My First Post and Three Recipes: Caramels, Salted Butter Caramels, and Nutty Caramel Clusters

Okay guys...non-existent followers out there...I am going to attempt my first post so bear with me. Recently I have been super interested in decorating, baking, and candy making. I love the idea of cupcakes so I have been viewing different blogs online and actually bought a book full of recipes of cakes, fillings, and frostings. My favorite blog I have found so far is...SHOUTOUT...Annie's Eats. She has tons of awesome cupcake recipes that I really want to try. Moving on...If you know me, you might know of my love for giving foodie gifts as Christmas presents. I love to make a variety of candy and place in boxes to give to each family. I never like to make the same things over and over again each year so I look for different things to try. So one day while browsing another lovely site Nosh With Me, I found a recipe for Salted Butter Caramels. I thought to myself...Those sound delicious. I am going to attempt those and maybe, if I can manage them and like the way they taste, that will be one thing to put in my boxes. So I made plans to make the caramels, went out and bought the stuff, and decided to make them yesterday. Fast forward to yesterday...After completing some Psych notes, I decided to browse around on Facebook and see what my lovely 'friends' were doing. Janice had posted about making something caramely and nutty and after a few back and forth comments we had made plans to have an adventure in the kitchen and try out a few things. She brought to the table Caramel Nutty Clusters from Yummly and I brought to the table NWM's Salted Butter Caramels and Caramels by Barbara from Allrecipes found on Yummly. The significant others were going to be over later and could test them for us. So on to the recipes in the order they were made:

Nutty Caramel Clusters from Yummly

Made with wrapped caramels, sliced almonds, and pecan halves, then topped with semi-sweet chocolate, these Nutty Caramel Clusters were delish!! This recipe made about 15 clusters using a 1 TBSP (normal) ice cream scoop. One downside to them, IMO, is that they must be kept in the fridge. I just don't like things that have to be kept in the fridge, unless of course, it is my Bacha's rum fingers. Other than that, AWESOME! Good pick, Janice! 
  
Recipe for Nutty Caramel Clusters from Yummly - Modified - 15 clusters
This recipe originally called for peanuts as a third nut, but as peanuts seem to have it out for one of our tasters, we left those out and added more yummy pecans - the more superior nut. 
Ingredients:
25 caramels, unwrapped
1 TBSP butter, salted or unsalted (doesn't matter here)
1 TBSP milk
1 CUP sliced almonds
1 CUP pecan halves
1/2 CUP semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 TSP shortening
Directions: 
1) In a 1 quart microwave safe dish (we used a glass bowl), combine the caramels, butter, and milk. Microwave uncovered for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the caramels are melted and everything is nice and smooth. 
2) Add the nuts and mix to coat evenly. Drop by tablespoonfuls...OR do it the easy way and use an ice cream scoop...onto parchment paper. 
3) Using the microwave, melt together the chocolate chips and shortening. Smoosh it around about 30 seconds in or so to help it come together. Snip of a tip, and squeeze over the top of the clusters. OR Simply melt the two together in a small bowl and spoon over the top of each cluster. 
4) Refrigerate the clusters on the parchment paper until firm. Remove and place in an air-tight container and store in the fridge.

Recipe for Salted Butter Caramels from Nosh With Me

Ingredients:

3/4 CUP heavy cream

1/2 TSP vanilla extract

Rounded 1/2 TSP flaky sea salt (All I could find was fine, so I used that. Not sure if it made a difference or not.)

1/2 CUP light corn syrup

1 CUP white sugar

4 TBSP salted butter, cubed, at room temperature

Directions:

1) Line a 9 inch loaf pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2) Heat cream, butter, vanilla, and 2 TBSP butter in a small saucepan until the mixture begins to boil. When it does, remove from heat, cover, and keep warm while you cook the syrup.

3) In a 4 quart heavy duty saucepan, fitted with a bulbed candy thermometer, heat the corn syrup with the white sugar and cook, stirring gently, until the sugar melts smoothly. Once the mixture is melted together, only stir as necessary to keep it from getting any hotspots. POSSIBLY WHERE I WENT WRONG...I have always stirred my sugar mixtures continuously, but I read somewhere related to this recipe that stirring continuously can do something to the caramel. So I followed directions and stirred only occasionally.

