Sea Salt Caramels

My first batch and my fourth batch came out PERFECT. The two in between, not so much. While there are only a few ingredients, and the directions are simple, getting the temperature exact and thus the consistency right is very challenging. Remove it too early and it’s far too soft. Remove it too late and it’s hard as a rock. And getting it just right can come down to a few seconds more or less on the heat. But once you get it right, and taste the fruit of your efforts, you won’t ever question whether it was worth it again.

You may recall I mentioned last year I went to my first ever Christmas Day celebration with the GF. Ok yeah, I’m not delusional; I know there’s no chance you remembered. This year I celebrated my first ever Christmas Eve with the GF and I wanted to step up my game and bring more than just the typical bottle of wine. And what’s more impressive than handing off nicely packaged holiday tins with layered homemade salted caramels to the GFs parents for Christmas? Answer: I’m hoping “Not too much!” Doughertys. Eh, Eh?

Note: The attached pic is clearly not mine but rather from the source blogger’s site. These were just so amazing, they were devoured before I had a chance to take a proper picture. But mine did come out looking exactly like in the picture. I swear.

INGREDIENTS:
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup cream
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper smeared with a little oil (doesn't matter what kind).

Place the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a saucepan and cook over medium high heat until amber colored (approximately 10 minutes). Don't ever stir the caramel (you risk crystallizing the caramel), just swirl it gently in the pan if you need to move it around a bit.

In the meantime, heat the cream, butter, and salt together until melted, either in a saucepan or in the microwave.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, and slowly and carefully pour in the cream mixture, being aware that the mixture will bubble up a lot (wear oven mitts if you're concerned).

Return the pan to medium heat and cook for about 10 more minutes until it reaches 248 on a candy thermometer (the soft ball stage), adding the vanilla extract right before it reaches 248. Pour into the parchment lined dish and refrigerate for a few hours until hard enough to cut into squares. Enjoy!

Source: http://www.fifteenspatulas.com/sea-salt-caramels/

About Me: http://zacksmithishungry.blogspot.com/2012/09/about-me.html