Homemade Salted Caramels
I’ve been dreaming about homemade salted caramels for months and their time has finally come! I bought a candy thermometer a few days ago and I just had to put it to good use! Wouldn’t you do the same?! Every time I get my hands on something as interesting as a thermometer, I just have to use it right away, try it out and see how it works, what results it yields, try to learn its tricks and master it. And I did – in just a few days I revisited tempering chocolate just for the sake of doing it with the right way and I made candy apples and three batches of caramels.
No idea about you, but my childhood was closely tight to those chewy, sticky caramels. They were my favorite sweet treat and I’m so happy I managed to make them at home. Homemade salted caramels however involve working with heated sugar which I wrote about here – do check out the article, it’s very informative and useful if you’re a beginner to all of this!
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Cooking sugar is not easy and it’s definitely dangerous under the wrong circumstances or lack of safety measures. But once you master it, it yields rewarding results and you can make anything from marshmallows to caramels, rock candy or even artistic sugar pieces if you’re brave enough to try your hand at pulled sugar.
Caramels need to be cooked at about 120-121C, somewhere between the firm ball and hard ball stage of the sugar syrup – the idea is to have caramels that hold their shape but are soft enough to bite into, caramels that melt in your mouth easily and are sticky and gooey. 121C was the perfect temperature for me, but you can juggle with it slightly – either a few degrees down or just 1 or 2 up and see what changes that makes into the consistency of your chilled caramels.
Homemade Salted Caramels
Ingredients
- 190 ml heavy cream
- 200 g white sugar
- 120 g golden syrup
- 30 g butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Sea salt flakes to sprinkle the caramels
- Baking paper to wrap the caramels
Instructions
- Line a small baking pan with baking paper and place aside.
- Combine the cream, sugar, golden syrup, butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a heavy saucepan and place over medium flame.
- Cook the mixture, washing down the sides of the pan with a brush dipped in cold water, until the reading on your thermometer reaches 121C and the mixture looks thickened and golden brown. Be careful as it’s incredibly hot!
- Remove from heat and pour the caramel mixture in the prepared pan.
- Allow to cool completely then cut into small squares or rectangles.
- Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and wrap each piece individually in baking paper.
- Store in an airtight container.
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