Soft Caramels Makes about 45-50 caramels
Ingredients
8x8 baking dish (or similar size)
Parchment paper
2-quart saucepan
4-quart saucepan
Instant-read thermometer or candy thermometer
Spatula
Whisk
Wax paper
Instructions
1. Prepare the caramel mold. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment so that excess paper hangs over the edges. Spray the parchment and the sides of the pan with nonstick spray.
2. Melt the butter in the cream. Over medium heat, warm the cream, butter, and salt in the 2-quart saucepan until the butter melts. Remove from heat, but keep the pan close by.
3. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water.
In the larger 4-quart saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir until the sugar is evenly moistened and forms a thick paste. Wipe down the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush so there are no sugar crystals above the surface of the sugar mixture. Clip the instant-read thermometer to the side of the pan so that the heat sensor is immersed in the sugar. Do not stir the sugar after this point.
Note: The large saucepan is necessary because the sugar will bubble up and triple in size when you add the cream. Do not substitute a smaller pan.
4. Cook the sugar syrup.
Place the pot with the sugar mixture over medium to medium-high heat. Let the sugar syrup come to a boil without stirring. Around 250°F, the sugar syrup will turn transparent and boil rapidly. Around 320°F, the syrup will darken slightly and smell caramel-like. You can proceed to the next step any time before it reaches 325°F. This stage is more about the color you like your caramel. A light to medium copper color is the goal.
5. Whisk in the cream and butter.
As soon as the syrup has reached the ideal color, immediately pour the warm cream and butter mixture into the sugar syrup while whisking gently. The sugar syrup will bubble up and triple in size. Stop whisking once all the milk and butter mixture has been added.
6. Heat the caramel to 245°F - 250°F. Return the pan to medium to medium-high heat. Let the caramel come to a boil, stirring occasionally to keep from burning on the bottom. It will start off as a soft buttery yellow and eventually darken to reddish-brown caramel. Remove from heat when the caramel reaches 245°F to 250°F.
7. Whisk in the vanilla. Quickly whisk the vanilla into the caramel.
8. Pour the caramels into the mold. Immediately pour the caramels into the mold. Don’t scrape the pan if there are hard burnt bits on the bottom.
9. Let the caramels set. Set the caramels somewhere out of the way to set, for at least two hours or (ideally) overnight. Once the caramels have cooled to room temperature, you can cover the pan.
10. Cut the caramels. When the caramels have set, lift them out of the pan by the parchment paper flaps and onto a cutting board. Cut the caramels into candies with a very sharp knife. If the caramels stick to your knife, spray your knife with nonstick cooking spray.
11. Wrap the caramels in wax paper. Cut squares of wax paper a little longer than your caramels. Wrap each caramel in wax paper and twist the ends closed. Caramels will keep at room temperature for about two weeks.
Additional Notes:
• Softer Caramels: The softness of the caramels is mainly a result of the cream and the temperature the caramel is cooked to. This recipe makes fairly firm, chewy caramels. For softer, taffy-like caramels, experiment with adding an extra 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of cream to this recipe.
Caramel Variations:
• Salted Caramels - Add two teaspoons of salt to the cream mixture at the beginning of the recipe and sprinkle the finished caramels with coarse sea salt.
• Gingerbread Caramels - Add 2 tablespoons of molasses to the sugar mixture. Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves along with the vanilla at the very end of cooking.
• Chocolate Caramels - Increase the amount of cream to 1 1/2 cups. Melt 10 ounces of good chocolate into the cream mixture along with the butter.
Corn syrup is an invert sugar, which means that it prevents sugar crystals from forming. Microscopically, sugar has jagged edges and when you melt it, sugar liquefies. But if you keep cooking it to a syrup, the crystals want to re-attach themselves to others. The crystals will also attach to any bit of foreign object in your pot so it is important to keep everything very clean. Agitation after it has reached the syrup stage also encourages recrystallization. Corn syrup acts as interfering agent, which helps keep this from happening. Corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup are two different products. Both products are made from corn starch, but regular corn syrup is 100 percent glucose, while high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has had some of its glucose converted to fructose enzymatically. Corn syrup does not contain fructose.
