My freezer is full. Like seriously full. Like open it, stuff something in, slam the door, and run, hoping all the goodies inside don’t come tumbling out full. It’s a real problem. But a good problem to have. The freezer is full of my baked treats I just can’t bear to part with, which accounts for most of the recipes you see here. There are also bags of peaches, cherries, blueberries, and blackberries that I froze to help me survive winter. And of course there’s fresh pumpkin puree bagged in half cup portions.
Opening the door reveals a mass of zipper bags, stuffed full with shiny aluminum foil covering sugary sweet goodness. Each of the bags has an attached post-it note, reinforced with tape, saying what’s inside, but there’s something about the bags and the cold temperatures that makes the tape not want to stick. It’s always an adventure finding bags with no labels and others with two. “What’s inside?” I wonder as I quickly unwrap something waiting to discover if it sounds good at the moment or if it’s something I’ve forgotten about altogether.
As much as I try to go through it and keep is super organized, it’s hard. All the fruit and pumpkin is on one shelf, all the muffins on another. As things are added it becomes a jumbled mess, often leaving me searching through each and every shelf to find what I’m looking for, because you know those pesky Anzac Cookies are lurking on the last shelf I think they are.
I don’t mind looking through the shelves, as I often discover something I’ve long forgotten about. But it’s seriously cold in the freezer. More than a minute or two of looking leaves me shivering and standing by the running oven, baking or cooking away, or putting my hands under warm running water to restore feeling.
What is best about the freezer is that sometimes things taste better after having spent a while in there. Fresh baked goodness quickly restored after awhile at room temperature or in the oven. Even treats I didn’t love become new favorites. Perhaps it’s also the time delay. There’s nothing like tasting Cherry Almond Cake months after having made it, cherries having vanished from the store shelves, and falling in love with it all over again.
But that freezer really is full, so the need and desire arises for making something that doesn’t need to be frozen, doesn’t freeze well, or I just don’t see a need to keep. Puppy Chow is so quick and easy to make and lasts awhile at room temperature that I’d rather just make it again. These Salted Caramels will last awhile at room temperature and by the time they are gone, I’ll be done with them until I’m ready to make a new batch. Plus I don’t think they’d freeze very well.
These Salted Caramels are the best caramels I’ve ever tasted. Some caramels are too sweet or a little grainy or just don’t taste like anything. But these are pure heaven. Super smooth and creamy, they have that deep caramel flavor with a hint of sweetness, no bitterness or cloying sweetness ever. Vanilla flavor is also present, along with welcome flecks of vanilla bean. The flavor and texture is perfect for eating, in fact, you probably won’t want to stop. But they are on the super gooey side for storage, having to be pried from their wax paper wrapping. But perhaps this is what makes them so good, they don’t have any of that hard caramel, stuck in your teeth thing going on, just melt in your mouth caramel goodness. Plus, you must burn a couple calories working to get them off the paper, right?
Salted Caramels
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 40-50 1x
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups heavy cream
- ¾ cup light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 vanilla bean, seeded, pod and seeds reserved
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup water
- Maldon Sea Salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan, combine cream, corn syrup, salt, vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla bean pod. Cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer. Once this happens, remove from heat and allow to steep while you prepare the caramel. Remove the vanilla bean pod after a couple minutes, well before the caramel is ready for the cream.
- In a 4 quart saucepan, combine sugar and water. Cook over medium-high heat without stirring until the mixture is deep golden brown. Do not walk away during this process. It may take awhile, but can go from clear to burnt in no time. Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the cream mixture. Return the pan to medium heat, and stir to dissolve the caramel. Once dissolved, insert a candy thermometer and cook, without stirring, until it reaches 246 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Immediately pour caramel into prepared pan and smooth top. Let cool completely – this take a long time. Remove from pan and cut into pieces. Sprinkle with sea salt and wrap in wax paper. Store at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Saveur
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
Sounds like my freezer!! We need to get another one so I can fit everything, otherwise we’ll just have to eat all the stuff that’s clogging it up. ;-D
These caramels would really hit the spot… the description of them sounds like the perfect bite!
