Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Let's Talk...

Caramel.
I was at my friends house the other day and saw this gorgeously cut up cubed caramels.  I thought to myself, "I should make those, mmmmm, and dip them in chocolate."
On the way home I bought some heavy whipping cream, called my mom for advice and got to it.  
I've always heard that candy making is a tough business, but hoped it would just happen to work perfectly for me.  ha ha. ha hahaha.  
Burned caramel.  Make that burned toffee.
Let's try that again.  
I had to pick Isaac up from a friends house, or I wouldn't have gone out in the snow (4+ inches on top of the 17" from last week).  I dragged/drug him to Rainbow foods and bought my second set of cream.  At least it was on sale for $2.  
So I called my Mom and found out that you should never use a stainless steal pan for making candy because it gets hot spots.  Okie dokie then.
After I (supposedly) got the kiddos in bed, I set out on making caramel round #2.  
See where this is going?
Oh my goodness!  It didn't burn!  The color was a rich....caramel color and looked fantastic!  Got the temperature up to soft ball and everything.  I'm such a big girl!  It only took two tries and I'm awesome.  I can't wait to dip these babies in some chocolate!
haha. hahahahaha.
Next morning, my caramel, upon inspection is toffee yet again, but at least not burned.
I called my mom feeling like a huge disappointment, but she had a remedy.
Once I get the caramel out of the pan, warm it back up with 1/2 cup milk until it gets to soft ball.  Oh wait a minute.  What is this about your thermometer?  
We do a boiling water test and find out that my two thermometers read waayyyy different.  So, I learned another lesson:   do not trust thermometers.
I set out to fix my second batch, which was nice because I had forgotten to put in vanilla and salt :)
I thought it would be interesting to use both of my thermometers to see what the difference was.  Twenty to 30 degrees.  That's why I had toffee.  
So now, I have soft caramels waiting to be cut and dipped.  
This story might not be over since I haven't even tasted the stuff yet.
Anyone have some more advice or fun stories to share?

**Update**

After I finally got the caramel out of the pan, I had a taste and it was yummy.
I dipped all of it tonight, as you can see.
My lovely little army of caramels.

2 comments:

  1. these look yummy.
    great job and not giving up. next time it will be easier

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  2. Hey JoAnne,
    I have an excellent caramel recipe that you make in the microwave. If I try to make caramels at high altitude, it takes three hours the stove top way!!! If you want the microwave recipe, e-mail me.
    Love,
    Camille

    ReplyDelete