Pennie's Caramels

(From a discussion on Cook's Illustrated.)

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Preheat: °Yield: 5 lbs
Prep: 0:00Wait: 0:00Cook: 0:00

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. unsalted butter
  • 2 lbs. brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 16 oz. Light Karo syrup
  • 2 (15-oz.) cans Eagle Brand Sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Melt butter in a heavy 6-quart pan. Add brown sugar and salt. Stir in corn syrup, mixing well. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Cook over a medium heat until it reaches the firm ball stage (245 degrees). Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Pour into a well buttered 11 x 18 jellyroll pan. Cool, cut, and wrap in wax paper squares.
  2. CHECK YOUR THERMOMETER before you start to make the caramels, by placing it in boiling water for a few minutes. It should register at 212 degrees, if it doesnt then add or subtract accordingly.
  3. I use a non-stick jelly roll pan and then when the caramel is cool I turn it out on a huge board and cut it.
  4. I think the important thing to remember when making these is to not cook them too long. They are good when they are soft, but if you cook them too long they will be the dickens to cut.
  5. Once it gets to cooking you really just need to give an occasional stir to prevent burning and because stirring it too much will take a lot longer to get to the firm-ball stage.
  6. Though the caramel doesn't last that long at room temperature (it starts to get gummy on the outside after a week or so), it will last fine in the freezer. I actually store it in the freezer because I don't eat it as fast. (doesn't work well, since they taste great straight from the freezer)

Notes

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recipes/pennies_caramels.txt · Last modified: 2016/12/19 12:07 (external edit)
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