Cream caramels

I had a chocolate covered caramel with sea salt from Trader Joes -yum. I decided to try to make them. That was the easy part.

Caramel:

After searching awhile for recipes - I followed this recipe from chocolatedgourmand.com - an excellent site with lots of great pictures and tips.

I followed the recipe closely - using a silpat to line the pan that I spread the caramel in. (this is described somewhere in the site - and is worth finding and trying - it was simple) The caramel mixture took quite a while (25 min?) to come to the proper temperature - but it did, I poured it, wrapped it, left it, and it was perfect.

The next day I transferred the slab to a parchment covered cutting board, and put that in the freeze for 15 minutes. Then I cut (slowly - line by line) a grid pattern in the slab. Then I put it back in the freezer to mess with the chocolate (separate post - long story). The process of separating out individual chunks wasn't too hard after if messed with if to a while - it involved returning the slab to the freezer every now and then. Also, It took some trial and error to figure out that the best way to store the individual chunks was on anything, on parchment. They sagged when they warmed - but the resulting shape was cool. I had some on plates without parchment. These were too soft to move until I popped them in the freezer for awhile - then they came off with a bit of help from a paring knife to the bottom.


Classic Cream Caramels

2 cups light corn syrup
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
4 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Some Safflower oil.

Oil the foil lined baking dish.
Using safflower oil and a paper towel, generously oil a 9x13 baking dish lined with foil. Don't skimp, trust me.

Heat sugar and corn syrup to boil then stop stirring and cook until 305° F.
Combine the sugar and corn syrup in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently until it comes to a boil. Wash down sides several times with water using a pastry brush. Stop stirring and place a candy thermometer in pan and continue to boil over medium high heat. You are going to boil the sugar syrup mixture until it reaches 305° F (151° C), which will take about 10 minutes or so.

Heat cream over medium heat until simmering.
While you are waiting for the sugar mixture to heat you can heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently until simmering. Remove the hot cream from heat and set aside.

Add butter to sugar syrup. Slowly add the hot cream.
Once the sugar mixture has reached 305° F (151° C), reduce heat and slowly add the 1/4 cup of cubed butter. Slowly add the hot cream to the sugar mixture. I usually do this with a small ladle or measuring cup. Keep the mixture boiling while adding the cream, but beware of boil-over if you add the cream too quickly. The boiling mixture will rise rapidly after adding the cream. Let the mixture settle down before adding more cream. The game is to keep it boiling without letting it overflow.

Continue cooking caramel until it reaches target temperature.
Once the cream has all been added, continue stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 242-243° F (116°) for dipping or else 246-248° F (117° C) for wrapping. If you like your caramel harder, you can keep heating until you get to around 250° F. If you like your caramel soft, be careful not to make it too soft. Extra gooey caramel is hard to package or dip. The caramel will usually continue to heat a degree past when you remove it from heat.

Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes. Add salt and vanilla.
Let sit 5 minutes before my favorite part: stirring in the salt and vanilla. If you love vanilla, then get ready for what you might call vanilla free-basing. Once you pour in the vanilla and salt, stir just until blended. As you stir the vanilla into the caramel, the vanilla bourbon will boil off and you can inhale intense vanilla smell.

Pour into oiled baking dish. Let sit overnight wrapped tightly.
Pour mixture into prepared baking pan. Cover well and let cool overnight. Once you are ready to dip or wrap, peel the foil off the caramel. This can be a major pain. I simply have to find a better way. They need to make a silpat lined baking pan. The gooier the caramel, the smaller the pieces of foil rip off. Oil a large plastic cutting board and place the caramel slab there. Slice into pieces and wrap or dip.

Dip or wrap as desired.
I typically prefer to make my dipped caramels more gooey than the wrapped caramels, but note that softer caramels are more difficult to work with and dip. Even firm caramels will succumb to gravity and sag after a few minutes. When dipping, slice only as much as you need from the main block to maintain rectangular shapes.