty sweet recipes from my favourite food bloggers around the internet. Indulge in a salty sweet combination with these 6 recipes: donuts with burnt caramel and sea salt; watermelon salt and chilli granita; black plum tarts with brown butter and sea salt; salted caramel stuffed chocolate crinkle cookies; salted honey and apple tarte tatin; salted chocolate and pumpkin babka
1. Doughnuts with Burnt Caramel & Sea Salt
A wonderful combination of salty, sweet and charred! Yep, charred (burnt) caramel!
Todd & Dianne from White On Rice Couple have pushed the boundaries with their charred (or burnt) caramel glaze and finished with a pinch of salt. They have developed an awesome treat that I can’t wait to try out. I’ll probably try this with licorice root finishing salt (because I love it). You can find this salty sweet recipe here: burnt caramel doughnuts with a pinch of salt. If you make this one, please share in the comments below to tell us what you think.
2. Watermelon, Chill and Sea Salt Granita
Salty, sweet, spicy, sour and icy!
This delicious concoction comes to us from one of my food blogging heros: Katie from What Katie Ate. It contains just 4 ingredients: Dried chilli flakes, lime juice, salt, watermelon and would make an easy and delicious addition to a summer dinner party, a casual barbecue with friends or a perfect end to a family meal. Perhaps the salt that would best compliment this one is kaffir lime, ginger and chilli finishing salt.
3. Plum Tarts with Brown Butter and Sea Salt
Next up is another easy peasy salty sweet recipe. A simple dessert made so much better with a pinch of salt.
This wonderful recipe comes to us from Jessica at How Sweet it is. In Jessica’s words these are “embarrassingly simple. Um. Puff pastry. Plums. Brown butter. Maybe a little sugar if you want. Some sea salt.” How about a touch of smokiness as well: cherry wood smoked salt.
4. Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolat Crinkle Cookies
How delicious/indulgent/awesome do these look?
“These taste like caramel brownies in cookie form. They are intensely delicious! ” Just one of many awesome salty sweet recipes on Cooking Classy, these Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (with raspberry and pepperberry finishing salt to add a touch of tartness and zing) are worth a try. Comment below and let us know if you’re going to try these out.
5. Salted Honey Apple Tarte Tartin
Salt and honey – yes please! Apples and pastry – yes please!
I have made many apple tarte tatins. It’s pretty much my go-to easy dessert for those times that I don’t have hours and hours to prepare a dessert for friends or family. Until I saw this recipe from Donna Hay, I hadn’t thought to sprinkle with sea salt. You can bet I’ll be trying it very soon and I’ll use lemon myrtle finishing salt!
6. Salted Chocolate and Pumpkin Babka
And now, maybe it’s the best left for last…
What’s a babka you ask? It’s a cake made from a brioche dough that’s been twisted and sweetened with fillings like chocolate, cinnamon or fruit and nuts. In this version, filled with dark chocolate and pumpkin. And of course, it has a sea salt topping. You can get this recipe from Hummingbird High here: salted chocolate and pumpkin babka. I’m going to finish this salty sweet recipe blog post now because I just have to make this. Now! And I’m going to try it with a little pinch of finishing salt with native pepperberry.
So people, what are you waiting for? Go forth and make yourself and your family and friends very happy with an indulgent and delicious treat. And if you think I’ve missed any amazing salty sweet recipes, let me know in the comments below.
