Description
Sweet, salty, bitter and chewy, these chocolate covered caramels are an absolute delight. Wrap individually in wax paper for a festive holiday gift.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 tablespoons water
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
- ½ cup heavy cream*
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt + more for sprinkling
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips (or bar, chopped)
Instructions
- Line an 5×8-inch loaf pan with parchment; grease parchment.
- Bring butter and cream to boil. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt; let cool.
- Combine water, corn syrup and sugar with a wooden spoon or heat-proof rubber spatula in a large saucepan. Stir until sugar is saturated with water.
- Bring sugar solution to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook, without stirring, until sugar has dissolved and temperature reaches 300°F (149ºC), about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until edges of mixture start to turn a light amber and temperature reaches 320ºF (160ºC) to 325ºF (163ºC), about 5 minutes.
- Once 320ºF (160ºC) is reached, remove from heat. Carefully pour a quarter of the cream mixture into sugar syrup and swirl to incorporate. (Be careful, mixture will bubble.)
- Add remaining cream and butter mixture and stir to incorporate. Return pan to medium-high heat and cook, stirring frequently, until caramel reaches 240°F (115ºC) for softer caramels or 245ºF (118ºC) for chewier caramels, 5–10 minutes.
- Carefully pour caramel into prepared pan; allow caramel to cool for 20 minutes at room temperature, then sprinkle with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt and let cool until completely solid and cold to touch, 1–2 hours.
- Pull edges of parchment paper to release caramel from pan. Cut caramel into ¾-inch-wide strips and then crosswise into 1-inch pieces.
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in microwave at 50% power in 30 second increments.
- Using a spoon, drizzle chocolate over caramels; let cool until set.
- Individually wrap pieces in waxed-paper squares, twisting ends of paper to close. Caramels can be refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.
Notes
Use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream. Avoid using cream that’s simply labeled “whipping cream” as it might have a lower percentage of fat. For this recipe, your cream should have a minimum of 36% fat content.
Humidity can impact caramel making—I’ve found cool dry days result in the best caramels.
Keywords: homemade caramels, dark chocolate sea salt caramels,