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8x8 baking dish (or similar size)
Parchment paper
2-quart saucepan
4-quart saucepan
Instant-read thermometer or candy thermometer
Spatula
Whisk
Wax paper
Instructions
1. Prepare the caramel mold. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment so that excess paper hangs over the edges. Spray the parchment and the sides of the pan with nonstick spray.
2. Melt the butter in the cream. Over medium heat, warm the cream, butter, and salt in the 2-quart saucepan until the butter melts. Remove from heat, but keep the pan close by.
3. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water.
In the larger 4-quart saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir until the sugar is evenly moistened and forms a thick paste. Wipe down the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush so there are no sugar crystals above the surface of the sugar mixture. Clip the instant-read thermometer to the side of the pan so that the heat sensor is immersed in the sugar. Do not stir the sugar after this point.
Note: The large saucepan is necessary because the sugar will bubble up and triple in size when you add the cream. Do not substitute a smaller pan.
4. Cook the sugar syrup.
Place the pot with the sugar mixture over medium to medium-high heat. Let the sugar syrup come to a boil without stirring. Around 250°F, the sugar syrup will turn transparent and boil rapidly. Around 320°F, the syrup will darken slightly and smell caramel-like. You can proceed to the next step any time before it reaches 325°F. This stage is more about the color you like your caramel. A light to medium copper color is the goal.
5. Whisk in the cream and butter.
As soon as the syrup has reached the ideal color, immediately pour the warm cream and butter mixture into the sugar syrup while whisking gently. The sugar syrup will bubble up and triple in size. Stop whisking once all the milk and butter mixture has been added.
6. Heat the caramel to 245°F - 250°F. Return the pan to medium to medium-high heat. Let the caramel come to a boil, stirring occasionally to keep from burning on the bottom. It will start off as a soft buttery yellow and eventually darken to reddish-brown caramel. Remove from heat when the caramel reaches 245°F to 250°F.
7. Whisk in the vanilla. Quickly whisk the vanilla into the caramel.
8. Pour the caramels into the mold. Immediately pour the caramels into the mold. Don’t scrape the pan if there are hard burnt bits on the bottom.
9. Let the caramels set. Set the caramels somewhere out of the way to set, for at least two hours or (ideally) overnight. Once the caramels have cooled to room temperature, you can cover the pan.
10. Cut the caramels. When the caramels have set, lift them out of the pan by the parchment paper flaps and onto a cutting board. Cut the caramels into candies with a very sharp knife. If the caramels stick to your knife, spray your knife with nonstick cooking spray.
11. Wrap the caramels in wax paper. Cut squares of wax paper a little longer than your caramels. Wrap each caramel in wax paper and twist the ends closed. Caramels will keep at room temperature for about two weeks.
Additional Notes:
• Softer Caramels: The softness of the caramels is mainly a result of the cream and the temperature the caramel is cooked to. This recipe makes fairly firm, chewy caramels. For softer, taffy-like caramels, experiment with adding an extra 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of cream to this recipe.
Caramel Variations:
• Salted Caramels - Add two teaspoons of salt to the cream mixture at the beginning of the recipe and sprinkle the finished caramels with coarse sea salt.
• Gingerbread Caramels - Add 2 tablespoons of molasses to the sugar mixture. Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves along with the vanilla at the very end of cooking.
• Chocolate Caramels - Increase the amount of cream to 1 1/2 cups. Melt 10 ounces of good chocolate into the cream mixture along with the butter.
Corn syrup is an invert sugar, which means that it prevents sugar crystals from forming. Microscopically, sugar has jagged edges and when you melt it, sugar liquefies. But if you keep cooking it to a syrup, the crystals want to re-attach themselves to others. The crystals will also attach to any bit of foreign object in your pot so it is important to keep everything very clean. Agitation after it has reached the syrup stage also encourages recrystallization. Corn syrup acts as interfering agent, which helps keep this from happening. Corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup are two different products. Both products are made from corn starch, but regular corn syrup is 100 percent glucose, while high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has had some of its glucose converted to fructose enzymatically. Corn syrup does not contain fructose.