Chocolate Caramels Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why didn't my homemade caramels harden? ›

If caramels are too soft, that means the temperature didn't get high enough.

Why add cream of tartar to the sugar syrup? It's extra insurance against the syrup crystallizing. Many readers successfully make this sauce without it; but if you ever find yourself dealing with crystallized (instead of smooth) syrup, be sure to add the cream of tartar next time around.

If you want to make sure they don't stick you can cut the Reynolds Release foil into squares and use that. It works great for sticky candy.

Increasing reducing sugars will add to the flavor and color of caramel – but too much can cause excessive stickiness. Check the pH of premix, water and other ingredients, including scrap, to identify excessive inversion as the problem. Caramel premix should have a neutral pH (6.8-7.0).

Keep a close eye on the color of the sugar and as it approaches a reddish-brown, remove it from the heat. When making a wet caramel, water is added to help dissolve the sugar before cooking.

Add acid. Acid ingredients (like vinegar or lemon juice) can help prevent re-crystallization which causes caramel to become grainy. Acid physically breaks the bonds between the glucose and fructose molecules that form sucrose and ensure that it stays apart.

Adding an acid like lemon juice is another way to prevent sucrose from crystallizing. The cream and butter also act as “interfering agents” as the milk proteins in both help to prevent crystal formation. Ingredients such as vanilla, flavorings, salt, and nuts (or baking soda for caramel corn) are all added at the end.

Spread hot caramel to the edges of the pan and allow to cool to room temperature. Wrap with plastic wrap (or put on the lid if your pans are lidded) and store all day or overnight in the fridge.

Technically caramels don't need to be refrigerated; but for ease of cutting and longest shelf life I always refrigerate. You'll get a bit of sweating when you take them in and out of the refrigerator, but that's OK. I like to place a layer of waxed paper, and then a layer of foil over the caramels before refrigerating.

Allow the parchment paper to hang over the sides of the pan--it will make the cooled block of caramel easier to remove when it's time to cut the candy into pieces. You can also use aluminum foil (as indicated in our recipe); just butter well and allow extra foil to hang over the sides of the pan.

How do you make caramel without sticking? ›

To begin, use some water with the sugar, don't try to start a dry caramel. It can be done, but it takes experience. Add slightly less than 1/4 cup of water to each cup of sugar, and stir to wet the sugar. Put the pot on the heat, and stir only until the sugar dissolves.

Overheating the mixture

Follow the recipe carefully, and never melt your caramel on your stove's highest setting—it will cause the caramel to scorch and taste burnt. Once it gets a burnt or bitter flavor, it can't be saved. Luckily, sugar is inexpensive, so you can always start over!

If it's grainy, don't panic—there's still hope. Identify the Cause: Grainy caramel sauce typically results from sugar crystallization during the cooking process. This can happen if sugar crystals form on the sides of the saucepan or if the sugar syrup is mixed too much while cooking.

Once you make caramel, it will harden as it cools, and you'll have to heat it up again to use it. However, if you want to turn it into a more spoonable sauce, you add other ingredients like butter or cream to the melted caramel.

Add more sugar to the sauce.

Most caramel sauces are made by caramelizing sugar and adding milk and a little salt. If you increase the amount of sugar in the recipe you'll end up with a thicker caramel. Try increasing the sugar by about 1/3.

In hard candy making, it is important to cook all the water out of the sugar/corn syrup/water mixture. If the sugar mixture is not cooked to the proper temperature (the hard-crack stage 300-310° F {149-154° C.} or if you are working in a kitchen with high humidity, chances are your candy is retaining too much moisture.

you simply haven't cooked it enough-- possibly your microwave is less powerful (the original recipe doesn't specify a wattage for cooking the caramel) or the butter you used has a higher water content. You could try cooking the mixture for a little longer, and seeing if it sets up firmer.