Tuesday, March 22, 2011

sea salt caramels

i love caramel.
one day my friends facebook status was about eating a whole batch of salted caramels. so obviously, i asked her for the recipe. a few months later i finally decided to attempt & conquer the recipe. and trust me, it is TASTY.

sea salt caramels

1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
parchment paper
oil/candy (deep-fat) thermometer

line the bottom & sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly oil parchment.
in one pot, bring cream, butter & sea salt to a boil, then remove from heat & set aside.
in a larger pot, boil sugar, corn syrup and water, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring, but gently swirling pot, until mixture is a light golden caramel color. carefully stir in cream mixture (mixture will bubble up) and lower heat slightly, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248 degrees Fahrenheit on thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes.
pour into baking pan and sprinkle with additional sea salt. let cool for 2 hours. cut into 1 inch pieces & enjoy. *for an added "candy" effect, wrap each piece of caramel in a piece of wax paper, twisting two ends to close.

**i think i may have kept my caramel on the heat for a little too long as I was unable to cut the caramel into pieces. i used a hammer to break it up. the pieces are hard but soften up as you keep them in your mouth.
all my ingredients ready to go

boiling the sugar, corn syrup & water mixture

boiling the cream, salt & butter mixture

the mixture bubbles up when the two parts are added together

let it bubble like this (stirring a lot) until you reach the right temperature
pour it into the pan & allow to cool

break up the pieces & enjoy!

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