Caramels, a Commentary

I know the holidays are over, but I wanted to dish about what finally happened with the salted caramels. I ended up making them three times, and learned a lot in the process. Most of what I learned through trial and error can be found in The Kitchn's tutorial on candy-making basics. I also ended up following the steps in The Kitchn's salted caramel recipe, which was more specific for my newbie candy-elf self.

Here's what you need to know: Use a candy thermomenter. Watch it carefully. DO NOT let the candy part get hotter than 248 degrees, known as "firm-ball stage." Hotter, and it gets hard. Cooler, and it stays saucy. When you add the cream to the candy, DO NOT let it get hotter than 250 degrees, whatever you do.

Finally, I found that candy isn't that different than anything else in terms of "done"-ness: When a roasting chicken looks and smells like roasted chicken, it's usually ready. When cookies look and smell done, they probably are. And when you've been stirring caramels for 15 minutes and been crazy over the temperature and it suddenly looks and smells like caramels? That's when you pour it into the pre-greased parchement and walk away.

{Yummy caramel photo from flickr}