Last year I made a pact with myself to not indulge my consumeristic tendencies by buying my loved ones a ton of stuff they don’t need, and instead opted to make my gifts. After much back and forth on what I should make, I finally decided on fleur de sel caramels.
If you’ve never had a salted caramel, you’re missing out. The salt creates an amazingly savory layer just beneath the customary sweetness of the candy, making them ridiculously addicting. Can you tell by my proliferation of cheesy adjectives that I’m a fan? Actually, scratch that – I’m hooked.
Word to the wise: making candy is a serious undertaking. It’s a commitment and you need to pay attention, lest you overcook your caramels and end up with burnt glop. Seriously, folks – all it takes is two minutes of not stirring and your caramel will acquire an icky charred taste. Unless you like that (some people do like the smokiness of slightly burnt caramel), in which case, go for it!
Also, hot caramel is dangerous and has a consistency not unlike napalm. If it splatters, spits, or spills, you’ll be glad that you’re wearing long pants and closed-toed shoes, so be sure to put them on. Also, make sure that any free-roaming tots are stowed safely in your overhead compartment (read: far, far away from your work area). Babies and boiling syrup don’t mix.
Now that I’ve sufficiently frightened you off, I have to say that making caramel really isn’t that difficult. It’s a lot of fun, and the end result is ridiculously satisfying. When your loved ones pop these little gems in their mouth, the look on their faces will be gratifying enough to fuel your candy-making urges for years to come.
A note on wrapping: do you see those pretty wrappers that I used in the photo up top? That shiny plastic is called cellophane. Cellophane is the only thing, besides parchment, that your candies will not stick to. Caramel will stick to glassine, ceramic, plastic wrap, and those cute little mini foil and paper cups you buy at the baking store. Learn from my mistakes and just buy a roll of cellophane, cut it up into 4″x4″ squares, and wrap up your caramels by hand. It’s a really fast process with two people and a system in place.
Finally – make sure not to eat them all yourself. I gained eight pounds and 39 cholesterol points during the month I spent making these as “gifts.”
Fleur de Sel Caramels (French Salted Caramels)
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups whipping cream, separated into two 1 cup portions
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
1 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup butter, cut into 3/4″ slices
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons fleur de sel, separated into two 1 teaspoon portions
Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with parchment.
In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan combine sugar, 1 cup of cream, 1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, making sure to stir the mixture constantly. Slowly add the remaining cream, making sure the caramel keeps boiling. Reduce heat to low and cook for five minutes, stirring constantly.
Stir in butter, one slice at a time, making sure it keeps bubbling. Stir in first half of fleur de sel. Keep at a low boil, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer registers 250°F (firm ball stage), which should take about 20-30 minutes. If you stop stirring your caramel will bubble up and burn.
Once the correct temperature has been reached, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Be careful, it will splatter and make a lot of noise. Stir in remaining fleur de sel.
Pour into parchment lined pan and set on an even surface to cool. After about half an hour, score the top of the caramel to mark where you’ll slice it. Once it’s fully cooled two or three hours later, cut into squares and wrap.
Here they are wrapped in cellophane and gathered into a little star-shaped glass box, ready for gifting:
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Ooh–thank you! I just printed this out and will try to make them this weekend if the weather is nice (I’m assuming they–like most candies–don’t do well when it’s humid?).
Can you say how well they keep? Like, could I start making them now to give for Christmas?
Yes, I’d wait until the humidity dies down a bit.
As for how they keep, I experimented with them quite a bit last year. Non-refrigerated, they keep for about two weeks before they start to go stale. You can put them in the refrigerator to help them keep an extra few weeks, as long as you let the come up to room temperature before eating them, otherwise they will be so hard they’ll take your fillings out (though they do make great hard candies that way!).
After I was done making a whole batch, I threw a handful in the freezer to see what would happen. Three months later I defrosted them and ate them, and they were still great! One word about freezing them, though – since they’re high fat, they’ll absorb the taste of other things in the freezer. If you freeze them, I’d recommend wrapping them in four or five layers of plastic and then putting them in a sealed dish, and maybe another one just to be sure. Your mileage may vary, but it worked very well for me.
Enjoy Nancy, and let me know how they turn out!
How perfect… I have had salted caramel on my mind recently! This is a great recipe and I look forward to trying it. Best of all it’s gluten free.
Cheers!
Cinde ~ Gluten Free Taste of Home
http://www.glutenfreetasteofhome.blogspot.com/
Cinde, if you love salted caramel, then you’ll love this. I made myself so sick while wrapping them… I think I ate half right there!
I was pondering making some salted caramels today, but looks like I need to put it off to a drier day. Any lines on a recipe with no corn syrup? I’ve looked and looked to no avail. We don’t get it down in NZ at all that I’ve ever seen and I prefer to be HFCS free in any case.
Hrmm, good question – let me see what I can find…
Actually, have you thought of using honey instead of corn syrup? Like in this recipe:
http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2007/11/do-it-yourself-.html
Here’s a whole thread on using something other than corn syrup:
http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/12/caramels-without-corn-syrup-possible.html
Let me know how it turns out!
Ooooh, honey. I’ve got to try that!
I’d try a lighter honey, since the darker honeys are higher in antioxidants, and therefore “deeper” tasting. Unless, of course, you like a darker caramel.
If you try it and it works, want to write a guest post?
You got it. It is the rainy season here though, so I’ll have to have good weather luck to try it any time soon. Oddly enough, I have a book on keeping bees on hold at the library. Probably wishful thinking, but you never know!