Salted Bourbon Soft Caramels

When I was little, I always looked forward celebrating Holiday traditions with my family. From making wreath cookies with my mom, to reading The Night Before Christmas as a family on Christmas Eve, to singing Silent Night by candlelight at church, the memories we made through our family’s traditions have created a patchwork of gleaming nostalgia that always help put me in the Christmas spirit, even now as an adult. Over the past few years, Ken and I have begun  our own traditions, and one of our favorites is making homemade caramels together. We’ve found its a good activity for 2+ people, because though it’s not hard to make, it does require a close watchful eye and about an hour of constant stirring, so it’s nice to be able take turns stirring along the way.  The bourbon flavor isn’t super dominant; it simply adds a fullness to the flavor and provides a nice compliment to the sea salt sprinkling. The result is a rich, chewy caramel that is a welcomed change up at the annual Holiday cookie exchange.

Ingredients:

• 1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1.5 c White Corn Syrup
• 1 c Butter
• 2 c Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp Fine Grain Table Salt
• 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp Bourbon of Your Choice
• Coarse Sea Salt for Sprinkling
• Cooking Spray

Special Equipment:

• Candy Thermometer
• Wax or Parchment Paper
• 9″ x 13″ Glass Baking Dish
• Wooden Spoon or Utensil That Won’t Melt at 240 Degrees F

Step 1. Spray glass baking dish with cooking spray.

Step 2. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup, butter, sugar and table salt on medium heat. Resist the urge to crank the heat to speed up the process; caramel scorches easily.

Step 3. Stir constantly for roughly 25 minutes until the mixture begins to darken slightly, and add 1 tablespoon of bourbon. Continue stirring. In order to avoid crunchy caramel, try not to splash too much on the sides of the pan, and do not scrape the sides of the pan back into the mixture. Only scrape the bottom of the pan.

Step 4. When the mixture begins to boil, clip candy thermometer to the side of the pan and continue stirring constantly. Do not remove the thermometer from the mixture until it reaches 240 degrees F, and try not to drag the thermometer around too much against the metal pan. The metal on metal action can actually cause crystals to form in the caramel, and the end result will be crunchy, rather than shiny and smooth, caramel.

Step 5. When the mixture reaches 240 F (soft ball stage) remove from heat and stir in an additional tablespoon of bourbon.

Step 6. Pour mixture into prepared greased glass dish.

Step 7. Let sit for 15-20 minutes; then sprinkle with sea salt.

Step 8. While the caramel is cooling, cut roughly 100 3″x 4″ parchment paper rectangles to serve as the caramel wrappers.

Step 9.  When caramel has cooled to room temperature, cut into 1/2″ x 1″ rectangles and wrap with parchment papers, by centering a cut caramel on a parchment rectangle so that the long sides of the caramel are parallel to the long sides of the wrapper. Roll the long sides of the paper over the long sides of the caramel, and twist the paper at each short end of the caramel.

Step 10. Repeat step 9 until all caramels are wrapped. Sit down and make yourself comfortable; wrapping takes awhile!

This recipe is modified from Oh So Delicioso. Check out their site for the classic caramel recipe and other flavor variations.