I want candy!! Soft gooey caramels, or a chocolate caramel.

[Nutczak]

I have 2 quarts of heavy cream, I have sugar, corn syrup, cocoa, the proper pans and thermometers. But I cannot find a suitable recipe to use.

I would absolutely love a thick gooey chocolate caramel that would hold it's shape, not stick to my teeth, and not be hard and tough.

Any good soft candy recipes?

I also remember my mother making fudge when i was a kid, I hated fudge due to the overly-sweet taste and the slight grainy texture.
One day she messed something up, and it turned out to be this wonderfully smooth gooey confection with no crystallization, it would not hold its shape at room temperature. I loved the stuff, but she could not duplicate it.

Imagine a packaged "Hot-Fudge Topping" that is used for ice cream, but not heated, very dense and almost like a soft caramel. it stretched, it was soft, it was great. Any recipes on something near the texture I am looking for?

[saucisson]

I feel sick....

Just kidding, I just don't do sweet...

Dave

[Pork Pie Eyed Dolly]

I know this isn't quite what you want but it IS delicious!

make butterscotch sauce; combine 2tbs brown sugar, e20g butter and 2 tablespoons of cream in small saucepan. Stir over low heat, without boiling until sugar dissolves.

Obviously you can up the quantities.

Edit: it's very saucy though, not chewy bendy

[Nutczak]

I know this isn't quite what you want but it IS delicious!

make butterscotch sauce; combine 2tbs brown sugar, e20g butter and 2 tablespoons of cream in small saucepan. Stir over low heat, without boiling until sugar dissolves.

Obviously you can up the quantities.

Edit: it's very saucy though, not chewy bendy

The GF would like that, We were really heavy on milk one week, so I made a huge batch of Dulce De Leche, I wonder of that same recipe would work with cream instead of milk?

[wheels]

It's funny but I do a similar sauce with equal parts of each item, 4oz brown sugar, 4oz butter, ¼ pt double (heavy?) cream, but I add 1 Tblsp Golden Syrup.

(Regrettably, I don't know what you call Golden Syrup in the US)

Phil

[Chuckwagon]

Hey Nutzee,
Forget the chocolate - it will give you pimples! Try some of my peanut brittle:

“Smell The Coffee”… Before Its Too Late!
(The Perfect Coffee Break With Peanut Brittle)

The best things in life are the simplest! Folks who don’t slow down and stop to “smell the coffee” once in a while, miss out on the finer points of life. Turn off the boob-tube and spend an evening with a friend learning something new like how to tie knots, sharpen cutlery, or make peanut brittle. Do something entirely innovative and simple. Something you’ve always wanted to do - before it’s too late! And don’t allow the time to turn into a house maintenance session. Take an afternoon or an evening off to investigate something undemanding and uncomplicated! Make a “big” deal of it too, exploring the finer points of the worthwhile and interesting activity that “you’ve always meant to get around to doing”. I’ve never known a dying person to utter the words, “Shucks, I should have stayed at work a little longer and worked harder”. Remember to include a coffee n’ peanut brittle break in your routine. These tasty treats are two of life’s most excellent delights.

“Cowboy Coffee And Country Crackle”
(The Perfect Cup Of Coffee With Robber’s Roost Peanut Brittle)

To Make A Great Cup Of Coffee:
Hmmm… they tell me even the British have coffee now and then! Do you remember how to make good “cowboy coffee”? Bring a quart of cold water to boil and add 3/4 cup of your favorite ground coffee directly to the water. The boiling will stop momentarily. Return the water to boil just long enough to wet the grounds then immediately remove the pot from heat and cover it. Never boil the grounds and don’t add cold water to sink the grounds. Be patient and wait until the grounds sink (approximately 5 minutes). Use the time to stir up a batch of Robber’s Roost Peanut Brittle. Pour the coffee, handling the pot as gently as possible as not to disturb the grounds. Above 10,000 feet the boiling temperature drops and considerably more coffee grounds are needed. Always measure the water and the coffee to ensure consistency.

To Make The Peanut Brittle:

2 cups sugar
1-cup light corn syrup
1-cup water
2 cups raw Spanish peanuts
½ tspn. salt
2 tblspns. butter
2 tspns. baking soda

Stirring constantly over medium heat, blend the sugar, syrup and water together in a heavy 3-quart saucepan until the sugar completely dissolves. Add the salt and continue to cook the mixture over medium heat to the “soft ball stage” (234 degrees). Add the peanuts at 250 degrees. Continue to heat the mixture stirring it often, to the “hard crack stage” (290 degrees). Remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the butter and the soda. Beat the mixture into a froth, (a few seconds only) and then pour it all at once onto two well-buttered 15”x10”x1” lipped baking sheet pans, spreading the candy with a spatula. At this point, many folks like to “pull” the brittle using forks to stretch it out a bit. Break up the brittle when it has cooled completely and keep plenty of it inside your saddlebags wrapped in waxed paper.
Best Wishes, Chuckwagon

[Nutczak]

Thanks for the recipe, that got copied into my "Kitchen Notebook From Hell" for future use.
I was ot really wanting hard candy, it was weird because I usuallty do not crave sweets

I do make a great toffee that requires nothing more than brown sugar & butter. (I'll post the ratios later) I will be making 25-30 pounds of that for the upcoming holidays as gifts to go alog with wild berry preserves, and cured smoked meats. (I bet you wish you lived closer now) Maybe I'll experiment with the brittle and add that too.

