Making Caramel

As you all know, I've been making candy again--caramel to be precise.

I've been haunting the Internet looking for good recipes, copying and printing them only to change them around and make them my own by not bothering to *measure* anything.

I made two whiskey caramels. The first one I actually followed the recipe. The second one I didn't. Guess which one was the winner in my family . . . yeah, the second one. It's called Devil's Cut Caramel, and there's a story behind this.

I wandered into the liquor store last week to restock my Jack Daniels Black Label whiskey. It was slow and I started chatting with the owner. I'd talked to him quite a bit before Christmas and he knew I used liquor to make my fillings. Anyhoo, one question led to another and he was telling me the story of the Devil's Cut whiskey (Jim Beam). When one makes wine or other alcohol, you lose a little bit of the product every time you have to transfer it (the dead yeast and other solids fall out of solution during fermentation)--this is called the Angel's Cut. But the Devil's cut is when the distillers reuse whiskey barrels to pull the flavors out of the used oak to infuse the new blend. 

I had to try it.

When I got home, I made the whiskey caramel. Mmmmm. Good stuff. New recipe is a winner.

But this a talk about whiskey and I managed to get off track. Grrrr . . . doncha hate it when I do that?!

Basically caramel is burned sugar.

 *Be very, very careful when working with sugar! It sticks to skin and has to melt off with water. Do NOT try to pull it off!* Yes, I have the scar to prove it!

In a pan you put sugar and water, dissolving the sugar and then boiling it on low until the bubbles become tiny. Many recipes tell you to wet a brush and brush down the sides to prevent crystallization. Don't waste your time. Swirl the contents occasionally. Now this is the tricky part--don't walk away.
When the sugar water thickens slightly (coats the back of a spoon), it becomes a simple syrup, which is used in many recipes especially mixed drinks. Keep cooking the caramel and the color starts to change from a light tan to a dark amber. This is the critical time. If it goes too long, you've burnt it and have to start over again. Keep swirling and looking at your color with a bright light. When it hits the color you want add cream, butter and whatever else you need for your recipe. When you add the cream and other ingredients, it will solidify, but keep on swirling/stirring as it will remelt the solid sugar caramel. Just don't scrape the sides! (this is where the crystals will bite you in the butt!). Taste to check your flavors. And there you have a basic caramel to use in nut tarts or as a sauce for bread pudding.

BUT making caramel is also a technique.

To get the yummy hard caramels, you have to go a step further. The mixture MUST cook until it reaches the 'Hard Ball' stage on a candy thermometer 250-266 degrees F.  If a dollop of candy is cooled in water, then it can be depressed slightly when pressed between your fingers. Again, patience is a virtue because this tends to be a slow process, but once the liquids cook out enough, then it quickly reaches temperature. Once it reaches the correct temperature, the mixture is poured in a prepared pan (9 x 9, foil lined, sprayed with cooking spray for quick release), and cooled.

Some of my caramels (Grand Marnier, Chambord, Bananas Foster) aren't 'true' caramels, but they still have the wonderful mouth feel when you bite down and 'strings' apart. Plus once you coat them in chocolate, who really cares? I know I don't.

If you want me to stop talking candy, then you'll have to tell me . . . but then again, it's my blog and I'll do whatever I want. :-)

I WILL BE DONATING FIVE ONE-POUND BOXES OF MY CANDY TO BRENDA NOVAK'S FOR THE CURE AUCTION. Sorry, but I will only be able to send it to auction winners in the Continental United States. The cost to ship it, plus the heat will make it impossible for me to ship it anywhere else.

Later, Peeps