4) Cook until the syrup reaches 310 degrees F.

5) Turn off the heat and stir in the warm cream mixture until smooth. Mixture will bubble so be careful.

6) Turn the heat back on and cook the mixture to 260 degrees F.

7) Remove the pan from the heat, lift out the thermometer, and stir in the cubes of butter until they are melted and the mixture is smooth.

8) Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and wait ten minutes, then sprinkle 1/4 TSP flaked sea salt over the top. Let cool completely. Once cool, lift out the foil and peel the caramel away from the foil. Slice the caramel into bars or squares.

Storage: Wrap individually in little waxed paper squares. Store in air-tight container up to a month.

My Review:

I failed to take a picture of this recipe. As for the results, not good. The caramel had a burnt taste so somewhere along the line I burnt the sugar mixture. I believe it was when I was heating the corn syrup and sugar to 310 degrees. Cooking sugar has always made me a bit anxious as I never want to miss my temperature or let the sugar burn. I had never cooked sugar to such a high temperature so it was a bit nerve wracking. Of course, it is not the recipe's fault but since I have found another caramel recipe that I love and have one more to try from the lovely Annie, I will probably not be making this one again. Shame too, since I really wanted to taste it! On to the next one...

My picture of Caramels by Barbara on Allrecipes. Found recipe via Yummly.

 Recipe for Caramels by Barbara on Allrecipes - Halved - 60 caramels

Ingredients:

1 CUP white sugar

1/2 CUP packed brown sugar

1/2 CUP light corn syrup

1/2 CUP evaporated milk

1/2 PINT = 1 CUP heavy cream

1/2 CUP = 1 STICK unsalted butter

1/2 TSP pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Original recipe called for greasing a 12x15 inch pan, but since I halved the recipe, I used a 9x13 baking sheet SO...Line a 9x13 baking sheet with aluminum foil and very lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2) In a medium size pot, combine white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream, and butter. Monitor the heat of the mixture with a bulbed candy thermometer while stirring. When the temperature of the mixture reaches 250 degrees F, remove pot from the heat and stir in vanilla.

3) Transfer mixture to prepared pan and let cool completely. When cooled cut into small squares and wrap in waxed paper.

My Notes:

1) I used a 9x13 cookie sheet lined with sprayed foil for the halved recipe. The caramels turned out kind of thin so next time I will attempt a 9x9 pan to hopefully increased the thickness so I won't have to roll the caramels.

2) I used a whisk to stir my mixture and whisked the entire time the mixture was cooking. During the cooking process I determined my candy thermometer wasn't working correctly so I switched to a meat/oil thermometer that had recently been tested that I use for other cooking. When that said about 248 degrees F, I removed the pan from the heat and added the vanilla.

3) Using the 9x13 pan made the caramels thin, which I said before. To get them to a good serving size, I cut the caramel strips about 3/4 inch wide and 9 inches long. I cut each 9 inch strip into about 5 equal pieces and rolled each piece up. The end result was about the normal size of a wrapped caramel. I wrapped each caramel in a 5x5 piece of waxed paper. Next time I will attempt another pan and hopefully avoid this tedious cutting and rolling process.

4) According to the reviews on Allrecipes, it takes close to an hour or more to reach the correct temperature. I cook my sugar on medium to medium-high (about 6 or 7 on an electric stove) and had no problem reaching the temp in less than an hour - probably less than 30 minutes. I stirred continuously and monitored my temperature closely and had no problems with the mixture burning or anything.

My review:

These caramels were amazing. Light in color, chewy, soft, super tasty! I will definitely be making these for Christmas boxes so expect them all who normally receive boxes from me. As there was no way I needed to eat 60 caramels, I packaged them up and had Trey drop them off at his work. Rave reviews! Yay. I now have an audience that I can send my acceptable tries to for others to review. I also thought about adding chopped pecans or a pastry cream to these little delights as well.

So...After this long entry that took forever to type up...I have found yet another caramel recipe I want to try...Annie's Vanilla Bean Caramels from over at Annie's Eats. I will not stop until I have tried what I want to try and determine the best one from what I choose to attempt. So long possible readers...Until next time...Keep your chin up, Keep a positive attitude, Be kind to others, Have respect, Work towards something, and God Bless!