★★★★★
We keep talking about getting a freezer too! It’s so hard to part with all the yummy treats. I love when I feel like I have to eat something to make space 🙂 Thanks, Kate!
Gooey delites! I love the flavor of these.
Glad you liked them 🙂
You know, I’ve recently become more fond of caramel–I always liked it okayyy but it was more of my mom’s thing. I’m comin’ around, though, and these look like some seriously amazing salted caramels!!!
★★★★★
Caramels have to be cooked just right to be good. If they are undercooked, they’re cloyingly sweet and if they are overcooked, they’re bitter. I bet you’d love the salt on these too! It really makes the flavor sing.
My freezer is the same way. It’s stuffed to the brim, yet I keep shoving food into it.
Love these caramels. They look amazing!
Oh, yeah, there’s always room for one more thing in the freezer 🙂 Thanks, Jennie!
Very chewy. Not over powering either way. Very good.
★★★★
Good to hear you liked them, Eric!
Yum!!! These were really creamy and smooth. I took them home and put them in the fridge so I could get them off thewax paper. Lol. Otherwise, instead of trying to peel them from the paper, I would a just sat there and licked the wax clean 😉 Two thumbs up, girl!!
★★★★
Putting these in the refrigerator was a great idea, Kristy! Licking the paper works too . . . and makes them last longer 🙂
Salted caramels are my weakness Laura. 🙂 I love them so much. I have a wonderful salted caramel frosting recipe that I make time and time again. I also just made salted caramel cookies this past weekend.
I love everything caramel too, Sally! I’ve made cupcakes, cereal treats, pies, muffins. Caramel makes everything better!
chopped up an apple dipped them very good.
★★★★
Such a great idea, Sal! Caramel and apples are one of my favorite combinations!
Scott absolutely loves caramel. Sound wonderful….
Thanks, Debbie! Scott would love these.
These look great! I have never made my own caramels but have always wanted too. I will totally use this recipe 🙂
Thanks, Natalie! Please let me know if you make them and how they turn out 🙂
Very good taste, I wish I could have added pecans with this carmel.
★★★★★
Pecans would be amazing in these, Lendon! You could have even dipped some in it.
Very good, for me anything carmal is always good.
★★★★★
I like anything caramel too, Jeff 🙂
Caramel is pretty awesome, and than salt too…………speechless.
★★★★
Wow! Thanks for the awesome compliment! Glad you liked them 🙂
Sweet and salty, always a great combination, and to make it better, caramel is one of my favorites. These were a wonderful treat.
Caramel is one of my favorites too! Glad you liked them, Linda!
The freezer! I can totally relate. I pretty much have occupied 99% of the freezer. Everyone else has to somehow fit in their stuff in there, or ask me to fit it in there for them LOL. But it is nice to enjoy something a few months later, and it tastes even better sometimes!
Now I want to make these salted caramels and store half in the freezer! 😛
I totally agree that things sometimes taste better and I love revisiting treats after a month or five! You should totally make the salted caramels!
Wow! These were so gummy….lol Had to stick them in the freezer for 20 minutes before I could even touch them but then you could let the cubes melt in your mouth…YUM
★★★★★
Glad you liked them, Hank! Hope they were worth the wait 🙂
A good salted caramel is pretty much my favorite thing in the world! These would disappear quickly in my house. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hope you had a great Valentine’s Day 🙂 Salted caramels are really something special and this recipe was the creamiest I’ve ever tasted.
I really enjoyed these treats, they melt in your mouth. So smooth and creamy with the right blend of flavors.
★★★★
Thanks, Carol! I loved how smooth and creamy they were too. Not all caramels are like that.
I LOVE caramel! In any shape or form. My freezer is the same! I hate when you run for it and think you have shut the door and then pop opens the freezer door! 🙁 So close! LOL
Thanks for visiting, Elizabeth! I feel the same way about the freezer. The other day the door kept opening – like 5 times in a row, so I had to take everything out and reorganize 🙁 But at least I found some treats I had forgotten about!
Yum, my family would love it if I made these. What a great recipe!!
Thank you for your visit to my blog, I hope you do make the cream puffs, they are quite easy to make. 🙂
Thanks for coming to visit, Laurie! Cream puffs are definitely on my list of things to make 🙂