C-A-R-A-M-E-L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ONE: I'm a big caramel lover. As soon as I see the word caramel, I'm all over that thing, whether it's chocolate, cookie, cake, whatever.
TWO: It's Christmas time, and these are such a nice idea if you want prepare an edible gift.
THREE: I didn't know making caramel candies at home was so (relatively) easy.

This recipe (especially if you add a bit more butter like I did) will give you soft, slightly chewy caramels, not the type that sticks to your teeth, but the ones you can bite and then they simply melt in your mouth. This is the recipe I used.

*This was actually my second attemt at these caramel candies. The first time, not having a clue about caramel making and not having the sugar thermometer either, but only enormous love for these, I ended up with hard, tooth breaking candies, that I eventually hid from my kids and from myself. Having just finished to pay the dentist bill, I threw them away and decided to give them a second chance.
I added a TBspoon (15 g) more of butter and watched the mixture cook carefully, could have definitely let them get slightly more dense, but fearing another failure...
Then I made a BIG mistake, thinking that nothing sticks to the silicone mould, and being there enough butter, I thought (wrongly) there was no need to oil my (new) silicone chocolate mould. I was so wrong. Probably, the reason was that my caramel was quite soft. Those that I poured into silicone mini muffin moulds came out easily, those in chocolate moulds had to be forced out and shaped a little with hands. But since I used those in cookies later, the damage wasn't really big. Stay tuned for the next episode :)))

CARAMEL CANDIES

250 g sugar
250 ml cream
30 g (45 g) butter
60 g honey (my choice: orange blossom)
vanilla extract

Put all ingredients except vanilla extract into a large enough saucepan or pot and let them melt on low heat.

Once everything has melted, set the heat to medium-low and cook stirring for 10-15 minutes.

At this point I lowered the heat again, almost to lowest and continued cooking the mixture for 15-20 minutes again.

I placed several ice cubes in a little bowl and did the consistency check several times: drop a teaspoon of caramel mixure on ice so it will cool quickly and you'll be able to see what its consistency will be when completely cool. If it's too soft, it will simply melt and spread. If it's the right consistency, you should be able to form a little ball. Resembling a little chewing gum.

When you're satisfied, turn the heat off, stir in the vanilla extract and proceed in one of the following ways:
If you want nicely shaped candies spoon the mixture into silicone chocolate moulds (BRUSHED OR SPRAYED WITH OIL).

Otherwise pour the mixture into a 20x20 cm pan lined with wax paper and brushed or sprayed with oil. When the mixture has cooled slightly, cut into squares using an oiled knife.
In either case, when the mixure has cooled (and after it's been cut) place them in the fridge to cool well.
Wrap separetely into cellophane or place them into paper cups as they tend to stick to each other when stored at room temperature.

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Questo è stato il mio secondo tentativo, e a differenza della prima volta, sono venute molto bene. Se decido di regalarle agli amici dovrò farle ancora una volta e forse anche raddoppiare le dosi. Sono piaciute tanto anche a mia figlia, quindi non posso non riproporle. Particolarmente dopo averle usate per riempire degli squisiti biscotti al cioccolato.
Qesta è la ricetta che ho usato.

CARAMELLE AL LATTE

250 g zucchero
250 ml panna
30 g (45 g) burro
60 g miele (fiori d'arancio)
estratto o aroma di vaniglia

Mescolate tutti gli ingredienti (tranne la vaniglia) e cominciate a riscaldarli a fuoco basso finché si saranno sciolti.
Aumentate la temperatura a medio-bassa, e continuate a cuocere mescolando per 10-15 minuti.
Abbassate di nuovo leggermente la temperatura, proseguite la cottura per altri 15-20 minuti o fino a raggiungere la consistenza desiderata.
Per verificare la consistenza del caramello, versate un cucchiaino in una ciotolina con ghiaccio. Si raffredderà subito e, se è abbastanza denso, dovreste poter modellare una caramella.
Quando il caramello è pronto, aggiungete l'estratto di vaniglia e versatelo negli stampini per cioccolato (spennellati con olio) oppure in un contenitore di dimensioni 20x20 cm, rivestito di carta da forno e spennellato con olio. In questo caso, quando la massa si sarà raffreddata, togliete dallo stampo e tagliate con un coltello unto di olio a quadratini (1-2 cm per lato).
In ogni caso, quando le caramelle si saranno raffreddate, mettetele nel frigo.
Se volete regalarle, confezionatele singolarmente avvolte nel cellofan oppure mettetele nei pirottini di carta.

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Još jednom zahvaljujući blogu i web stranici Coolinarika otkrila sam recept za koji nisam nikad ni pomišljala pripremiti kod kuće.
Recept je Maslinkin, možete ga naći ovdje i na njezinom blogu.
Prvi je pokušaj propao, jer sam smjesu kuhala predugo, bila je tako gusta da se počela odvajati od stranica lonca u kojem sam smjesu kuhala, a osim toga zaboravila sam da se u Zepter loncu nastavlja kuhati i nakon što isključite vatru. Tako sam dobila tvrde bombone, koje sam pokušavala jesti, ali na kraju sam odlučila da moram ponoviti eksperiment i pokušati dobiti mekane karamele koje sam željela.
Unijela sam samo jednu izmjenu drugi put, dodala sam 15 g maslaca više u odnosu na recept, vjerojatno nije bilo neophodno, ali iz straha da opet dobijem pretvrde karamele, dobila sam ih polumekane. Treća sreća, kako se kaže? Možda iz trećeg pokušaja uspijem dobiti one mekane, ali ipak malo žilavije?
U svakom slučaju karamele su odlične, mislim da su sjajne i kao ideja za jestivi dar budući da se približava Božić, i još jednom zahvaljujem Maslinki na receptu.
Ali nisam se tu zaustavila. Slijede keksi s karamelama, stoga pripremite na vrijeme karamele! pa se vratite po nastavak.

MEKANE MLIJEČNE KARAMELE

250 g šećera
250 ml slatkog vrhnja
30 g (45 g) maslaca
60 g meda (med od cvijeta naranče)
ekstrakt vanilije

Pomiješajte sve sastojke, osim vanilije, i zagrijavajte na niskoj temperaturi da se otope.
Malo povećajte temperaturu i kuhajte miješajući 10-15 minuta dok se ne smjesa ne počne zgušnjavati i dobije boju karamela.
Smanjite malo temperaturu i kuhajte i dalje miješajući dok ne dobijete ispravnu gustoću.
Provjerite gustoću tako da stavite žličicu smjese u posudicu s ledom, tako će se brzo ohladiti i moći ćete vidjeti kako će izgledati kad se sve ohladi i stisne.
Kad ste zadovoljni gustoćom, istresite smjesu ili u nauljene kalupiće za čokoladu (ja imam jedan pa sam ostatak stavila u silikonske kalupe za muffine), ili pripremite posudu 20x20 cm, obložite je papirom za pečenje i namažite tankim slojem ulja (sve to napravite prije nego počnete kuhati karamele).
Ako ste smjesu napravili u jednom komadu, kad se prohladi izrežite je nauljenim nožem na kockice veličine po želji (1-2 cm).
U oba slučaja ostavite da se ohlade do kraja, pa još dobro rashladite u hladnjaku.
Zamotajte svaku karamelu u celofan ili ih stavite u papirne košarice jer su malo ljepljive.