Roberta A. Mazzucco
There are many recipes for caramel and many variations from individual candies to caramel apples, and fancy mixtures with nuts and creamy centers. I tried this recipe for "soft" caramels because I was looking for a candy that would not be too hard to chew and this recipe promised to be soft and not too sticky. I was a little intimidated to start this recipe fearing that I would burn the cream-milk mixture while waiting for the rest of the ingredients to boil.
This is another recipe in which a lot of potential problems with students being passive observers could be eliminated by including them in the preparation of the caramels. A few students could help mix and stir the recipe and another student could watch the thermometer. Students may have a bit if trouble cutting these and you will have to determine whether they can do this. Obviously students could help wrap the candies and in all the recipes students might make labels with catchy names for the class made treats.
Materials: 2 cups whipping cream, 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk; 2 cups light corn syrup, 1/2 cup water, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup butter
Process:
1.
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Butter a 9-inch square baking pan and set it aside
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2.
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In a 1-qt. saucepan, combine the cream and milk.
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3.
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Place on low heat and let it get warm but not boil.
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4.
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In a 4-qt. saucepan, combine corn syrup, water, and sugar.
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5.
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Place on a high heat and keep stirring with a wooden spoon until it is well mixed. Try to keep water crystals from gathering on the sides of the pan by washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush.
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6.
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Hang on the candy thermometer and cook over medium heat until the temperature reaches 250? F (120C) or firm-ball stage.
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7.
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Then stir in the butter and warm cream-milk mixture. The temperature will decrease. Stirring constantly until the thermometer reaches 244? F (120C) or firm-ball stage.
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8.
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Pour into the pan. Don't scrape the bottom of the pan. Cool overnight and then cut into 1-inch squares. Wrap in wax paper (I used plastic wrap).
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One thing which was included in the cookbook this recipe was taken from is that it is important to remember when making caramels not to scrape the bottom. The reason that is recommended is that by the time you reach the bottom of the pan the temperature of the mixture has already begun to decline and it may start to darken and have a stronger flavor. I found this to be true and just kept the rest in the pan. I must confess that I didn't use the 9" square pan but used an 8" square pan. The finished product looked good. I let it stand overnight - I made it and tried to cut it the next day and found it to be hard. I felt it probably hadn't set up so it was recommended to me to wait and try to roll it out. That worked and I was able to cut it up and it tasted good.
17
I have to say that trying to cut and package these candies gave me more cause to admire all those who make candy. It was very time consuming and somewhat difficult to figure out how to wrap up the caramels so they wouldn't stick. I settled on plastic wrap which I had originally wrapped up my caramel block.