Salted Caramels
Published Dec. 14, 2022
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes, plus several hours’ cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Vegetable oil spray
- 1½cups/360 grams heavy cream
- Seeds scraped from ½ vanilla bean (pod reserved)
- ⅓cup/34 grams whole coffee beans (optional)
- 2cups/400 grams granulated sugar
- ¼cup/85 grams light corn syrup
- 4tablespoons/57 grams unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- Flaky salt, for finishing (optional)
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Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the pan: Lightly coat the inside of an 8-inch square pan with vegetable oil spray. Line the bottom and sides with parchment paper, smoothing to eliminate air bubbles, then lightly spray the parchment paper. Set the pan aside.
- Step 2
Heat and infuse the cream: In a small saucepan, combine the cream, vanilla seeds and pod. Place the coffee beans, if using, inside a resealable bag and crush them with a rolling pin until they’re broken into bits. Add the coffee to the cream mixture. Bring the cream mixture to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting and keep the mixture warm while you make the caramel.
- Step 3
Make the caramel: Fill a glass with water, place a pastry brush inside and set next to the stove. Combine the sugar, corn syrup and ⅓ cup/142 grams water in a large, heavy saucepan and stir gently with a heatproof spatula over medium-high heat to dissolve the sugar, about 3 minutes. Let the mixture come to a boil and use the wet pastry brush to brush down the sides of the saucepan and dissolve any stuck-on sugar crystals. Boil the mixture without stirring, occasionally swirling the saucepan gently and brushing down the sides of the saucepan if you see crystals forming, until the syrup takes on a pale golden color and the bubbles become large and slow to pop (a sign that the water had boiled off and caramelization is near), about 5 minutes. Turn the heat to medium and continue to cook, keeping a close watch and swirling the saucepan frequently, until the bubbling has mostly subsided and the mixture is very fluid and a deep amber color, 4 to 7 minutes.
- Step 4
Immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and add the butter a few pieces at a time, stirring with a heatproof spatula (this will halt the cooking; be careful, the caramel will sputter). Gradually pour the cream mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into the saucepan with the caramel mixture and stir until the caramel is completely smooth. (Discard the solids in the strainer.) Stir in the kosher salt.
- Step 5
Cook the caramel again: Return the saucepan to the heat and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan and cook, occasionally scraping the bottom and sides of the saucepan with the spatula, until the mixture reaches 250 degrees for softer caramels or 255 degrees for firmer caramels. Immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
- Step 6
Cool and cut the caramels: Allow the caramel mixture to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then sprinkle with flaky salt (if using). Let the caramels cool completely at room temperature, which will take several hours. Before cutting the caramels, refrigerate the pan for 15 minutes, then use the parchment paper to lift the slab out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Use a chef’s knife to cut the slab in quarters in one direction and in eighths in the other to make 32 bar-shaped caramels. Wrap them individually in parchment paper, waxed paper or foil candy wrappers.
- The individually wrapped caramels, stored in an airtight container, preferably in the refrigerator, will keep for 1 week.
Private Notes
Comments
The instructions are mostly great, and I can tell that the flavor will be fabulous. A few notes: 1/3 cup of water is 71 grams, not 142; 1/2 tbsp extract in place of vanilla bean is financially less risky; and I’d recommend straining infused cream into measuring cup before even making caramel. I had to do this anyway, as my cream, set over lowest heat, bubbled over when I went to re-watch video (thanks 142!); I made up the difference with crème fraîche, as I was out of cream and feeling plucky.
I gave this a go last night, and ended up w/some lovely toffee, rather than a caramel. I have made candy since I was a girl in the 50's. Both my candy thermometers are off, so I will blame that, and try again tonight. I tried to re-calibrate to no avail...Loved the coffee infusion, but may go a bit less as a bit strong for my taste and add more vanilla, which I adore. And, yes that grams weight of the water was off, please advise!
I cooked this to 255, Claire’s preferred temperature per the video. After cooling Icouldn’t cut them they were so hard. Otherwise they are very tasty, but terrible on teeth and dental work. I’m going to try again today cooking to firm ball instead of hard ball and used my instant read thermometer to double check my candy thermometer. I used vanilla paste instead of a bean because it’s cheaper and what I had. Simmering the cream, coffee, and vanilla paste was worth the hassle, it smelled so good!
I added 1.5 Tbsp of brewed coffee from my morning pot to the cream mixture on the stove top. Gave a nice, faint coffee flavor to them. My family raved about them. I cooked these to soft ball temp which lended a firm but pliable texture.
For sweet vs bitter caramel: USE A THERMOMETER add butter to sugar, cornstarch, salt, and water. bring to a boil (i used low-medium heat) trickle by trickle add infused milk (i pre strained) stirring constantly until completely incorporated (add to quickly and it will boil over) heat this mixture without stirring to 255°F this will get you a traditionally american softer sweeter caramel to the dark caramel in this recipe which is just not for me. i’m a sweetie
Made many times and yet to have a failure! I’ve used the metric water amount (142 grams) and the imperial measurements, both to relatively the same level of success. More water slows down the caramelization which makes the watching and waiting a little longer but ensures the sugar dissolves entirely, making a lot silky smooth caramel. On my stove, the higher water content takes around 20-25 minutes to get to amber depending on how aggressive I am with the heat. Less water is faster but runs the risk of a grittier caramel. Recommend heating to a lower temperature initially to ensure all the sugar dissolves before starting to caramelize. More water: slower, easier, more likely to turn out. Less water: faster, harder, more likely to be gritty. I don’t use a sauce pan for the sugar. I use a high-walled, heavy bottom fry pan with a 10.5 inch diameter. I also take the cream off heat and just leave it on the stove top. The lowest setting on my stove still causes the cream to simmer. I usually start the milk later. I heat to 245-ish using a thermoworks dot thermometer rather than old school candy thermometer after adding butter and milk. I’ve used the old school style of candy thermometer that clips to the side. For me and the pan I use, it’s too far from the heat center to be accurate. I also like a softer caramel and find going to 250 is just on the edge of too firm. If skipping the coffee, add more vanilla for more flavor. Get the good flaky salt and be generous.
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