Admittedly I love chocolate. Not all chocolate as I have grown to be a tiny bit little fussy as to what chocolate I will or will not eat. Nowadays I have a leaning toward dark chocolate as I have convinced myself it has medicinal qualities. Although I might not necessarily pass up a piece of any good quality milk chocolate. Yet in spite of my love for chocolate, caramels are the one confection that I have an even deeper affection for. Caramels without nuts, with nuts, dipped in dark chocolate, dipped in milk chocolate, with sea salt, or without sea salt. The choices of caramels are endlessly delicious. But if I had to choose just one to eat for the rest of my life (and I am not one who likes to choose only one), without giving it a second thought, I would choose a sea salted caramel. Yes, the deliciousness of a sea salted caramel is beyond amazing. I would call it scream worthy but if I use scream worthy too often when describing some foods, it will lose it's impact. But just know these really are scream worthy. It almost feels sinful to indulge oneself in this buttery, creamy, melt in your mouth confection. With almost being the operative word here as it would be a sin in of itself not to allow oneself to enjoy them, in moderation of course.
It was more than thirty years ago when I made my first batch of caramels. It was my first time using a candy thermometer and my first time making 'candy' (unless of course fudge counts as candy). The recipe was given to me by a woman who I worked with in the china department at Marshall Field's (I was a temporary Christmas employee working primarily to get the employee discount for my holiday shopping). Little did I know at the time that as a result of my time in the china department that I would develop both an obsession (oh I really mean appreciation) for caramels as well as for china. Up until that time I had never tasted a homemade caramel and would often pass over the chocolate covered caramels in the Fannie May Candy box in favor a dark chocolate covered vanilla cream. But after tasting a homemade caramel, the choices I made when receiving a box of chocolates changed. And a gift of a box of caramels has become more treasured than a box of chocolates.
While I no longer have the small piece of paper on which the recipe was beautifully written, the recipe itself lives on. In part thanks to one of my friends who re-shared my recipe with me as I had misplaced the even smaller piece of paper I had typed (yes, typed) the recipe on. In the last several years I have made one change to this recipe. After discovering how sea salt even further elevates the taste of caramel, the caramels I make these days are now finished with sea salt.
I don't know if it was the anticipation of fall, seeing caramel apples, or the humidity finally breaking, that made me want to make the sea salted caramels this week or not. I do know that this is one of those cooler, not overly humid weather making confections. Although I recall making them in the August heat for a county fair years back. It must have been my lucky day (or the reward for suffering through the making of these caramels on a wickedly hot day) as the caramels not only won the blue ribbon in the candy division, they won a grand prize ribbon as well. I am not sure what compelled me back then to enter a county fair (with women who take these contests rather seriously), but that bucket list experience has now been checked off.
Having a good heavy sauce pan is as important as having an accurate candy thermometer when making caramels. My personal pan preference is All-Clad, however, any heavy duty stainless pan should work. If you have not yet bought a candy thermometer, consider getting a digital one as they take the guessing out of knowing when you have reached your desired temperature. The caramel making process all begins when one pound of unsalted butter is melted over low to medium heat.
Once the butter is melted, one pound of light brown sugar and a pinch of Kosher salt is added and mixed until the brown sugar has melted into the butter. Stir with a wooden spoon to ensure there are no lumps. Why wooden spoon? The mixture is going to gradually increase in temperature so it is best to begin and end with using a wooden spoon as a metal spoon will begin to take on the heat as the cooking process continues. Trust me, I have learned this from experience.
Your parchment paper lined 9x12 inch pan should be ready and waiting as you want to immediately pour the hot caramel mixture into the prepared pan. Allow the poured caramel to set for several minutes before lightly sprinkling sea salt over the top. Some of the sea salt will melt into the caramel, so be careful to sprinkle very lightly here. You will be adding more sea salt once the caramels have cooled completely and you are ready to cut.
You can cut the caramels into any size. I like to cut mine into 1 inch squares as it makes for a perfect bite. Remember, a light sprinkling of sea salt is added to the cooled caramels right before you get ready to cut and wrap.
