Salted Caramels

I don’t know what it is, but Joanne LOVES cooking with sugar. She gets all giddy when she sees bubbling sugar on our stove. So, it was not a surprise when this recipe was added to our list. The funny thing was, (don’t tell her I told you this), when making these, she messed up at least 3 times. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what she was doing, she could do this recipe in her sleep, it was just that she was so excited to make them for the blog that the love of cooking sugar went to her head. It was painful to watch, she would be on track, everything looked perfect and then, she mis-measured something or forgot to add the butter in the end. I tried to help, but, trust me, that was not a good idea. In the end, though, she did it and they were fantastic. Give them a try, the caramels are a touch hard, but soften slowly in your mouth and were totally inspired by David Lebovitz, he is truly amazing!

p.s. these would make a perfect homemade gift!

-Adam

How to make Salted Caramels

The key to making any kind of candy, especially with sugar, is to measure and prepare everything in advance. Once you start making the caramels, you really won’t have much time in between steps. You are going to need sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla extract, heavy cream and salt.

By the way, we used corn syrup here, but you can also use Golden or rice syrup. Next time we make these, we want to use Golden syrup, it sounds delish!

Find a small saucepan and heat the cream, butter, vanilla extract and some salt. Once the butter melts into the cream, take it off the heat and cover to keep warm.

Now, find a medium to large saucepan and heat the corn syrup and sugar. You can use a silicone spatula to stir the sugar into the syrup a bit, just be careful not to splash the mixture up the sides of the pan.

If any sugar granules make their way up the sides of the pan, use a wet pastry brush to knock the sugar down. I know this seems a bit fussy, but when you cook sugar any granules left on the sides of the saucepan can crystallize, which messes with your final product and could actually cause it to burn.

Once the sugar has dissolved into the syrup, it will look like this. Make sure you have a candy thermometer attached to the pan. Stay around and wait until that thermometer reads 310 degrees F exactly.

Take the sugar off the heat and slowly pour in that warm cream and butter mixture from earlier. Don’t be surprised when the sugar bubbles violently, that is supposed to happen and is why you really need to be using a medium to large saucepan. Add the cream slowly, this way if the bubbling looks like it will go over the sides, you can prevent it.

Once the cream and sugar have been combined, add the pan back to the heat and cook until the candy thermometer reaches 260 degrees F. As the temperature rises, you will notice the color will become darker. Every now and again, gently swirl the pan (not with a spatula, just use the pan’s handle). This will make sure the caramel cooks evenly.

Once you meet 260 degrees F. Take the caramel off the heat and add the rest of the butter. Then, pour the caramel into an aluminum-lined loaf pan.

Allow the caramel to cool 10-20 minutes then sprinkle some extra course salt on top. Now, wait until the caramel is completely cool. Then, use a heavy chef’s knife to cut into small rectangles or squares.

Enjoy!