I Want Candy: Salted Caramels

*So this isn't exactly baking, but it did require some cooking on the stove top. And since this is my blog, I can break my own rules if I want to. Darnit.


On our aforementioned Cheap Date Pub Crawl, I made some hasty yet well-advised plans with a friend (Ms. Steers) to make some candy -- salted caramels, to be precise. I'm not much of a candy maker, there was a brief stint for Christmas where my mom and I made peppermint patties and peanut butter cups for the family. But when Ms. Steers mentioned salted caramels that are easy to make and delicious, I couldn't resist.

So, on a Monday afternoon when no one was working, Mr. and Ms. Steers graced the Pulaski Castle with their presence. And they came bearing sea salt and a candy thermometer.

Ms. Steers basically did all the work, I observed and learned; there was a little stirring going on as well. So here we go, perhaps one of the classiest things made yet in our kitchen:

Salted Caramels

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling on top. Sea salt is found in specialty food stores under the name "fleur de sel." You can also experiment with artisanal salts if you like.
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water

Equipment

• 8" square baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Candy thermometer (or a deep-fat thermometer)
• Wax paper for wrapping or paper candy cups

Yield: About 40 caramels.

Directions

1. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper.
2. Bring the cream, butter and sea salt to a boil in a small saucepan; remove from heat and set aside.
3. Boil the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan; then cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 248°F, the firm-ball stage.
4. Carefully stir in the cream mixture—the mixture will bubble up. Simmer, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. The temperature should not go higher than 250°F.
5. CANDYMAKER TIP: To get the caramel consistency you want, test by dropping a spoonful of caramel into a bowl of cold water. It will form a ball, which you can test with your fingers. Stop cooking when the ball is the consistency that you want.
6. Pour the mixture into the baking pan and cool 2 hours.
7. OPTIONAL: You can enrobe your caramels in tempered melted chocolate; sprinkle the top with some grains of sea salt (pretty salts make a difference); or press in some culinary lavender buds.
8. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, folding ends or twisting to close like taffy.
9. ALTERNATIVE: Pour the caramel into individual candy cups.

Now, this recipe is definitely fancy. It calls for "enrobe"-ing and a candy thermometer. But all in, it wasn't that difficult to pull off. And the results were, of course, very tasty. How can you go wrong with heavy cream, butter, sugar, and sea salt?

Thank god Ms. Steer took home half of the recipe, because the whole recipe would have gone, well, like delicious salted carmels should go -- FAST.

Thanks, Ms. Steer. And Mr. Steer, you've got quite a catch there...