Wrapping the caramels in cellophane makes for a great presentation and also keeps them fresh. I usually cut squares from a roll of cellophane unless I had some store bought precut squares (which is not very often). Once all of the caramels are wrapped, you can package them on platters or in bags. Once the weather turns much cooler and there is no humidity, I will store the caramels in a tin in the house. Until that time, I will store them in a container in the refrigerator, bringing them to room temperature before serving. If you are looking for the perfect gift to bring to your friends, you have now found it.
Recipe
Sea Salted Caramels (adaptation of a recipe given to me more than 30 years ago)
Ingredients
1 pound light brown sugar
1 pound unsalted butter
1 cup corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of Kosher salt
sea salt for finishing (recommend Maldon sea salt)
Optional: 1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
Directions
1. Melt butter in a heavy medium sized saucepan over low to medium heat.
2. Add brown sugar and pinch of Kosher salt. Stir so that no lumps remain.
3. Add corn syrup and stir until blended.
4. Add sweetened condensed milk. Stir until blended.
5. On medium heat cook mixture until it reaches 248 degrees on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from heat when it reaches this temperature.
6. Add vanilla and stir with a wooden spoon. Optional: If you like your caramels with nuts in them, you will quickly stir them in after you have added the vanilla. Remember to toast and chop them before adding to the caramel mixture.
7. Pour mixture into 9x12 inch pan lined with parchment paper.
8. Allow to set for 5 minutes and lightly sprinkle with sea salt (don't over do it here as you will be adding more later).
9. Allow to cool. Continue cooling in refrigerator.
10. Remove from the refrigerator and lightly sprinkle caramels with sea salt. Using a long sharp knife, cut caramels into 1 inch squares and wrap with cellophane.
11. During warmer weather store in refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving or eat chilled.
12. During cooler weather, place wrapped caramels in a tin or container.
When the fall came when I was in elementary school there were taffy apples for sale every Friday. I think they were called affy tapples and while not having much caramel on them, they transformed an apple and were a welcoming end of the week treat. At the time it was the only way I would eat an apple. Since experiencing the mass produced, pre-packaged taffy apples, I have found candy stores (the mom and pop ones) who make some rather amazing caramel apples. Probably my favorites are the caramel apples made by Dan's Homemade Candies in Joliet, Illinois. While its been more than 7 years since I had one of their apples, I haven't come across a hand dipped caramel apple I like better (and it is not for the like of trying). Recently a friend told me they shipped their apples, but there is something about going into a store and picking 'just the right one'.
Isn't it funny how we remember the foods from our childhood? Maybe these foods have left a permanent impact on our taste buds. And while history is the enemy of memory, I would venture to say that if I were to eat some of those exact same favorite childhood foods today I might wonder what it was that made me think they were the best things ever. And whether it's a memory of really good or really bad food, we also seem to have the uncanny ability to remember not only what we ate growing up, but also the foods of a holiday meal or those experienced at a meal with a friend. I may not remember what I had for lunch last week, but I can remember almost all of the meals that had some significance or affected me in some way. Because sometimes it wasn't the food that mattered at all. It was who the meal was shared with that made the food seem like the best one ever. Regardless if that food was an incredible confection or even just a late night McDonald's cheeseburger.
Isn't it funny how we remember the foods from our childhood? Maybe these foods have left a permanent impact on our taste buds. And while history is the enemy of memory, I would venture to say that if I were to eat some of those exact same favorite childhood foods today I might wonder what it was that made me think they were the best things ever. And whether it's a memory of really good or really bad food, we also seem to have the uncanny ability to remember not only what we ate growing up, but also the foods of a holiday meal or those experienced at a meal with a friend. I may not remember what I had for lunch last week, but I can remember almost all of the meals that had some significance or affected me in some way. Because sometimes it wasn't the food that mattered at all. It was who the meal was shared with that made the food seem like the best one ever. Regardless if that food was an incredible confection or even just a late night McDonald's cheeseburger.
