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Greweling's Fresh Dairy Soft Caramel Recipe


Natalie Suwanprakorn

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Hi everyone,

So, I followed Greweling's recipe for the fresh dairy soft caramels as I'd rather use local and organic dairy rather than condensed milk.

That said, I've made this recipe twice. The first time I did straight up caramels, no inclusions and followed instructions to the tee as per temperature recommendations, etc. The texture was definitely chewy, but pleasantly so and once dipped in chocolate -- it was definitely tasty.

However, the second go around, I made the same recipe in my Le Creuset dutch oven, but this time added coarsely chopped peanuts at the end.

It took over a half hour for the sugar, milk and cream come to the recommended 230 on moderate heat (I have an electric range, for shame), mainly because as per his instructions I didn't want to cook the caramel too fast. Also, because of the cast iron, I noticed that the mixture was coming to a high temperature very rapidly, so I brought the temperature way down in the beginning. I was very conscientious of keeping the heat very moderate. It took probably another half hour to get the mixture up to 243 before I removed the pot from the heat and added the peanuts.

This time, once the caramel cooled, the batch was way too stiff. So, I'm wondering is this a combination of several issues: Am I cooking the caramel too long? Am I agitating it too much? Does the addition of peanuts add to much fat to the caramel and cause over crystallization of the sugar? And, finally, is there anyway of recooking this batch of caramels (with the chocolate and all) that will allow me to salvage this sheet?

Also, what color are we aiming for by the end? My mixture was definitely on the higher end of golden brown.

Any advice would be most welcome! Thanks!

Natalie

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This time, once the caramel cooled, the batch was way too stiff. So, I'm wondering is this a combination of several issues: Am I cooking the caramel too long? Am I agitating it too much? Does the addition of peanuts add to much fat to the caramel and cause over crystallization of the sugar? And, finally, is there anyway of recooking this batch of caramels (with the chocolate and all) that will allow me to salvage this sheet?

Also, what color are we aiming for by the end? My mixture was definitely on the higher end of golden brown.

If the caramel is too stiff, it was cooked longer then it should have been. Not that theres anything wrong with that, when that happened to me it reminded me sort of the See's lollipops or other old time candy, but I know you want a soft chewy candy, so it was cooked just a tad too long. Also, what type of thermometer were you using? I've seen that the probe type work very nicely for measuring the temp of caramels, but something like this : http://www.amazon.com/TCG400-Professional-Candy-Deep-Thermometer/dp/B000095RBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319690804&sr=8-1 will not be the most accurate. If this is what you were using, then thats why it easily got over cooked, these arent very accurate with things like caramel, since as the mixture cooks down and gets thicker, the mixture cant get into those little holes and give an accurate reading for the whole batch.

Also, on a note of the temperature with caramels, look on the recipe of the caramels and read the note on the bottom. You cant rely solely on a temperature reading to determine if the batch is ready, its more of a guide. You need to check the caramels by hand.

You cant agitate caramel too much, the more the better. The more you stir the pot, the more even everything cooks.

Your caramels are not crystallized, (again, in Grewelings book, caramels are listed under non-crystalline confections) If they were crystallized, they would have an ugly crust on them and sort of break apart easily and not be chewy. You caramels just spent a little bit longer on the flame then they should have.

I wouldn't salvage the sheet or even try, I really doubt anything can be done to bring it back to where it should be. Just retry the recipe and test the caramels by hand in cold water, you'll get it.

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Thank you so much for the response.

I use the CDN digital probe thermometer and I am skeptical of it.

Yes, I meant to add in my initial post that I had noted the advice to hand test the caramel, but am still too much of a novice with sugar work to understand what I'm looking for. Greweling's book is very thorough, however, and I know it's just me no paying attention.

May I ask another question? Have you noticed a general time-line for cooking caramels? Should it generally take about an hour for a batch?

Kind regards,

Natalie

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Yeah, I use a thermometer as a guide of when to put in the butter and such. Keep in mind when your cooking caramel, its very thick, so different parts of the pot are actually going to be different temperatures, thats why stirring is so important, and companies that produce large amounts of caramel cook the mixture in a fire mixer. But for the sake of consistency at home, you really do need to check it by hand.

Check this link out, the videos there will show you basically what your looking for when testing your caramel by hand, and when you do it, you'll get the feel for it. http://www.instructables.com/id/Caramel-Apples-ole-timey-style/step3/The-Cold-Water-Test/

And for Grewelings recipe of caramels using fresh dairy, yes, about an hour is normal. You can only have the heat so high in the beginning of cooking to prevent foaming. The last few batches of caramel I've made I just went ahead and used evaporated milk, that does speed up the cooking, since the evaporated milk doesn't have nearly as much water as whole milk, and you dont really change the recipe. Compare the two recipes, one uses 48 oz of whole milk, the other used 24 oz evap milk, all other ingredients are the same, and I havent noticed much difference with taste.

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Yeah, I'm not sure, though, that its that simple with caramels. The sugar has already been taken to a higher temperature then it should have, and so if that did work, I would think that you would end up with a darker, more bitter tasting product. Melting and continuing the cooking process on caramels is not as easy as it sounds. I had a batch of chocolate caramel (using Grewelings recipe) that I wanted to cook a bit more to firm up slightly. Melting it in a pot on the range was not going to work practically, so I melted then in the pot in the oven, the only way to melt then relatively easily. Anyways, after cooking and testing by hand, the re poured then into a frame...and I was so thrilled when they crystallized 2 days later, what a waste. I think it would be easier to remove water from caramels rather then put it back in, I have scoured the internet to see someone who had success doing that, have yet to find one.

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Yeah, I'm not sure, though, that its that simple with caramels. The sugar has already been taken to a higher temperature then it should have, and so if that did work, I would think that you would end up with a darker, more bitter tasting product. Melting and continuing the cooking process on caramels is not as easy as it sounds. I had a batch of chocolate caramel (using Grewelings recipe) that I wanted to cook a bit more to firm up slightly. Melting it in a pot on the range was not going to work practically, so I melted then in the pot in the oven, the only way to melt then relatively easily. Anyways, after cooking and testing by hand, the re poured then into a frame...and I was so thrilled when they crystallized 2 days later, what a waste. I think it would be easier to remove water from caramels rather then put it back in, I have scoured the internet to see someone who had success doing that, have yet to find one.

I actually did it a couple of years ago. I was almost a total caramel novice and yet it worked quite simply.

Should add that the details are a bit fuzzy except that I had no trouble. Beginner's luck???

Found it. Go to "Caramel Troubleshooting", post #241 and following...

Edited by Darienne (log)

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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If you re-read the sequence of posts, you'll see that I added cream the first time and that was a disaster...the butter separated out. Then I received advice to add water and that worked just fine.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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