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Guest Post from Carolyn K with Food Blog Guild featuring an idea from Charlotte Mark.
Christmas Grocery List: Becky T’s Chocolate-Dipped Caramel Presents
If you’ve been loading up your grocery list with cupcake supplies, maybe it’s time to take a break and switch gears to make some holiday-themed caramels. Every year we package up these sweet little chocolate-dipped caramels and send them away to our friends and family to say, “Happy holidays.” Try out Becky T’s caramels this year!
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
1 cup of sugar
1 1/4 cups of dark corn syrup
1 14-oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of coarsely chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups of dipping chocolate or chocolate chips
Salt for garnish
Tip: If you want to make a good amount of holiday treats for distribution, double the recipe.
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Next, add both sugars, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk until sugar dissolves. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan and make sure it isn’t touching the bottom of the saucepan. This will interfere with the thermometer’s reading.
2. Cook mixture for 8 minutes, stirring constantly. Continue cooking until candy thermometer registers 242 degrees F, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes long. Immediately remove from heat and stir in pecans. Pour caramel into a buttered pan and let cool for 1-2 hours. The result should be golden brown and easily malleable.
3. After letting the caramel fully cool, heat up the chocolate over a double boiler. For your chocolate, you either want to plan on tempering some chocolate chips or buying pre-tempered dipping chocolate at the store. Buying or making tempered chocolate will keep your caramels from looking like a mess when they get to their recipients. If you do buy dipping chocolate, make sure it’s high grade and tasty before purchasing. Milk chocolate works great with these caramels.
4. Take your caramel square out of the pan using a knife, and lay it on wax paper. Taking your caramel out of the pan makes it easier to cut. Cut your caramel into bite-sized squares and dip them into the chocolate using a fork or chopsticks. Then, lay dipped caramels onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Put finished caramels in fridge to solidify chocolate. After chocolate has dried a bit (after about 10 minutes), put a dash of salt on top of each caramel for garnish. The salt brings out the taste of the caramel beautifully.
5. After all of your caramels have fully solidified, it’s time to wrap them up! Buy some Christmas-colored aluminum at the store and some holiday string. Wrap the caramels up in the aluminum and tie with string, exactly how you would a Christmas present. Warning: you may need your bifocals for this one! Now all that’s left to do is package them up and send them to friends and family (or perhaps even savor one yourself).
Christmas Grocery List: Becky T’s Chocolate-Dipped Caramel Presents
If you’ve been loading up your grocery list with cupcake supplies, maybe it’s time to take a break and switch gears to make some holiday-themed caramels. Every year we package up these sweet little chocolate-dipped caramels and send them away to our friends and family to say, “Happy holidays.” Try out Becky T’s caramels this year!
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
1 cup of sugar
1 1/4 cups of dark corn syrup
1 14-oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of coarsely chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups of dipping chocolate or chocolate chips
Salt for garnish
Tip: If you want to make a good amount of holiday treats for distribution, double the recipe.
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Next, add both sugars, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk until sugar dissolves. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan and make sure it isn’t touching the bottom of the saucepan. This will interfere with the thermometer’s reading.
2. Cook mixture for 8 minutes, stirring constantly. Continue cooking until candy thermometer registers 242 degrees F, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes long. Immediately remove from heat and stir in pecans. Pour caramel into a buttered pan and let cool for 1-2 hours. The result should be golden brown and easily malleable.
3. After letting the caramel fully cool, heat up the chocolate over a double boiler. For your chocolate, you either want to plan on tempering some chocolate chips or buying pre-tempered dipping chocolate at the store. Buying or making tempered chocolate will keep your caramels from looking like a mess when they get to their recipients. If you do buy dipping chocolate, make sure it’s high grade and tasty before purchasing. Milk chocolate works great with these caramels.
4. Take your caramel square out of the pan using a knife, and lay it on wax paper. Taking your caramel out of the pan makes it easier to cut. Cut your caramel into bite-sized squares and dip them into the chocolate using a fork or chopsticks. Then, lay dipped caramels onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Put finished caramels in fridge to solidify chocolate. After chocolate has dried a bit (after about 10 minutes), put a dash of salt on top of each caramel for garnish. The salt brings out the taste of the caramel beautifully.
5. After all of your caramels have fully solidified, it’s time to wrap them up! Buy some Christmas-colored aluminum at the store and some holiday string. Wrap the caramels up in the aluminum and tie with string, exactly how you would a Christmas present. Warning: you may need your bifocals for this one! Now all that’s left to do is package them up and send them to friends and family (or perhaps even savor one yourself).
