Christmas, Sweet Treats

Soft Salted Caramels

Kirsten

P1010149Could someone please tell December to slow down? I have never considered myself to be a “last-minute” Christmas person but I have realised that at the beginning of December I adopt a “don’t worry, there’s a whole month to do everything” approach. But there isn’t a whole month at all. There’s 24 days. Well, 23 really. And 13 of those days are taken up with work. So that only leaves 10 days in which to squeeze everything else into, like making & buying presents, baking, decorating, eating, preparing etc. etc. 10 days is not enough. So far I have only bought one present and 3 stocking fillers. That’s not enough.

Next year I am starting Christmas in July. It’s the only way.

But back to the here and now. It’s edible gift week! And we are starting with some soft, buttery, delicious salted caramels.

P1010146Who wouldn’t be pleased if you turned up with a bag full of these?

Although they do require about 30 minutes of continuous gentle stirring, the recipe is simple and you leave them overnight to set. Then all you have to do is cut and wrap. (Note – you will need bigger pieces of non-stick baking paper than you think to wrap them!)

I got 64 caramels out of one batch (cutting the slab into 8×8) but some of them were a bit big so you can easily get more than that by making them a little smaller. Which means it’s not a big deal if one two five go missing.

PS – if after you have cut and wrapped the caramels you decide to lick the paper in order to get every last morsels and someone catches you and looks at you with either scorn or derision, just hand them a caramel. They’ll soon understand / fight you for the paper.

P1010153

Soft Salted Caramels

Print this recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 250ml double cream
  • 180ml condensed milk
  • 250ml golden syrup (or corn syrup)
  • 220g caster sugar
  • 60ml water
  • 60g butter, diced
  • 1 tsp Maldon sea salt flakes, plus extra for decoration
  • Greaseproof paper for wrapping

Method:

  1. Lightly grease and line a tray bake pan with non-stick baking paper.
  2. In a small saucepan, place the cream and condensed milk and heat over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until just warm and mixed together. Remove from heat.
  3. In a slightly larger saucepan, place the golden syrup, caster sugar and water and heat over a high heat until the sugar dissolves.
  4. Using a sugar thermometer, cook until the temperature reaches 120 celsius (250 fahrenheit). Reduce the heat to low and carefully add the cream/condensed milk mixture, the butter and the tsp of salt and cook, stirring more or less continuously, until the mixture has thickened and is a rich caramel colour (anywhere between 10-30 minutes).
  5. Remove from the heat and pour into the prepared tray. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and leave to cool/set overnight.
  6. Use the paper to lift the caramel out of the pan. Slice into rectangle pieces and wrap in non-stick paper.

87 thoughts on “Soft Salted Caramels”

  8. Oooo…yum! I will be trying these. And also, I completely agree with you, I always have all these plans for thinks I want to make (not just food) to give as gifts and just to have around the house/for entertaining, and before I know it, there are no days left – I’ve come to realise that it’s part of the fun as no way can I get properly started much before December, it just doesn’t feel right.

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  11. Thanks for the recipe! Salted caramel is my favourite scent for Christmas (I have candles that make the house smell like it) and favourite treats to eat during this time! I’ll have a go at this recipe.

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    1. It wasn’t until I discovered salted caramels that I realised the salty/sweet combination is my favourite. Strange since I have been combining salted nuts / crisps with chocolate for ages! I think it’s a hard combo to beat.

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  17. Delightfully Christmassy, thank you so much for this recipe! I had never made Caramel before, sticky gooey success. My Mom and I discovered keeping them in the freezer after wrapping them keeps them hard and less messy for little ones and they still melt in the mouth. Scrummy!

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    1. I’m so pleased your first attempt at caramels worked and am honoured that you chose my recipe to start. I hadn’t thought about keeping them in the freezer – great idea! I would imagine if you let them get really cold you would be able to dip them in chocolate without them melting – yummy!

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  22. I love all the wonderful and ingenious recipes I can get. I tried three new ones this year and they turned out absolutely Great. The first was for Peppermint Fudge: easy and quick what more could you ask for? Second was for Divinity; I have heard horror stories from many people on how hard this candy is to make, However, I have made it twice now and it’s turned out fantastic both times. Cream cheese cookies was the last one that I tried new. They are so wonderful and soft and delicious. I will be posting the recipes later for you too try to.

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  33. So pleased to have found you! I’m a fellow coeliac, and I too hate the way commercial gluten free foods taste. I’m Following you now. I do make pretty good bread now, but my one enduring fantasy is a fresh, hot, jam doughnut, the proper yeast-raise kind, not the cakey American kind. One day, maybe…

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    1. Ah, did you have to mention jam doughnuts??!! 🙂 They sometimes make it into the house (as I am the only one who is gluten-free) and they torment me all the time. They are so delicious. I may have to try and work on a gluten-free one! Thanks for following. I have yet to find a bread recipe that gives me the results I’m after. I have a couple more to try though.

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      2. Thanks for the recipe – I’ve printed it off. It looks very similar to a Rachel Allan one I came across the other day (which was the next one I was going to try). I have a question though – you use AUS cups rather than US ones. If I decide to be lazy and use US cups rather than being British and weighing everything out, will the bread be affected by the fact that my wet to dry ingredient ratio will be slightly out?

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      3. I think it should be OK, the recipe is quite forgiving. The only thing you can’t short-change is the yeast and water. It’ll also tolerate substitutions, so long as the ingredients are similar in nature, ie, you can use more potato starch if you’re short of tapioca starch, or besan instead of soy flour – but not too much of that because of the strong taste. One reason why I love it: it’s hard to completely mess up!

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  36. These look amazing! My Mum is absolutely obsessed with salted caramels so I think these will make it onto Boxing Day’s buffet! Do you know how long they keep for/is it best to do them fresh, as I too have the problem of time!

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    1. I made mine about 10 days ago now and unbelievably there are still some left! They are absolutely fine so you could make them this weekend and I would have thought they would still be okay on Boxing Day. Just make sure you wrap them nice and tight. Hope that helps.

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    1. I get where you are coming from with the stirring! To be honest you may not need to stir for this long. I have had caramel split on me in the past because I have had the heat too high so now I err on the side of caution and adopt the ‘low and slow’ approach. Once it’s started to turn brown you could probably turn the heat up a little bit.

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  44. These look fantastic, and would make such a great present! I had high hopes of baking and making my own holiday gifts this year, but that’s looking pretty unlikely at this point. Will have to remember for next year!

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  45. Love your blog. How do you get it to snow 🙂
    I do the same, “hey, December’s a long month. I’ve got plenty of time” thing. I’ll definitely be trying this recipe out as I’ll probably be using it as gifts for my last minute ideas as well. I’ve only done one present so far and no cards :\. Oops.

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    1. I’m behind on cards as well! I’ve just caught up with the shopping though.
      With regards to making it snow (I would love some real stuff) – if you go to your settings page and scroll down there is an option to make it snow 🙂

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