I suppose it started a long time ago on Cushing Street in Providence. A good friend of my mother's really introduced me to caramel - or a type of it anyway. She would melt water, brown sugar and butter and pour it over the top of the first snow. The deep brown sweetness would instantly harden as it melted its way deep into the depths of each snow flake. I could not have been older that 6 or 7 when we started this tradition. After watching this family friend make it, I started to do it on my own around the age of 8. I would bring out the hot Calphalon sauce pan and make figure eights on the freshly fallen snow. One of the best memories of winter that I have as a child. Now that I live in the city without a yard, such an act would not go over so well.
In any event, so started my love for caramel - all kinds. Well, almost all kinds. As a child, I had less discerning taste buds and I gobbled up both soft and hard caramels, and preferred butterscotch to be poured over the top of my vanilla ice cream. Now that I am a few years older, I have made some decisions about the sweet treat. I like it soft, sweet, and salty. And even with those qualifiers, it can be too sweet, not salty enough, and I have made it so that it is too soft to fill chocolates (even though it does make for the perfect excuse to eat "as is" or simply with a spoon. And while I do love the Dining and Wine Section of the New York Times, I have to say that I was disappointed to see that they printed a recipe of salted caramel that had corn syrup. I understand that it will help with the setting, and I fully agree with the other ingrediants, I did not like seeing the addition of corn syrup. But when you make your own caramel, you will have something like nothing else. Your taste buds will dance, your heart will sing, and your soul will float. It is pure pleasure. Trust me on this one. Oh, and the greatest joy I just received from making my latest batch was that my 6 yr old nephew wanted to learn how, and afterwards asked me to write the recipe down for him. In return, he would write down his recipe for Welsh Rarebit. Now is that a deal or what!
Cushing Street Salted Caramel:
2 C Sugar
3/4 C Water
4 tbsp salted butter
1/4 C Heavy Cream
3 tbsp coarse sea salt
Cook the sugar and water of low-medium heat in a heavy bottom pan without stiring, but gently swiring the pan until the mixture turns clear. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Once the sugar is fully disolved, and the mixture is clear, increase heat, and allow mixture to boil. Keep a close watch on the sugar. It will be very quickly begin to caramelize, and change color from a light amber to a deep amber. It will continue to change once the heat is turned off. The darker the color, the richer the flavor. However, it can also burn at this stage, so be CAREFUL. As the color starts to turn, remove from heat when it turns medium amber color, and add the butter.
Be careful, as the mixture is quite hot, and can bubble up. Stir the mixture, and then add the cream. An alternative to the cream is mascarpone cheese. It makes for a smoother and softer caramel.
Mix these two ingrediants together until you have a thick caramel. Once the mixture is incorporate, add the salt and mix.
Allow to cool, and pour into a separate bowl. The caramels can be shapped into a single slab and cut into squares. From here, you can place into pieces of wax paper for individual candies. You can also cover with chocolate, pour hot caramel over ice cream, place small cooled pieces into cookie batter, or simply wait for that next snow storm...
