Christmas Caramels
08 Dec 2010 2 Comments
in Recipes Tags: Baking, Candy, Caramel, Food, Recipes
I started on my Christmas Treats yesterday!
The first project was caramels. It was a learning process the whole way, but they turned out
pretty good! I am thinking of doing another batch.
The recipe I used is below, but I changed it.
I did not have Vanilla beans so I just added more Vanilla extract until it tasted right (probably a little
more than double what the recipe called for). And then I did not put as much salt in (and yes
I did use sea salt), and I did not put any salt on top of the caramels as you can see
in the above photo.
I think this is a flexible experience, make the basic caramel, but customize it as fits your taste.
Fleur de Sel Caramels with Vanilla Bean
1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces (at Christmas, I like to use the fancy European style butter)
1/2 tsp vanilla (I use homemade Tahitian vanilla)
1 vanilla bean pod, split and scraped
1 1/4 teaspoon Fleur de se (sea salt)l, plus more for sprinkling
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup (can substitute light corn syrup)
1/4 cup water
Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly butter parchment.
Bring cream, butter, vanilla, vanilla beans, pods, and fleur de sel to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.
Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.
Remove pods and carefully stir cream mixture into the caramel (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248 on thermometer. Pour into baking pan and cool 30 minutes. Sprinkle another pinch or two of fleur de sel over the top of the caramel for a nice salty crunch and let sit until completely cooled. Cut into 1-inch pieces (I buttered a pizza cutter), and then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close.
Yields 64 1-inch candies
Visit Here to see the recipe and Much more beautiful photos!
