Saturday, December 10, 2011

Salted Caramels

I love caramel. It is safe to say that I love caramel even more than I love chocolate. But- when you combine the two, the taste is what I can describe as joy... add sea salt to the combo and it is a combo you can't even explain- but you find that you just keep wanting more!

I found a wonderful and easy salted caramel candy recipe on About.com that I made tonight. It was so simple and very tasty! The caramel was very easy to cut using small cookie cutters once it set- or you could use a knife to score while it is still warm, then continue cutting once it has set.


For a simple caramel recipe- look no further than this blog post! This recipe was modified from the Sea Salt Caramels Candy recipe on About.com

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup honey (cane syrup can also be substituted)
6 tbsp butter, cut into 1 Tbsp pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract (I use pure homemade vanilla extract)
3 tsp sea salt (e.g. Fleur de Sel, or I prefer Mediterranean Sea Salt)
1 lb Dark (60%+) chocolate, chopped

Preparation:

1. Prepare an 8-inch baking pan by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Place the cream in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring it to a boil. Stir in the sugar, corn syrup and honey and stir until it begins to boil. Periodically wipe down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to prevent sugar crystals from forming.
3. Cook the candy, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 257 degrees F on a candy thermometer.*If you do not have a candy thermometer, you can take it just past the soft ball stage. The color turned a nice "caramel" color once the temperature hit around 255 degrees F. So if you continue to stir until you see a golden caramel color, you are probably around 255-260 degrees F. Be very careful at this stage because the temperature increases quickly and you are much more likely to burn the mixture at this point. 
4. Remove the pan from the heat immediately and stir in the butter, vanilla, and 2 teaspoons of salt.
5. Pour into prepared pan and let set at room temperature until firm enough to cut.
6. Cut the caramel into small squares or strips with a chef’s knife.
7. Temperate the chocolate and dip the caramels in the chocolate one at a time. Place them on a baking sheet covered with waxed paper or foil to set. While chocolate is still wet, sprinkle on the remaining salt and allow to set completely.

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