You have no idea how grateful I am for this recipe! The 1st time I tried this it turned out tasting off obviously because of something I missed or did. So I tried again and I’m so proud of myself! The caramels turned out perfect. They tasted amazing better then store bought. I will never buy caramels again.
Great recipe! Just one point; in the recipe on your website you say to boil the sugar and water to 175C and in the video to 160C. At 175C my toffee was too hard, at 160C it was perfect. Also, a quick tip. If you add boiling water to the pan first, then slowly add the sugar to the centre of the pan and let it dissolve bit by bit, you will get no crystallisation around the edges. To be extra sure, put the lid on the saucepan for a while and the steam dripping back down into the saucepan will help get rid of any crystals.
In the first stage of cooking, the temperature of the caramel should have no effect on the final consistency of the caramels. At 160C, it would already be brittle if cooled completely and lightly caramelised. At 175C, it's just a darker caramel, which is my preference for flavour. However, I don't even use a thermometer when cooking at this point. The second stage of cooking, once the cream and butter have been added, is when the temperature matters. If you go over 120C (also known as the firm ball stage) in this stage, your caramel will be too tough and chewy.
Hello Meggie, I made a chewy caramel once, but it got too tough, I think I missed the point, this is the most difficult thing, to get the correct point so that it doesn't got too much tough, even though, they were still delicious, it's been a while, but I'm dying to do it again, and I'll try your recipe, thanks for sharing. hugs from Brazil
I’ve done this 3 times now. The first time was perfect almost, but I went a little too low and the carnels weren’t quite chewy they sort of melted and lost their shape at room temp. The 2nd time and 3rd time I could not get the sugar to dissolve in the water completely apparently, because the caramel came out crystalized and grainy. I am trying to remember what I did the first time to get the sugar to dissolve, I think maybe I was just more patient. I’m going to keep trying because this recipe is great
Thank you I’m going to try this. Question though, is there a reason we couldn’t add flaky sea salt once it’s in the mold, while it’s still wet and sticks well? Or maybe let it cool 20 minutes after it’s in the mold and add salt? Does the flaky salt not fall off once it’s fully cooled?
The caramel is sticky enough that the salt doesn't fall off when added at then end. If you wanted, you could add it about 20-30 minutes after pouring into the mould, but I wouldn't add it directly after because I would worry the heat would be enough to dissolve the salt. Let me know if you try this - I'm interested to know how it works out!
Can i slightly underboil this so it's a bit gooey and chewy at the same time (like in a twix or snickers bar)? I wanna make homemade pecan turtle inspired cookies: a layer of vanilla bean shortbread, topped with a layer of soft chewy caramel combined with toasted and chopped pecan and coated in tempered dark chocolate, finished off with a drizzle of milk chocolate.
I made this last night- with brown sugar.. which in hindsight made it more difficult bc it was Already golden-brown. 🙄 But I stirred until my arm fell Clean off, it hit hard-ball stage in water, & I poured it into a bowl for this morning. I woke up to a grainy mess with what seemed like 17 cups of Butter floating on top. TF "Oh-- its so easy we all did it Perfectly!" Unless you're Me. 😵💫😵☹️
I've used half brown sugar and half granulated sugar to make delicious butterscotch caramels. I don't use this recipe, but I do have one with cream butter that is a bit easier than this recipe. Don't worry, its not bad to use brown sugar, in fact you're supposed to use light brown sugar for butterscotch flavored treats.
Where in GA are you from, again, that you can't get cream of tar tar or corn syrup? I'm not even from GA but at 7 I could find these ingredients. Actually was a staple groing up as my mom is a great cook. I prefer my own recipes now but never have been a sweets person except caramels. Have a 5yo now so time for good sweets, then again may just buy some milk maid and make popcorn etc. Seems easier than cleaning burnt sugar which I'll most end up doing at least once. Great video and procedure for syrupless caramels. Just wowed by lack of ingredients in your town though they have a fleur-de-sea salt or whatever. Thumbs up, guess I'm grumpy/tired with no caramels so please take with a grain of salt, no pun.
