Home › Cake Fillings and Frosting › Chocolate Caramels
Chocolate Caramels
2 1/2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup milk 2 cups molasses 3 squares unsweetened chocolate 1 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla Put butter into kettle; when melted, add molasses, sugar, and milk. Stir until sugar is dissolved, and when boiling-point is reached, add chocolate, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted. Boil until, when tried in cold water, a firm ball may be formed in the fingers. Add vanilla just after taking from fire. Turn into a buttered pan, cool, and mark in small squares.
A straightforward boiled molasses caramel, of the kind cooked by feel before thermometers were standard kitchen equipment. The whole thing turns on how far you take the boil.
- Firm ball means 245-250FCook to 248F on a candy thermometer for caramels that hold a square but still chew. Under 240F they will slump; over 255F they set hard enough to pull fillings out.
- Chocolate squaresA square of unsweetened chocolate is 1 ounce, so this needs 3 ounces total. Use 100% cacao baking chocolate, not bittersweet, or the candy will be cloying.
- Kettle means a heavy potUse a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan of at least 3 quarts. Molasses and sugar foam up considerably as they climb past the thread stage, and a thin pan scorches the sugar on the bottom before the mass is anywhere near temperature.
- MolassesTwo cups of molasses is the dominant flavour here. Use unsulphured light or full-flavour molasses; blackstrap is far more bitter than what was sold as table molasses and will overwhelm the chocolate.
- Stir the whole timeOnce the chocolate goes in, the cocoa solids will settle and burn if the pan is left alone. Stir steadily to the bottom and into the corners with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula.
- The panAn 8-inch square pan, well buttered or lined with buttered parchment, gives caramels about half an inch thick. Do not scrape the last of the pot into the pan; the crystallised film clinging to the sides can seed the whole batch grainy.
- Marking and cuttingScore the surface into squares while the slab is still warm and pliable, then cut through with a buttered knife or bench scraper once cool. Yield is roughly 60 to 70 one-inch caramels.
- WrappingThese are soft enough to flow together in a tin. Wrap each in waxed paper or parchment and keep them cool and dry.