Starting with Caramels

So many years ago, there were two things in the kitchen that sparked my interest in the science of food: bread and candy. Judging from the massive plate of sugary goodness, I'm talking about caramels here. In a most annoying fashion, I've misplaced the recipe sheet I used for this batch. This isn't exactly a problem for me, as I rarely make the same thing twice when at home. My aim to venture into professional cooking, however, relies upon repetition and consistency in the end product. Might've been nice to be able to reproduce this one, so maybe next time around.

Learned a few fine things with this batch, though, that don't require a recipe sheet. The last time I was in the mood to make candies, I had cooked up a sheet of toffee. Had to toss the first batch. Burned. I was more than a bit miffed, since I had carefully watched the temperature and was dutifully following the targets for hard candy. Burned! My error was in trusting the equipment to be correct.

It turns out that my thermometer was off by more than five degrees. Now, before every batch, I pull up a pot of boiling water and test the accuracy of my equipment. In my region, water boils at 212F. It's a simple matter to make note of the difference in measurement and adjust temperature targets. Next pot of caramel came out with stunning perfection.

Cutting these things can be a real pain. Toffee was my candy of choice for a few years, simply because it can be snapped apart without any trouble. Caramel sticks to knives and generally makes a mess... so I thought. I forget where I read it, but it wasn't in any book I own. Grease up a pizza wheel and go to town. Cuts caramel like the ol' butter. Wax paper sheets work well enough for wrappings. Total time spent, maybe two hours. One spent watching over the stove, and another spent cutting and wrapping. The rest of the time is all waiting for hot sugar to cool.

Fun uses for a bag of caramel? Apart from being tasty on its own, it's a pleasant addition to an evening coffee. Perhaps melt it over some pecans. Bake it into some cookies. Pour over ice cream. Why am I telling you what to do with caramel? You know damn well what to do with it.

Find a recipe and give it a shot. Just be sure to share it. Your friends will love it and you'll avoid getting diabetes leg.