Weekend project: Make some candy for halloween

I made a batch of cream caramels over the weekend that was so delicious that by the time sunday night rolled around they were half gone. :( Now I' have to make another full batch for passing out at halloween.

Here's a link to the recipe - it's not mine. Upon review and a few tests, it's a very versatile recipe - cook it to a softball and you can coat cheesecakes, brownies, or cookie bars with it. Cook it to a sauce and dribble over waffles. Cook it to a hardball and they will set into yummy pieces of caramel.

Of course, I'm not going to leave you guys on your own. Here's what I learned from making caramel all Saturday:

• Use a pot. I know, it says "a large saucepan." Two cups of cream boiling away in a saucepan would overspill by the time 10 minutes have passed in the boiling session.
• Do not skip ANY steps in a candy recipe. If it says to slowly pour in the second cup of cream after the first ingredients started boiling, DO IT.
• To test for doneness, have a few cups of room temperature water ready. Drop half a teaspoon full of the candy mixture in, and then pour the water out. That's when you find out if you have a softball or hardball.
• If a recipe calls for a candy thermometer and gives you precise temperatures, don't even think about eyeballing it. Candy making is like baking: it's more about science than food.
• It is OK to use salted butter. It'd crank up the sodium content, but it does add a little something to the final product. Ever had salt-water-taffee? Mmmm.
• Don't try to play with "making" chocolate until you have learned how to temper store-bought chocolate.
• Don't leave the stuff on BOIL. Make sure it "just" boils, as like just above a simmer. Make sure your element temperature is below medium or the sugar will burn. You might find that electric works much better than gas in this project.
• When you pour your candy to set, butter your pan and then line it in wax paper. Otherwise you'd never get the stuff out. I learned this the hard way on my first batch.

Good luck! And it can take up to two hours for your candy to form a hardball, but MAN is it worth it. Everyone's going to get caramel sauce and hard caramels for christmas this year.

Comments

[Gerry]

Topical and tasty! We did this a couple of years when the kids were little. As I recall, they were pretty happy about the entire process. Thanks, as ever

[Paulo]

I agree with the salted butter on caramel. I remember having ice cream here in Tokyo, and my friend insisted on the "sea-salt caramel" flavor. Absolute heaven. Unfortunately it was around US$20 a serving. Mmmm. Can I go trick or treat there? I miss being a kid.

[Gerry]

Never fear, Paulo. As long as you can enjoy your ice-u caream-u (no matter what the cost), you shall always be a kid at heart!

[Paulo]

A kid at heart I can remain, but only in my best dreams. When one realizes that he has to finish up a project within the week, instead of commenting on other people's blogs (hmmm...) and reality sets in, food and memories can only relieve so much.

On the other hand, I have a halloween party to attend to this weekend, with lots of alcohol and eye candy. Being an adult does have it's advantages.

Sally, why not get rolos for the trick-or-treaters? ;) It's a two-for-one deal: a trick and a treat. ;) It's quantity, not quality that matters on Halloween. Or at least that's what I remember it was about.

[EDISON]

Long.....longtime's ago! I don't see anyone young lady cook something ! YOU,I have NO COMMENTS!!!

[Sally]

I brought the "toffee" version of this (cooked to a just-below-mackintosh hardness) to work today and it was all gone in minutes.

It took a total of two hours to cook it to that hard though, but it will definitely stand up to prolonged room temperature standing.

[Paulo]

Yup, hard work gone in minutes. Personally, that says a lot.It's really nice to read about people really going out of their way to MAKE candy. What ever happened to your baking? Are you now a master of the yeast?

[Sally]

I still have problems with yeast bread, but I got chinese sweet dough going, which is good. I can't find a recipe for gai mai bao filling though - you know that yummy coconut stuff they have in pineapple coconut bun? Mmmmm.

For now I'm sticking with stuff that contains butter, flour, sugar, and no yeast.

[Gerry]

包尾雞 on Google got some hits

http://blog.webs-tv.net/kaebakery1/article/1441728

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9B%9E%E5%B0%BE%E5%8C%85

http://blog.webs-tv.net/kaebakery/article/857698

Good luck!

[Sally]

Gerry...what exactly is 低粉?