Apple Cider Caramels

[cougars_catnip]

Just found this wonderful recipe that combines two of my favorite flavors ever.

Apple Cider Caramels

This is NOT my recipe I found it at the following web site. 
This recipe From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Go check out their marvelous cookbook.

Apple cider (sometimes called sweet or “soft” cider), as I’m referring to it here, is different from both apple juice and the hard, or alcoholic, fermented apple cider. It’s a fresh, unfiltered (it has sediment), raw apple juice — the juice literally pressed from fresh apples. It’s unpasteurized, and must be refrigerated, because it’s perishable. In the Northeast, I usually find it at farm stands and some grocery stores. I occasionally find vacuum- sealed bottles called apple cider in the juice aisle, but none of the bottled varieties that I’ve tried has the same delicate apple flavor as the more perishable stuff sold in the refrigerator section.

 

4 cups (945 ml) apple cider
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or less of a finer one
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (110 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
Neutral oil for the knife

 

Boil the apple cider in a 3- to- 4- quart saucepan over high heat until it is reduced to a dark, thick syrup, between 1/3 and 1/2 cup in volume. This takes about 35 to 40 minutes on my stove. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, get your other ingredients in order, because you won’t have time to spare once the candy is cooking. Line the bottom and sides of an 8- inch straight- sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets of crisscrossed parchment. Set it aside. Stir the cinnamon and flaky salt together in a small dish.

Once you are finished reducing the apple cider, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter, sugars, and heavy cream. Return the pot to medium- high heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side, and let it boil until the thermometer reads 252 degrees, only about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on it.

(Don’t have a candy or deep- fry thermometer? Have a bowl of very cold water ready, and cook the caramel until a tiny spoonful dropped into the water becomes firm, chewy, and able to be plied into a ball.)

Immediately remove caramel from heat, add the cinnamon- salt mixture, and give the caramel several stirs to distribute it evenly. Pour caramel into the prepared pan. Let it sit until cool and firm—about 2 hours, though it goes faster in the fridge. Once caramel is firm, use your parchment paper sling to transfer the block to a cutting board. Use a well- oiled knife, oiling it after each cut (trust me!), to cut the caramel into 1-by-1-inch squares. Wrap each one in a 4-inch square of waxed paper, twisting the sides to close. Caramels will be somewhat on the soft side at room temperature, and chewy/firm from the fridge.

Do ahead: Caramels keep, in an airtight container at room temperature, for two weeks, but really, good luck with that.

Comments

[carolyn_claire]

Wow, this does sound good--these are some of my favorite flavors, too. And real, fall-pressed fresh cider is the best, undoubtedly--it's nothing like the stuff in the juice aisle. So much better.

Thanks! You're a trooper!

[cougars_catnip]

It certainly is. I have the privilege of going to a cider pressing party each fall and we bring home gallons of cider and OMG is it good. This year it was spectacular. I'll have to check and see if we have any left that we didn't turn into hard cider.

:)
CC

[celtic_maenad]

oh wow. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!

[cougars_catnip]

Welcome. :) sounded so good I couldn't resist it :)

CC

[amalnahurriyeh]

Nnnng, want.

[cougars_catnip]

Right??? I LOVE caramel and apple cider and to put the two together is just wow! :)

CC

[velshtein]

This sounds wonderful, thank you!

[cougars_catnip]

My pleasure. Enjoy.

CC

[labellementeuse]

ummmm is it really kosher to just repost the whole recipe with all Deb's instructions? -- not that I don't blog recipes that other people have made, but asides like "trust me!" when they're actually Smitten Kitchen's come off pretty weird when you've just copy and pasted. If you haven't actually made the recipe and don't know what to say you could have just provided a link.

[cougars_catnip]

Well I not only gave credit for the recipe to the person who developed it but also provided a link to their site and cookbook. I have in no way taken credit for it and they posted it on the internet. If I have broken community rules I will of course remove the recipe.

I have never had a problem knowing what to say but that is the way she wrote the recipe and it seems more of a discourtesy to go mucking about with it and changing everything than to use her own words. If it makes you feel better you can picture it with Quotes around the entire thing.

CC

[labellementeuse]

I guess my perception is that by copy and pasting, not just the recipe, but all the discussion and instructions, without any indication that you didn't write that yourself, you seem to be taking credit unless people actually click through to her website. Basically you're not posting her recipe, you're reposting her blog.

I wouldn't be very happy if I had written a story and someone copied the story and put it on their blog with a link back to my blog, would you?

[cougars_catnip]

I did indicate that this isn't my recipe. First line....

** Just found this wonderful recipe**

Then the recipe name and the words...

** From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook **

I don't see how I could make it more plain whose recipe this is unless I ring it with flashing neon lights. I did not post the entire blog. There was way more on the page. I simply wanted to share this marvelous recipe I found. But again, if I have broken any rules I will take it down.

CC

[labellementeuse]

It is clear that the recipe is not original to you from the post. However, the first time I read this recipe, I thought that you personally had made it, had written the interesting and useful paragraph about cider, and were advising me to use a well-oiled knife. I only realised that this was not the case when I got further back in my google reader and ran into the original recipe (I am a big SK fan). As far as I can tell from your comments, you actually haven't tested this recipe at all. I found that very misleading and I think it's important that you're aware of that because you obviously didn't expect to mislead people that way.

I don't think this is breaking any community rules and I don't have a problem with posting other people's recipes here. However, it may be useful for you to familiarise yourself with copyright rules about recipes, because although I am not a copyright hawk I do think recipe copyright is interesting. It states that while actual recipes - lists of ingredients and the order you use them in - cannot be copyrighted, the wording and instructions associated with them, if they're sufficiently original, are copyrighted to the original author.

By the by, you're also depriving SK of the advertising revenue associated with clicks her blog gets. Recipe blogs don't gain popularity and advertisers from just posting lists of ingredients; they do it because their recipe-writing style is interesting, amusing, accessible, or otherwise enjoyable.

[brigid]

I've made a BUNCH of smitten kitchen recipes and they have ALL turned out great. She tests everything really well and writes great directions. I saw this earlier and am excited to make them. :)

[tibicina]

I made these today to rave reviews from everyone who tried them.

As a note - I used Just Apple because the market I was at didn't seem to have the more local fresh apple ciders and I've determined that they're my favorite always available unfiltered apple juice/cider. I also used about twice the cinnamon, a small amount of ground allspice, and a tiny bit of finely ground black pepper. (Note I also tend to add a couple black peppercorns and some whole allspice when making mulled cider, which is why those two particular ingredients.)

Anyway, fairly easy, very yummy.

We're considering doing another batch substituting bacon fat for half the butter, lowering the amount of salt, and possibly adding small bacon crumbles right at the end. I'll try to remember to report back if we do that.

[tibicina]

Sorry, not Just Apple, Simply Apple. (Just Apple is a freeze-dried crunchy snack.)

We made them substituting in bacon fat for half the butter which added a nice smokiness. Though we also realized that our bacon fat wasn't very salty and we'd been using salted butter, so we ended up needing to add salt and experimented with different finishing salts.

A mix of red and black Hawaiian salt worked really well. I also liked using the Salish alder-smoked salt. If you want something spicier, pico de gallo (the salt + citric acid + red pepper mix you sprinkle on fruit) worked really well and sort of made sour-candy on the outside from the citric acid. My boyfriend also really liked a mix of powdered chipotle and salt for an even spicier version.