I have to be honest, I’m getting a little misty about the fact that today is the last day of the Handmade Holiday series. I have had so much fun handing over my ideas for handmade gifts! If you missed any of the posts, I’ll be doing a round-up post with links to all of the gift ideas on Monday.

Well, I may be sad that it’s over, but man, we’re going out with a bang.

Salted caramels are nothing new. And gifting them for the holidays is nothing new either. But I desperately wanted to throw my hat into the buttery ring this year. I’ve never been much into candymaking, and even though it took a few attempts to finally get perfect caramelsโ€”it was totally worth it. These things? Insanely delicious. Which is no surprise. Butter + sugar pretty much always equals good.

 I’ve had good success using honey in place of corn syrup with other candymaking (like marshmallows) so I felt like that would work here, too.

After some Googling, I landed on a pretty good starting spot from Two Tarts. I did some modifications to their recipe.

Like I said above, I had to make these guys a few times not because of the taste (the taste was awesome) but because I had a really hard time getting the caramels to set. On the bright sideโ€”I had a lot of delicious caramel sauce to put on yogurt!

I think I struggled so much with timing because I was (a) relying on a candy thermometer that has never been super accurate and (b) I moved! I now live at a much higher elevation than I did last time I did any candymaking and elevation definitely matters.

Eventually, I ended up chucking the candy thermometer and relied on the tried-and-true cold water test. Basically, you drizzle a little bit of the caramel sauce in a cup of cold water, then gather it with your fingers. At first, it’ll be just goopy threads that are impossible to grab (this is called the, aptly named, thread stage). The next stage is that you’ll be able to roll the threads into a gelatinous soft ball (named the soft ball stage). And the next stage is the one we are looking forโ€”the hard ball stage. When you scoop the caramel out of the water, you should be able to roll into a ball that keeps its shape. It should be just slightly softer than the texture you want in your final caramels. When you hit that stage, turn the heat off, you’re done. Who needs a stinking thermometer? Not me.

Go ahead and prepare yourself to eat no less than 400 of these things while you’re cutting and wrapping them. It’s like they grow legs and jump into your mouth. Unless you have ironclad willpower, you will make yourself sick on sugar. Just accept that fact. But the good thing? The recipe makes enough to eat your weight in them and still have enough to wrap up and give to your friends and family!

The caramels are smooth, buttery, chewy and just a teeny bit salty. Which makes them pretty much my favorite thing ever. It’s hard to beat the simplicity of these, but I already have fun ideas swirling around for the next batch. Bacon pieces? Chocolate drizzles? Potato chip crumbs? I even thought it’d be fun to make these into thin strips that can wrap around a fresh apple slice for an appetizer-sized caramel apple!

Sea Salt Honey Caramels

Sea Salt Honey Caramels

Yield: About 3 dozen
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

These sea salt honey caramels are smooth, buttery,ย chewyย and just a teeny bit salty, with a simplicity that is hard to beat.

Adapted from Two Tarts.

Ingredients

  • Wax or parchment paper
  • Cooking spray
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened and cut into large chunks
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Instructions

  1. Line a 9 x 13 baking dish or 9 x 9 baking dish (which will make thicker, but fewer, caramels) with wax or parchment paper—leaving long overhangs on two sides. Spray paper with cooking spray and set aside.
  2. In a large saucepan, combine sugar and honey. Heat over medium heat until smooth and melted. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until sugar has darkened to a deep caramel color—about 5 minutes. Watch carefully, sugar burns fast!
  3. Reduce the heat to low and whisk in the knobs off butter one at a time. Be prepared, the mixture will bubble and grow (hence the large pot). Once all the butter is mixed in, whisk in the cream.
  4. Bring the pot to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil until the mixture reaches the hard ball stage (about 244° on a thermometer or when you drop some of the caramel in cold water, you can form it into a hardish ball). Remove from heat and pour caramel into prepared pan.
  5. Place pan in fridge for about 10 minutes to set up slightly, then sprinkle top of caramels with sea salt. Let caramels set up at room temperature for about an hour—or until totally cooled.
  6. To remove, gently pull on the paper overhang and remove the caramel block from the baking sheet. Cut into squares with a sharp knife and wrap in small pieces of parchment or wax paper.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 36 caramels Serving Size: 1 caramel
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 92Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 61mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 0gSugar: 12gProtein: 0g

At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.

Do you do any candymaking? What’s your favorite candy to make?

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35 Comments

  1. Oh, these caramels look delicious! I love when American recipes eliminate corn syrup, as we don’t have it in Sweden. Our syrup (and sugar) comes from beets, and has another viscosity (it’s thicker). I never know what that might do to a finished product. And I do love honey, so this recipe looks fantastic. And no thermometer! I’ve never used one, always gone with the good ol dollop in water trick (that’s what the traditional Swedish Christmas caramel recipes always call for anyway). Hopefully I’ll be able to make them a soft enough for my parents and grandparents to eat (without risking pulling their theeth fillings). If not, all the caramel will be miiiiine!

  2. These look/sound fantastic! I’m totally in live with caramel these days and the salted version is definitely really popular right now. I love that you eliminated the corn syrup though, because that’s an ingredient I also try to use as little as possible. Plus, by making them with honey, they become something different than your typical caramel. I bet they’re amazing!

  3. Yummy! These caramels look Amazing. I agree about the corn syrup. I always omit corn syrup from recipes and have not had any major issues so far. I’ve recently been making a ton of caramels too – definitely addictive ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Hi. I’d like to try this to mail to friends this year. Do you think they’d be ok to mail? (I have no idea on the shelf life of caramel).

    Thanks!

  5. OH YUM! My brother has been begging me to make caramels for him again! I made some about 5 years ago and he wont stop talking about them and I love that there is no corn syrup in these ๐Ÿ™‚ We signed up for a CSA that has honey included so I might use some of that (we have tons!). Thanks for the inspiration!

  6. I absolutely love this series you have done! Time and money are both in short supply this year, so I won’t get to try all of these.

    I will definitely be doing some jars of spice rub for the males in my family who like to cook and grill. It’s the perfect homemade gift I’ve been looking for!

  7. I am loving the handmade series! I haven’t had much time to be crafty lately so I’m pinning them for later use. Quick question about the recipe: do you think full-fat coconut milk would work instead of cream? My initial reaction is it will so I guess I’m just looking for someone to second that opinion before I give it a go. I know I should just be a strong, independent woman, put on my big girl pants, and do it, but I fear a candy disaster.

    1. Hmmm…I actually don’t know on the coconut milk. Like I said, I’m pretty much a newbie at candymaking, so I don’t know if those kind of subs will work or not. But, it’s worth a shot? Worst thing that will happen is you have some yummy caramel sauce to pour on yogurt or ice cream. ๐Ÿ™‚