Sea Salt Caramels

I don't know about you but I am quite happy to spend most of Christmas devouring all kinds of food that I wouldn't normally go near {honest...well, maybe...}. These sea salt caramels are right up my street with their mix of savoury and sweet flavours.

I used a recipe I found online, of which there are plenty of variations, though I omitted any butter from mine and it didn't do them any harm.

Ingredients:

8fl oz double cream {I used the extra thick kind}

60g honey

60ml water

200g caster sugar

1tsp sea salt {and extra for dusting - I used Maldon because I already had some}

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

Heat the cream and salt together over a gentle heat. In the original recipe, this was left heating until the butter melted but because I obviously can't use that marker, simply heat for approx. 5 minutes.

Add the honey, sugar and water together over a high heat and bring to a rapid boil. Boil until it turns a golden brown. I'll be honest here, I have no idea whether I'm meant to stir it or not and what is proper caramel ettiquette. I stirred, because my first batch burnt when I didn't. Like I said, maybe I'm wrong.

When the mix has turned golden brown, remove from the heat and carefully add the cream/salt mixture. Carefully does it because it will bubble up something crazy. Cook for another 10 mins {still stirring? I am!}. This should be when the caramel reaches 250 degrees F/120degrees C but because I don't have a sugar thermometer {are you noticed the adhoc trend yet?} I just waited until a drop of the mix formed a reasonably firm ball in cold water.

When that happens, pour the mixture into a lined tin and leave to cool to room temperature. Then simply pop in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours. It might harden up too much but don't worry it should soften up back at room temp.

I used a heated knife to cut my caramels into 60 little rectangles which I wrapped in strips of wax paper. I used cellophane bags from the pound shop and some of the smaller stickers from a Christmas label pack I had bought, to make little bags of 5 as gifts. The second batch I simply wrapped and whacked in a bowl to accompany my festive film watching. Yum.

Have a lovely weekend everyone - ours is full of seeing family and friends. Wonderful! See you Monday.

Love B x