I was living in the Republic of Georgia when this was filmed, not the US state :) Neither cream of tartar nor corn syrup are commonly found outside of North America. Happy you enjoyed the recipe!
@@NoFrillsKitchen well that makes perfect sense and I'm a moron. Oops. 😬 Guess I should've read more or looked into why I couldn't pronounce the name. Then 100/100 to you. That was the best comeback answer ever. My head is still ringing, lol.
It's essential that the sugar is COMPLETELY dissolved before letting it come to a boil and that you don't stir the syrup once it's boiling. If you find the mixture is coming to a boil too quickly (before all the sugar is dissolved), go ahead an periodically remove it from the heat, while stirring, until you get that sugar dissolved. Following this, you should have success. Unfortunately, without using a liquid sugar like corn syrup or glucose, crystallisation is a risk factor when candy-making.
@@NoFrillsKitchen I tried making yesterday, it took for ever to start to brown, I had it on low and turned it up a bit and then it must have burned. Low heat seamed to low it really boiled down, my pan was med sized, I'm going use a smaller pan, so the gas flame is under pot evenly.
I have tried this recipe several times and don’t see how you get such a deep amber color to the sugar syrup at 320 degrees. I have to go to at least 335-340 to get any color to the syrup and at 347 it reaches the right color. I have used three different thermometers to make sure that wasn’t the issue and I am in St. Louis so there are no elevation/temperature issues. Please advise.
Forgot to mention the caramels are delicious! Also, at what point do you turn up the heat (and how high) on the sugar syrup? Thanks for the best non-corn syrup caramel recipe I’ve found!
I'm so sorry - I did make a mistake in the written recipe with the temperatures and have since amended it. You need to cook the sugar syrup to 175C (350F) to get the desired caramelisation. Apologies for any confusion! I'm happy you've enjoyed the recipe despite my errors :)
ahhhh i dont know how i messed up but when i reached the last step it turned into this grainy powder so i added more water and now its just caramel sauce HAHAHA
Was this before or after you added the butter/cream? If it was before, it just means the sugar syrup crystallised (likely because your sugar wasn't completely dissolved or you agitated the mixture somehow). Unfortunately, there isn't much of a way to fix it if this happens save from just starting over.
I don't care how good anyone think they are at this. It's litterly impossible to disolve 200 grams of sugar into 60 ml of water. I have an induktion stove top and I sturred for about 15 minutes on low heat and it's still opaque and I can still see sugar crystals.
It's definitely not impossible - I've done it countless times. You could opt to turn your heat up a bit - if you worry that it's coming to a boil too quickly, then you can periodically remove it from the heat as you're stirring. It can also help to use caster sugar over regular granulated sugar, however, that's not necessary :)
@@unogazzy84too much stirring. I've done this a few times also. I hear different things about when to stop stirring this mixture. Some say it's once it's on heat. Others say once you see any bubbles(even simmer bubbles), you shouldn't stir it anymore until it's done. That's the reason they always tell you to use a brush& water to rid the sides of the pan from crystals. I don't have any kind of kitchen/BBQ brush I can use for this purpose so I'm not certain how one can avoid crystals without doing this step. I struggle with caramel ALOT. I've been trying to get it right for a long time. I really hope following this recipe helps.. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
@@marci.curious i have actually a silicone brush and I used it to carefully brush down the sides but that didn't help apperantly. I also stopped stirring when I saw the sugar was completely disolved, after I added more water. I have no idea what I did wrong. There's just too many variables so I have given up.
I'm sorry it's not working for you. My best tip is to be patient and to take the pot on and off the heat to prevent it from coming to a boil too quickly. But, in order for this recipe to work, you need to ensure that the sugar is completely dissolved :)
I have made caramels twice now and neither turned out the way I wanted. Mind you I used a different recipe, identical to yours except the recipe that I used called for 1.5 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of heavy cream. I am going to give your recipe a try. Why do you use only one cup of sugar?
I haven’t tested recipes with the ratios you’re describing, however, this recipe works well with the quantities that I have listed here if you follow the instructions.
