These caramels have been on my ever expanding list of things I’d like to make for a while now.  I decided that since Halloween is just within our grasp, why not make these as a special Halloween treat.   One of my all time favorite Halloween treats are caramel apples. My mom always bought a package of caramels and on Halloween night we would melt them and make caramel apples.  If you have never made caramel before there can be some pitfalls.  You’ll need a thermometer that can read temps above 250F.  This caramel needs to be heated to 248F.  While cooking, it took a considerable amount of time for my caramel to go from 228F to 248F.  This happens quite often when making candies of this type.  The first time that I made caramel I thought that my thermometer was broken, but it was not. My thermometer just would not go past 230F.  I turned my thermometer off and on, recalibrated it, and yet when I placed it in my caramel it would not budge beyond 230F.  My caramel had reached a plateau. When making candy it takes a considerable amount of energy to burn off enough water to reach a higher temperature.  This plateau  typically occurs at temps between 230-240F.  Simply put, do not be surprised or thrown off if you put your thermometer in your caramel and the temperature stalls at 230F and does not rise for 10 minutes.  It’s completely normal, and once the water cooks out the temperature will rise.  Give it time.  If you don’t the caramel will not set–great if you just want to use this to coat apples, but bad if you want to have them set as a candy.

 

 

 

Here’s what you need:

Ingredients

1 cup of organic sugar

1 cup of  organic heavy cream

1/2 cup maple syrup

4 tablespoons of butter

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

1/4 cup of water

3 tablespoons of organic corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Directions:

Line a 9 by 11-inch pan with parchment paper spray lightly with oil and set aside. Heat the cream, butter, salt, and maple extract in a sauce pan, once butter melts, remove from heat and set aside.

In a large saucepan add the remaining ingredients:

Bring to a boil over medium heat without stirring,

Once the sugar completely dissolves, slowly add the cream mixture, be careful the mixture will boil violently:

Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the temperature reaches 248F.  Remember, going from 230F to 248F could take some time, but keep an eye on it, do not walk away.  The mixture will become less watery and more thick and candy-like as it nears 248F:

When it reaches 248F it will be very thick:

 

Thick enough to coat a spatula:

Pour it into the parchment lined pan and let cool for 2 hours.

 

Once cool cut into bite size pieces and enjoy!