Back when I was experimenting with macarons I discovered a baker on YouTube whose channel is called Cupcake Jemma. While perusing her videos I came across her recipe for chocolate caramels with sea salt. I thought they would make a great Christmas treat to give out.
It is a very simple recipe to follow but it does require two kitchen tools to be successful; a kitchen scale and a candy thermometer.
For baking and candy making it is always better to weigh your ingredients than measure them. I have this scale that measures in both grams and ounces. You can also place your dish or bowl on it and set the scale to zero then add your ingredient.
Jemma's recipe called for golden syrup which is hard to find here in the US. Corn syrup is NOT a good substitute. I did find liquid raw sugar and used it in my batch. I will try to locate the golden syrup for my next batch.
There are only six ingredients which are cream, dark chocolate, granulated sugar, golden syrup, butter and sea salt. Amounts are listed on her video (I'm always hesitant to post someone else's recipe unless I have modified it in some way).
For the chocolate I used Trader Joe's dark chocolate with 56% cocoa. It comes in a three pack and I used all three minus seven little squares. What you do with the leftover squares is entirely up to you. No judgement here.
A couple of notes on the steps. Jemma's instructions had precise temperatures for caramelizing the sugar and for bringing the temperature back up after adding the chocolate. Both were just slightly above hard crack and hard ball. I figured I would just use those settings (hard crack and hard ball) and I think I should have followed her specific temperatures. My carmels turned out a little soft. Good enough to keep in the fridge but not great for gifting.
I also want to try the recipe with the golden syrup like I mentioned. I have read that World Market carries it or I can make my own rather easily.
In other news I should get my laptop back today. I took the pictures in this post with my cellphone because I can't get photos from my camera onto my notepad. So sorry for the poor quality. Things should be back to normal on Wednesday.
