The July Australian Good Food magazine came with an added bonus....a little cookbook called "Winter Warmers" and on the back page (courtesy of saxa salt) was a recipe for chewy salted caramels with white chocolate. Now for anyone who knows me I LOVE salt so I just had to make them, it became imperative!
The first time I tried them I didn't cook the caramel for long enough and they didn't set so I had to scrape it all back into the pan and recook it and then because the pans I was going to use were dirty I decided to use mini muffin cases (the paper ones) and I didn't spray them with oil so they sort of stuck a bit..........though I did get used to the taste of paper after a while.......it added a whole new dimension to the word "texture".
But one failure has never really stopped me so I decided to try again yesterday and this time they worked! Mind you this was after I went out and bought 2 X 12 silicone mini muffin pans last week. I got lucky, they were on special at Target.
So here is the recipe and what I changed in brackets after each bit. Thanks Aussie Good Food magazine and saxa salt.
Chewy Salted Caramels with White Chocolate
makes 24 (and it DOES too!)
250g caster sugar (I used normal granulated)
1 cup (250ml) double thick cream (I used thickened cream)
2tbsp liquid glucose (I always wondered what I was going to do with the rest of the jar, now I need to buy more)
30g salted butter
3tsp Saxa Sea Salt Flakes (sorry saxa, I used normal cooking salt)
200g white chocolate, chopped
Grease 2 X 12 hole mini muffin pans
Place sugar, cream, glucose, butter and sea salt in a heavy based (and LARGE 'cause it boils up a fair bit) pan on medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves
Increase heat to med/high and boil for 6-7 minutes (no way, this was my mistake the first time, boil till it reaches a brown caramel colour and the bubbles look weird!) until mixture reaches 118oC on a sugar thermometer (see I don't have one of those, have to go on sight and feel)
Divide among prepared pans and stand for 3-4 hours till firm (otherwise when you unmould them they will spread over time!)
(I also put a very small sprinkle of Murray River salt flakes on the top of the caramels before they set and before I added the white chocolate layer and it was YUM........I did mention how much I like salt didn't I?)
Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (nah, no way, do it in the microwave in 30 second bursts till melted, checking and stirring after every 30 seconds)
Spoon over each caramel, tap gently on the bench (this is to even the tops out) to settle chocolate and stand for 2-3 hours (no way, white chocolate sets a lot faster than that!) until set
Remove from mould and put a sign on them saying "only for people I REALLY REALLY REALLY love!
This week I've been sucked in by the Masterchef macaron bug and I've had my egg whites sitting out all night in preparation for a day of macaron failure! Will let you know how it goes.........googling macarons could have been a mistake..........failure seems to be the order of the day.
Oh and the recipe I used the mole sauce in a while ago is coming soon........stay tuned.
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