This was my first attempt at making caramels and I messed it up. The recipe said to keep the sugar syrup on medium high heat, but the candy thermometer wasn't going anywhere near the required temperature. After some thought a bit of googling (all while the syrup was bubbling away) I crossed my fingers and whacked the heat up to high. Finally the thermometer started to creep up to the proper temperature, but it took a good 30 minutes of boiling to get there.
Once the syrup had cooled enough to hold its shape I took a knife to it and started cutting it into bars which made it MUCH easier to cut into squares once it had cooled completly. What makes these caramels a little different from other caramels is the apple cider that was reduced down from 2 cups to 1/3 cup before I even started making the syrup. I'd like to try this with a good cider or apple juice to increase the apple flavour.
Once I got the caramels cut into squares, which actually involved leaning heavily on a knife and waiting for the caramel to break, I wrapped them in wax paper twists. These things are really good but you need to suck them a bit to soften them up - during which time as some friends of mine found out - you won't be able to speak for a few minutes.
1 comment:
Ooh, fun! I am going to try making coconut milk caramels for a vegan friend... and I'm kinda worried already.
I lost my candy thermometer somewhere... dunno what happened, too many moves. Anyway, your boilage might not have happened as quickly because of where you are... how high is Dublin above sea level? Apparently if you're too high or too low, this changes the boiling time. (And that's my science wisdom for you today. Such as it is.)
We made peanut brittle last week. It's WAAAAY too thick, don't know quite how that happened, but I couldn't spread it out fast enough once it poured. It's the whole molten sugar lava terror that goes on... but it tasted great. Next time I'll do something to diffuse the seasonings; I put cayenne and cinnamon in it, and some pots were completely spice free, while others made your mouth hot. We had a friend coughing and gasping for water. We smiled evilly...
Joyous Winter Hols & Happy Everything to you.
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