With some basic ingredients and a candy thermometer, you can make these homemade caramels that will impress everybody.


Wrap them up, pair with a classy drink or seasonal fruit, and give these to your friends and family as mishloach manot on Purim.




It's all about precision with these; you can't ignore the details and you can't just wing it, or you won't get the right consistency.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tbsp. water
  • ¼ cup light corn syrup
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • coarse or flaked sea salt

Directions

  1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Spray with baking spray.
  2. Place the butter, cream, and salt in a small pan and heat over a low flame until butter has melted. Remove from the fire and keep warm.
  3. Carefully place the sugar, water, and corn syrup into a medium-sized pot. Stir gently so that all the sugar is wet. Make sure there is no sugar stuck to the sides of the pot. If there is, use a wet pastry brush to brush it off. NOTE: The mixture will bubble up tremendously when you add the butter and cream, so you need to account for that when choosing your pot.
  4. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and turn the stove on to medium-high. Cook until the mixture reaches 320°F. You will see the sugar bubble and change colors to a light amber and then turn darker. Do not mix the sugar while it is cooking. If it seems to be noticeably darker in one area of the pan, hold the pan by the handles and gently swirl the mixture. Do not mix with a spoon or whisk.
  5. As soon as the sugar reaches 320°F, whisk in the melted butter and cream mixture. The mixture will bubble up wildly. Keep the mixture on the stove until it reaches 245°F.
  6. Remove from the stove, quickly whisk in the vanilla, and pour the mixture into the pan. After about 10 minutes, sprinkle with the coarse or flaked sea salt.
  7. Leave the caramels to set until the next day. Cut into pieces with a sharp knife and wrap with parchment paper. Store at room temperature for up to two weeks.

Yields: 24 caramels