This month has been very bad so far. I have been failing in many of my experiments and I am feeling so low nowadays. But still I couldn’t keep away from trying new things. Though I share my success stories here, my failures doesn’t make to the blog. But they are surely lessons learnt and I will never be repeating those mistakes again. I selected candies for this month and it is testing my patience too much. First I tried making honeycomb. The result was awesome, but I poured it into a smaller tin and it oozed out. Somehow I contained it inside the tin, but the paper I used for lining stuck to it. I had too waster all those paper stuck honey combs but still Sruti loves those bits and pieces which I recovered after breaking it. Next I tried making peanut brittle. This time I oiled the paper, the mixture came out perfect but again the brittle stuck to the paper. I tried a lot to remove the paper but couldn’t even remove a single bit of it. That is it, the whole batch got wasted.
And coming to this caramel candy, the mixture came together beautifully. I made this along with peanut brittle and used the same oiled paper as the base. Again the caramel got stuck. I was just furious with myself. I took the whole tray on to stove top and heated it a little until the caramel started melting. I could recover 75% of the caramel. This time, I transferred it to an oiled aluminium foil base and let it set over night. At some places the foil stuck and at some places, I could remove it easily. I managed to remove all the candies from the foil after a long and tiring work. I placed the block on an oiled plate and sliced it. I also arranged the sliced candies on an oiled tray and finally used wraps used for chocolate to wrap the candies. Finally I finished wrapping all of them in papers after an hour. Now I need to do two more candies, but I have very little patience left for that.
But after all these struggles, when I tasted one candy, I was just over the moon. It was absolutely yum, chewy in texture, it stuck to my teeth and I was reminded of my childhood days when we used to devour this kind of candies. I don’t remember the brand which I used to like but it was just the same with a little hint of salt. My daughter loved it so much and I had to control her with portioning. If you want to make candies, invest in a candy thermometer. It makes your work so easier. With all the candy recipes I worked, I got the texture right every time without too much problem as I used the candy thermometer. I still need to figure out a way to get it out of the paper once it is set. If you have any idea, do share it with me in the comments. I will be so grateful.
Recipe Source: Martha Stewart
Ingredients:
Heavy Cream – 1 cup
Sugar – 1 cup + 2 tbs
Butter – 3 tbs
Liquid Glucose – 1/3 cup
Salt – a pinch
Vanilla Essence – 1/4 tsp
Procedure:
In a sauce pan combine sugar, cream, liquid glucose and butter.
Heat it and let all the ingredients melt together.
Once it starts boiling, fix a candy thermometer to the side of the pan.
Cook the mixture until the thermometer reads 248°F / 120°C.
Line a tray with parchment paper, grease it with oil and keep it ready.
Once the temperature is reached, remove from flame, add slat and vanilla, stir well and pour it into the prepared tray. Use a spatula to remove all the caramel from the pan.
Set this aside for 8 hours.
Remove the set candy from the paper onto a oiled board.
Slice into small pieces using an oiled knife.
Wrap individual candies in paper or chocolate wraps.
Store in an airtight jar in a cool place on counter.
This is the candy thermometer I have used to make the candy. It is available on Amazon. Check it out if you are interested in candy making.
Caramel Candy Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Heavy Cream - 1 cup
- cup Sugar - 1+ 2 tbs
- Butter - 3 tbs
- Liquid Glucose - 1/3 cup
- Salt - a pinch
- Vanilla Essence - 1/4 tsp
Instructions
Procedure
- In a sauce pan combine sugar, cream, liquid glucose and butter.
- Heat it and let all the ingredients melt together.
- Once it starts boiling, fix a candy thermometer to the side of the pan.
- Cook the mixture until the thermometer reads 248°F / 120°C.
- Line a tray with parchment paper, grease it with oil and keep it ready.
- Once the temperature is reached, remove from flame, add slat and vanilla, stir well and pour it into the prepared tray. Use a spatula to remove all the caramel from the pan.
- Set this aside for 8 hours.
- Remove the set candy from the paper onto a oiled board.
- Slice into small pieces using an oiled knife.
- Wrap individual candies in paper or chocolate wraps.
- Store in an airtight jar in a cool place on counter.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#71
Wow, beautiful, your candies with that shine looks awesome. I feel like picking up one. It is so tempting. Thanks for sharing. All the best!
They look so awesome . Feel like gobbling down some of beauties. Which cream (brand ) did you use ?
I used high fat cream from Nilgiris.
Wow, the candies look amazing. I have been trying to make chewy caramel since a while now and even though I use a thermometer, it either comes out too hard or doesn’t set at all. I will try this once again inspired by you specially now that it is not so humid in Mumbai as it usually is.
PS: I use baking parchment paper (http://www.amolpaper.com/BakingPaper.html) or silpat but definitely no ordinary butter paper.
Next time I will try this Sneha. And do try this recipe. It comes out perfect and sets very nicely..
Wow, those caramel candies looks ultimate, just drooling over those prefect slices.
Wow Gayathri. Kudos to your spirit and patience. Like you mentioned, we enjoy all the amazing the recipes you post here without realizing the effort and time put in by you before you achieve success. Thank you so much!
Have tried the caramel candy..is it supposed to be soft on the outer side..mine came out quite soft …also didnt get the caramel colour like yours..can u pl tell me where did i go worng or is it supposed to be like dis only
I think the caramel mixture needs to be on stove for more. Did you check your thermometer. Sometimes they show wrong temperature.
the scientist in you rocks again, Gayathri ! these look so good !
yes do try silpat / high – heat resistant sheets – they are quite good for candies from what I read on the outer package (altho I dont use them for anything else other than baking !)
Looks soo delicious
The candy looks so delicious. Glad in the end you could manage to save them. This happens with all of us at least you did not give up. Kudos.
Caramel candy looks so tempting. Glad to know that you managed to save . It happens with everybody but atleast you did not give up. Kudos
Perfectly made caramel candy.
You are amazing with all your experiments! Homemade caramel candy looks great!
Wonderful recipe Gayathri, sad that you were so troubled…I still remember those sticky candies from childhood…I wish I could help on the sticky part..for brittle, I mostly use ghee greased steel plate and it comes out clean. Once when I made a toffee, I had greased a silicon mould and set it. It was quite easy to remove and moreover since this is chewy, it sort of extends when you cut it into pieces.