Making homemade caramel is a slow and tedious process, but the results are incredible: great tasting, soft caramels. All it takes to make caramel is to mix in a couple ingredients and continue to stir until it's reaches the firm ball stage 238 F. Below are pictures of the process, the first is all the ingredients mixed minus the evaporated milk, the next picture was taken after the milk was added. The last is a picture of the finished caramel poured onto a tray with parchment paper. I immediately placed the caramels in the fridge until they were cold.
Once the caramel is fully cooled, it'll be ready for cutting. If the caramel is sticking to the knife it probably needs to be cooled longer. One of the major pluses to this recipe is that each batch of caramels results in 50 caramels!! What is one person supposed to do with so much caramel? I made these just so I could make a batch of cookies where I'll need 16 of these. I took those out and rolled them into balls of caramel to use later. After that I still had this much caramel left over.
I knew I wanted to save some of these for later since they're so delicious by themselves. I decided to cut up squares of wax paper and wrap up the caramels like a tootsie roll.
Now, I have caramels for cookies, and for eating, but I still have more caramel than I know what to do with. I guess the next logical step is for me to make them into chocolates. I got a bag of Ghirardelli dark chocolate disks, specifically made to be melted and dipped. It microwaved really well and dried with a nice crunchy, matte shell. After dipping the chocolates, I added some sea salt to the tops before they dried and then put the entire tray into the fridge to fully let them set.
The last way I used these caramels was in chocolate cookies! They result in a perfectly soft and chewy cookie. Check out my recipe for Salted Caramel Cookies here.
Recipe
Makes: 50 caramels. Time: 1 hour active, 3 hours cooling
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cups light corn syrup
12 ounces evaporated milk (1 can)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Line a 9 by 13 pan or jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Either size pan will work it just depends how thick you want the caramel to be.
Add butter, sugar, and syrup to a large heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Stir over medium heat until mixture begins to boil, about 5-10 minutes.
Gradually add the evaporated milk over the course of 15 minutes, while stirring constantly. You want to make sure you really take your time adding in the evaporated milk because it bubbles fast and can curdle your caramels if the mixture isn't boiling the entire time.
Stir the mixture constantly, scraping the sides occasionally until it reaches a firm ball stage, about 238 F. It takes patience and time, but it'll be so rewarding in the end.
Once you reach 238 degrees F, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Pour caramels into prepared pan. Refrigerate until cooled and hardened.
The caramel will seem hard in the fridge after they're set, but they should be soft at room temperature. Cut caramel into small pieces and, if desired, wrap like a tootsie roll in wax paper. If you're having trouble cutting the caramel it's probably not cold enough, so stick it back in the fridge.
These caramels are so versatile! You can eat them plain, make them into chocolates or even cookies! To make chocolates, simply melt dipping chocolate in the microwave and use a fork to coat each caramel. Sprinkle with salt, if desired, and then place in the fridge for a few hours to fully allow the chocolate to set.
Caramel recipe from Tastes Better from Scratch's recipe homemade caramels.
Comments