My Christmas Recipes Part 1

Well.....we are officially almost moved all the way in to our new house!! Living next door to my inlaws has been wonderful! Bekah absolutely loves it too, she cries if I ever pass the house without stopping for a visit with Mimi and Grampa :) With our move, my sister inlaw's boyfriend found David a 6 month old puppy named Lexi. She is a Texas Heeler, and someone gave her to us for free! Yay!! She is so sweet and training her should be great fun! Bekah loves her and as soon as she wakes up in the morning she asks to see her doggie :)

With Christmas right around the corner, we are in the buzz of shopping, baking, decorating, and we are a family that truly believes this is the most wonderful time of the year. Don't people seem so much nicer?? One of the recipes I'm making with my Christmas gifts is a soft caramel recipe I found through Pinterest from http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-soft-chewy-caramel-candies-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-180832

Here are my suggestions for the recipe:

How to Make Soft Salted Caramels (I call them soft, because they are chewy, not crunchy like Werther's)

Makes about 55 caramels

What You Need

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coarse sea salt(I used a grinder)

Equipment
8x8 baking dish (or similar size)
Parchment paper
2-quart saucepan
4-quart saucepan
Instant-read thermometer or candy thermometer
Spatula
Whisk
Wax paper

Instructions

1. Prepare the caramel mold. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment so that excess paper hangs over the edges. Spray the parchment and the sides of the pan with nonstick spray. **important, I tried using wax paper instead...this does NOT work!! The wax adhered to the candy, making my entire first batch no good :(

2. Melt the butter in the cream. Over medium heat, warm the cream, butter, and salt in the 2-quart saucepan until the butter melts. Remove from heat, but keep the pan close by.

3. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water. In the larger 4-quart saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir until the sugar is evenly moistened and you form a thick grainy paste. Wipe down the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush so there are no sugar crystals above the surface of the sugar mixture. Clip the instant-read thermometer to the side of the pan so that the heat sensor is immersed in the sugar. Do not stir the sugar after this point.
Note: The large saucepan is necessary because the sugar will bubble up and triple in size when you add the cream. Do not substitute a smaller pan.
**(I used a 3 quart because I do not own a 4 quart, and it worked great)
**I do not own a pastry brush, but my pots are hard anodized aluminum, so one scrape with a spatula worked just fine for me.

4. Cook the sugar syrup. Place the pot with the sugar mixture over medium to medium-high heat. Let the sugar syrup come to a boil without stirring. At first, you will see small bubbles around the edge of the pan, which will eventually move inward. Around 250°F, the sugar syrup will turn transparent and boil rapidly. Around 320°F, the syrup will darken slightly and smell caramel-like. You can proceed to the next step any time after the syrup reaches 250°F and before it reaches 325°F.
Note: If your instant-read thermometer isn't quite submerged into the sugar, you may need to tilt the pan to get an accurate reading. Simply tilt the pan by the handle until the thermometer is submerged a few inches in the sugar syrup. If the syrup hasn't reached 250°, wipe down the sides with a pastry brush again. If it has, there's no need.
**I would wait until at least 320, I am a "safe rather than sorry" kind of gal, so I went middle of the road at 277, and it tasted fine, but did not get the dark rich color I would have liked.

5. Whisk in the cream and butter. Turn off the heat under the sugar syrup. Slowly pour the warm cream and butter mixture into the sugar syrup while whisking the sugar syrup gently. The sugar syrup will bubble up and triple in size. Stop whisking once all the milk and butter mixture has been added.
**I added very little at a time, because when she says it bubbles up, it really does...could be a big mess if you didn't do this slow enough.

6. Heat the caramel to 245°F - 250°F. Return the pan to medium to medium-high heat. Let the caramel come to a boil without stirring. It will start off as a soft buttery yellow and eventually darken to reddish-brown caramel. Remove from heat when the caramel reaches 245°F to 250°F.
**I went with 250, since I was hoping for the darker color.

7. Whisk in the vanilla. Quickly whisk the vanilla into the caramel.

8. Pour the caramels into the mold. Immediately pour the caramels into the mold. Do not scrape the pot (there are sometimes hard burnt bits on the bottom). Knock the pan agains the counter a few times to help air bubbles work their way out.
**I did scrape mine, simply because nothing has ever burned or stuck in my pots :)
**Wait about 10 minutes, and sprinkle or crack sea salt on top.

9. Let the caramels set. Set the caramels somewhere out of the way to set, for at least two hours or (ideally) overnight. Once the caramels have cooled to room temperature, you can cover the pan.

10. Cut the caramels. When the caramels have set, lift them out of the pan by the parchment paper flaps and onto a cutting board. Cut the caramels into candies with a very sharp knife. If the caramels stick to your knife, spray your knife with nonstick cooking spray.

11. Wrap the caramels in wax paper. Cut squares of wax paper a little longer than your caramels. Wrap each caramel in wax paper and twist the ends closed. Caramels will keep at room temperature for about two weeks.

Additional Notes:

• Softer Caramels: The softness of the caramels is mainly a result of the cream. This recipe makes fairly firm, chewy caramels. For softer, taffy-like caramels, experiment with adding an extra 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of cream to this recipe.
Caramel Variations:
• Gingerbread Caramels - Add 2 tablespoons of molasses to the sugar mixture. Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves along with the vanilla at the very end of cooking.
• Chocolate Caramels - Increase the amount of cream to 1 1/2 cups. Melt 10 ounces of good chocolate into the cream mixture along with the butter.

Later in the week, I will post my Mom's famous Sugar Cookie recipe, and next week, Pine Bark :) Happy baking/candy making