Please, somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong with caramel making. If you read last week, you found out my fancy Christmas cookie-making skills are lacking. Well, my candy-making skills are apparently non-existent.
I love caramel. Caramel turtles, caramel cookies, caramel barbecue chicken ... ok, maybe not on chicken, but I wouldn't rule it out. What"s not to love--sugar, butter, and cream. The ultimate trifecta, right? Not if you can't make a caramel (or any other candy) to save your life.
First, I made this recipe: Vanilla Sea-Salted Caramels. Sounds good, right? I used a candy thermometer and pulled the caramel right as directed by the recipe. And the caramel tastes really good, but cooled to room temperature they stayed soft. What did I do wrong? I did end up with a big batch of salted vanilla caramel sauce for ice cream though.
Next I tried this one: Caramel Shortbread. It claimed it was super easy--it was even cooked in the microwave. Turns out, my microwave must be a little more powerful than hers, as my caramel ended up a caramel brick. Boo.
So, please--can somebody share their candy-making tips so that I, too, can enjoy homemade holiday candy? Otherwise I will be forced to murder the next person bragging on facebook about how wonderful their caramels turned out.
*Shudder* I can't help you, it's just that this post brings back memories of an extremely frustrating try at "cake pops" that should have been easy but were completely derailed by mutant white chocolate chips. Then I ran out of time and put the unfinished cake pop balls in the freezer. I found out a week later that my husband had been snarfing them down by the handful late at night. FML.
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