It's been way too long since I've baked with the Sweet Melissa Sundays group (over a month - yikes!), so I'm really glad to be back for this week's recipe selected by Carmen of Baking is My Zen: honey cream caramels. To be completely honest, I've never been a big fan of caramel candies. I love caramel sauce but something about the super chewy texture of most caramel candies didn't appeal to me. If you're wondering why I forged ahead and made the caramels even though I knew there was a good chance I wouldn't eat them, it's mainly because I think caramels are really fun to make. They're also super easy, assuming you have the right tools, and by tools, I mean a good, reliable candy thermometer. All you have to do is toss some heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup, salt, honey and a little butter in a saucepan and stir occasionally, and the candy thermometer will take care of the rest.
I kept an open mind about these candies, and was surprised to find that I really enjoyed them! They were soft and neither too sticky or chewy. I halved the recipe and let the caramel set up in an 8x4 loaf pan that I buttered and lined with parchment; I also sprinkled the caramel with sea salt about 30 minutes after I poured it into the pan. The salty/sweet flavor combination always works for me, and I thought it was especially nice here. The caramels are pretty sweet on their own and the salt helped to balance that out. You'll want to use a fairly large saucepan when you're making the caramels as the mixture bubbles up quite a bit and overflow would not be fun to clean up (right, Jeannette?) For my half recipe I used a 3-quart pan, I'd probably go bigger for the full recipe.
Many thanks to Carmen for hosting this week. You can find the recipe for the caramels on her blog today.