I made my caramel, it was a pain in the butt, but I found a recipe that did not need sweetened condensed milk!! It called for corn syrup, sugar, cream, butter, vanilla & salt. That was it.

I have it cooling while wrapped in towels to keep it from cooling to rapidly. I want to keep a very soft texture. Maybe i'll temper some chocolate and dip a few?

Next time I will add cocoa to make a chocolate caramel chewey treat. I wanted to see how this turned out before modifying the recipe and adding more steps to trouble-shooting a possible failure.

I think I know how my mother messed up the fudge recipe now!! Caramel is very similar to fudge making, and I found a way to get around the crystalization in fudge that I hate.

I'll need to share my "Fairy Food" recipe with you guys, I do not know what it is called these days, but it is a candy that resembles expanded uerathane foam dipped in chocolate. You can only make this stuff in low humidity places or it gets gummy. It melts away in your mouth with a flavor similar to toffee, but it is airy like a sponge not a hard candy. It is similar to making toffee, but you add an acid and a base to get a foaming reaction and it sets that way. Pretty neat actually, but hard to make.

[Iamarealbigdog]

SPONGE TOFFEE.....

used to eat it a lot when I was a kid, the consistance of expansion foam and your right would melt at the drop of a hat... great stuff.


Chuckwagon..

I just googled how long it would take me to come over for a coffee... 29 hr drive, 3,000 km. Hmmmm perhaps not this weekend.

I can one beter you on your cowboy coffee, and that is fresh hand roasted coffee, nothing like that, I've used a cast iron frypan, a hot air popcorn popper and now and a dedicated roaster.

Friends come over in the summer and we make a big deal about coffee from all over the world and have a nice little cigar on the back deck.

[Nutczak]

I cut and wrapped my caramels, They are addicting they are so good!!
I will only allow myself 2 pieces per day so it lasts for a while longer before needing to make it again.

Next batch I plan an adding unsweetened cocoa powder to the cream to get a rich chocolate flavor in that, and then add that to the sugar in hopes of getting the chocolate caramel textured stuff I am hoping for. I'll cut the recipe down by 75% on the first try to minimize my losses if it fails

Anyways, Nutczaks soft-caramel recipe

2 cups light corn syrup
4 cups sugar
1/4 (4 Tbs) cup butter, cubed into small bits
4 cups heavy whipping cream (1 QT)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a Heavy bottom saucepan, mix corn syrup and the sugar, heat it until boiling while wiping down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to avoid crystallization, once the mix is boiling, do not stir it, do not bump the pan, do not move the pan. this is very important so sugar crystals do not form.

Heat the mixture to 305F and lower heat

While your sugar is boiling, warm up your cream to just about boiling, and set aside.

When the sugar reaches 305F, lower the heat to a simmer add pieces of butter very slowly, the mix will bubble up so be ready to stir it to knock down the foaming. After butter is all added, add the hot cream a few ounces at a time while constantly stirring the mix, it will boil and threaten to come out of the pan and put a pool of molten burning sugar all over you, the stove, and the floor which will cause 3rd degree burns real easy. I wear leather gloves when doing this to avoid burns.

Continue adding the cream a little at a time until it is all in the mix, now you need to bring this boiling conglomeration up to 243F-246F for a soft caramel that just holds it's shape when cool. if you want a harder caramel, take it to 250F. for a soft caramel sauce try around 240'ish

Remove from heat, let it rest for 5 minutes, add salt, and vanilla, the vanilla will boil off rapidly and it is wonderful to smell being right near the pan. mix it enough only to blend the salt and vanilla, when this is done line a 9"x13" pan with heavy foil which has been coated with butter, a light oil, or pan spray to avoid sticking, use alot of it, this stuff is like napalm and will stick to everything when hot.

Cover the pan tightly to hold moisture in, place the pan on a pile of towels, and cover with a towel for 12-24 hours for it to set slowly.

If you find the caramel is too soft for your liking, you can reheat the entire batch and take it to a higher temperature and make it firmer

[Chuckwagon]

Iamarealbigdog wrote:

Chuckwagon..
I just googled how long it would take me to come over for a coffee... 29 hr drive, 3,000 km. Hmmmm perhaps not this weekend.

Hey Mike, 29 hours from Ontario? Why are you such a slow driver? Come for coffee and Dutch (camp) oven cookin’ anytime. Hey, we'll make Wallie do the dishes eh?

Best wishes, Chuckwagon

[Hangin_Salami]

hey big dog,

Only 2.5 hours to my place, you won't be coming for coffee though, you will be doing the COOKING!!!

Cheers,

Chris

[Zulululu]

Bheeeg problem Chuck you're in it again my OH has become addicted to your peanut brittle.I hope you realise that this is going to eat into my sausage making time.

[Chuckwagon]

Good on ya mate! I'm tickled that she likes the peanut brittle. It is one of those things one just can't leave alone having consumed merely a measley, scant, meager and negligible trace of only ten or twelve pieces! Please give your wife my best! If you'll give me her name, I'll name the peanut brittle after her.
Best wishes, Chuckwagon

[Zulululu]

Wilma

[Chuckwagon]

Wilma's Brittle it is!
Its going in my book as "Wilma's Brittle".
Best Wishes, Chuckwagon