Sea Salt Caramels

I've never been a fan of caramel. I'd always pick the caramels out of the box of assorted and give them to August. But lately I've been stretching myself especially in the confections department and trying new things. These caramels turned out rich, buttery with a salty contrast to the sweetness. They were really chewy inhibiting conversation for a minute or two. Someone's talking too much, just hand them one. I enjoyed a few moments of quiet chewing from our little boys who are nonstop conversationalists.
I tested my candy thermometers before starting. To do this, bring a pot of water to a boil. Boil the thermometers for 5 minutes and check the temp. It should be 112 F. I have three thermometers. The big rectangle one read 109 F. The digital read 111 F. And the long pointy one read 110 F. They were pretty close considering I thought they were broken.

Sea Salt Caramels inspired by the thechiclife.com

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar (light, medium, or dark, it depends how dark you want your caramel)

1/2 cup corn syrup or glucose

1/2 cup unsalted butter (113 g or 1 stick) cut into small pieces

1/4 tsp. table salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

kosher sea salt (coarse)

1. Grease or spray an 8x8 pan and line with parchment paper. Make sure it extends up the sides. Use a large piece and then cut a diagonal line from each corner so the paper fits in the pan. Set aside.

2. Combine the heavy cream, sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a large pot. It should be large so the mixture doesn't boil over. Turn the heat on medium high to melt the sugars and attach candy thermometer to pot making sure it doesn't touch the bottom.Stir frequently with wooden spoon.

3. When it boils, turn the heat down to medium. Use spoon to stir occasionally. Cook until heat reaches 245 F. It will take about 20-30 minutes. Watch it closely because temperature may spike rapidly. Brown bubbles will form and the mixture will look mottled.

4. At 245 F remove pot from burner and stir in vanilla. Pour mixture into parchment prepared pan.

5. Cool for 3 hours on a rack until set.

6. Grease a pizza wheel or knife and a scissors. Turn out caramel upside down onto cutting board and peel off parchment. Use pizza wheel or knife to make 1 inch rows. Make shallow cuts at first then deeper till it separates. Be sure to keep greasing the wheel or knife or the candy will stick. Use the scissors to cut into 1 inch squares.

7. Sprinkle with sea salt and press gently into candy.

8. Wrap individually in parchment or wax paper or place in little paper candy cups.

There were a few challenges I encountered. The thermometer never reached 245 F. Perhaps I didn't cook it long enough. I got impatient and turned the heat up to medium high but it still never got beyond 225 F. The mixture was bubbling a lot, the bubbles were brown and started to smell smoky. I thought it was burning and took it off the stove. When I poured it into the pan it was not a uniformed color. I read that if it didn't reach temperature, the caramel would be liquid and good for drizzling on ice cream. I left it for 3 hours and hoped for the best. The caramel set and became a nice brown color.
Later as I was reading on the internet, people posted that waiting for the thermometer to reach temperature was often unreliable with caramel and to wait until the bubbles just start to smoke.

Another challenge was cutting it. My pieces were often misshapen due to the stickiness of the caramel. When I would cut it with the knife it would stick. I found the greased pizza wheel to be better and made gradual cuts in a sawing motion. I reshaped the pieces gently if they became skewed. I read that wrapping them in waxed paper often made the candies stick to it so I opted for parchment. The caramels were a little greasy due to the high butter content. All in all I thought they turned out great. They also make great gifts especially for the holidays.