Wow. These are seriously good. Totally in the autumn season.
Small bites, wrapped in wax paper.
See the squiggly one on the left - yeah- that's a 'sample'.
Easy to make - but time consuming.
Forgot how I stumbled across this recipe but I found a really cool blog, The Smitten Kitchen, because of it.
These are melt in your mouth caramels that are so apple pie happy. Just a dash of salt and cinnamon.
I reduced the apple cider in the morning and after 1 1/2 hours, finished the cooking. Then the mixture had to cool for a few hours. Set aside a day or at least half a day to make these. Worth the time.
APPLE CIDER CARAMELs
By The Smitten Kitchen.
Apple cider (sometimes called sweet or “soft” cider), as I’m
referring to it here, is different from both apple juice and the hard,
or alcoholic, fermented apple cider. It’s a fresh, unfiltered (it has
sediment), raw apple juice — the juice literally pressed from fresh
apples. It’s unpasteurized, and must be refrigerated, because it’s
perishable. In the Northeast, I usually find it at farm stands and some
grocery stores. I occasionally find vacuum- sealed bottles called apple
cider in the juice aisle, but none of the bottled varieties that I’ve
tried has the same delicate apple flavor as the more perishable stuff
sold in the refrigerator section.
4 cups (945 ml) apple cider
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or less of a finer one
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (110 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
Neutral oil for the knife
Boil the apple cider in a 3- to- 4- quart saucepan over high heat
until it is reduced to a dark, thick syrup, between 1/3 and 1/2 cup in
volume. This takes about 35 to 40 minutes on my stove. Stir
occasionally.
{Kathy's note: Try 1 1/2 hours. I was afraid to put the burner on High. However, when it does go thick, it can burn (almost!) fast. So- watch it carefully towards the end.}
Meanwhile, get your other ingredients in order, because you won’t
have time to spare once the candy is cooking. Line the bottom and sides
of an 8- inch straight- sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets
of crisscrossed parchment. Set it aside. Stir the cinnamon and flaky
salt together in a small dish.
Once you are finished reducing the apple cider, remove it from the
heat and stir in the butter, sugars, and heavy cream. Return the pot to
medium- high heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side, and let
it boil until the thermometer reads 252 degrees, only about 5 minutes.
Keep a close eye on it.
(Don’t have a candy or deep- fry thermometer? Have a bowl of very
cold water ready, and cook the caramel until a tiny spoonful dropped
into the water becomes firm, chewy, and able to be plied into a ball.)
Immediately remove caramel from heat, add the cinnamon- salt mixture,
and give the caramel several stirs to distribute it evenly. Pour
caramel into the prepared pan. Let it sit until cool and firm—about 2
hours, though it goes faster in the fridge. Once caramel is firm, use
your parchment paper sling to transfer the block to a cutting board. Use
a well- oiled knife, oiling it after each cut (trust me!), to cut the
caramel into 1-by-1-inch squares.
{Kathy's note here: Unwrap a cube of butter and constantly edge the knife on it. If the knife gets too cruddy, wash in hot water and do the butter thing again.}
Wrap each one in a 4-inch square of
waxed paper, twisting the sides to close. Caramels will be somewhat on
the soft side at room temperature, and chewy/firm from the fridge.
Do ahead: Caramels keep, in an airtight container at room temperature, for two weeks, but really, good luck with that.
Allergy note: does contain butter and cream. But - oh-so-good.
