Publication in the group: Desserts
Caramel is called “sugar cane” in Latin. India is considered the birthplace of the dish - the first recipe was invented by the ancient Indians. To obtain sugar, they roasted sugar cane in a fire. The Indians exported cane syrup to Western Europe, and it was bought by people with higher incomes. Compressed sugar was brought to Russia in the 11th century.
Before this, the Slavs prepared sweet dishes based on honey. In the 21st century, granulated sugar, water, cream, butter, sour cream, and fruit syrup are used to make caramel at home.
Homemade salted caramel recipe
Caramel, an easy recipe to make at home, in this version is prepared with the addition of salt. The author of the dish is French pastry chef Henri Le Roux. As a result of experimenting with different flavors and ingredients, he invented salted caramel with hazelnuts and almonds. It is recommended to use sea salt - it is rich in potassium, iodine, magnesium, zinc, and iron.
What ingredients will you need?
To prepare salted caramel, it is recommended to stock up on:
- sugar 200 g;
- cream 20% 200 g;
- butter 50 g;
- sea salt 3-5 g.
Step-by-step cooking process
The mixture is prepared in stages over 30 minutes, including preparing the products:
- Melt granulated sugar and butter in a saucepan. Heat the mixture over low heat until the sugar grains are completely dissolved. The mixture is not stirred; the container must be shaken.
- After the caramel has become golden brown, it is combined with cream. For a liquid sauce, the cooking time is 3 minutes, after 4 minutes the mixture will become creamy, after 7-8 minutes it will turn into toffee.
- Combine the warm sauce with sea salt and stir.
At the final stage, the mixture is filtered through cheesecloth and poured into a container. The workpiece is stored in the refrigerator for 60 days.
Recipe 1. Soft caramel at home
Soft caramel according to this recipe turns out soft and tender, slightly viscous. Thanks to these properties, the delicacy is ideal not only as an independent sweet, but also as an addition to any desserts.
• 120 grams of sugar;
• 80 grams of cane sugar;
• 120 grams of butter;
• 250 ml cream 20%;
• 120 ml corn syrup.
1. Pour two types of sugar into a thick-bottomed saucepan or saucepan.
2. Add butter, cut into cubes, pour in syrup and cream.
3. Place the mixture on low heat.
4. Simmer, stirring constantly, until the sweet mixture warms up to 120 degrees. You can check the temperature of the product with a kitchen thermometer. If you do not have a much-needed appliance in your kitchen, you can check the temperature of the caramel as follows: Take a container of cold water, drop a drop of caramel into it, if you get a hard, round ball, the caramel is ready.
6. Remove the frozen soft caramel from the mold and cut into any shapes or simple cubes.
Recipe for homemade clear caramel made from sugar and water on a stick
Industrial enterprises produce the following products:
- hard;
- soft;
- in the form of a sauce.
Caramel.
Recipe for homemade clear caramel made from sugar and water. The production of fortified, medicinal sweets and soft caramel is widespread. Hard products include lollipops, monpassier, and grilled meats. The transparent candy can be used as an independent sweet or used to decorate children's cakes, pastries, and muffins.
What components are needed
Hard candies are prepared with:
- sugar 230 g;
- water 80 ml;
- glucose syrup 150 g.
Step-by-step cooking process
The cooking process takes 20-30 minutes:
- Pour sugar into a container and mix it with water and glucose syrup. The workpiece is boiled to 146°C until the mixture begins to turn yellow. The readiness of the mass is checked by immersing the caramel in cold water. The finished mixture should harden.
- Natural water-soluble dyes are used to tint candies. They are dripped into the sauce, stirred, and poured into molds.
- After cooling, the candies should be smooth and not sticky.
Candies are packaged immediately after cooling, otherwise high humidity in the room will make them sticky.
Recommendations and little tricks from experts
Before you start creating caramel, you need to familiarize yourself with a number of points that can significantly facilitate the process and improve the quality of the final product:
- Everything you need should be prepared in advance. Directly boiling the composition takes very little time and any delay can lead to it burning.
- You need to cook the mixture without leaving the stove, otherwise it can be ruined.
- The molds into which the finished caramel will be poured must first be greased with odorless vegetable oil, then the candies will come out without problems.
- All household items with traces of burnt sugar must be soaked immediately, otherwise you will have to spend a lot of time cleaning them later.
- To make not just candy from caramel, but an original dessert, you need to dip pieces of fruit, nuts or dried fruits into still liquid molasses.
Even at home, a simple treat made from sugar and water can be made unusual. To do this, you need to choose the right ingredients and choose the appropriate time of exposure to the composition.
Soft caramel with butter and vanilla
Caramel, the recipe for which can be changed at home to taste, in this variation is prepared with the addition of butter and vanillin.
Homemade cream, milk and butter give the caramel a milky taste and soften the consistency of the product.
What you need
The milk preparation is prepared with:
- sugar 300 g;
- cream 340 g;
- butter 70 g;
- salt 5 g;
- vanilla 1 sachet.
Step-by-step preparation
According to this recipe, milk caramel is prepared quickly and easily.
It is enough to follow all stages of cooking:
- Granulated sugar is divided into 6 portions, the first portion is poured into a container and melted. When the mass turns amber, pour in the next 50 g and cook until dissolved. The procedure is repeated until the entire amount of granulated sugar is melted.
- Heat the cream in a separate saucepan. The golden sugar mass is mixed with melted butter and salt. Hot cream is slowly poured into the syrup, stirring constantly.
- Place the mixture on the stove and heat for 5-6 minutes. The color of the mixture should resemble milk chocolate.
The finished caramel is wrapped in cling film and placed in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Soft creamy caramel
Ingredients
- 250 g sugar
- 180 ml heavy cream (30%)
- 50-70 g butter
Preparation
- First soften the butter and heat the cream until hot. If your cream has less fat, you can add more butter.
- Pour sugar into a heated saucepan and, shaking it periodically, wait until it melts, then carefully add butter, stir with a spoon, let it thicken for a minute and pour in hot cream. Continue heating, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth.
- Cool the caramel as stated above, the delicacy is ready for use.
- Creamy caramel at room temperature can be poured into small jars and stored in the refrigerator. When you need the sauce, you can heat it up in the microwave.
- In addition to the sauce, homemade caramel can be added to sour cream, whipped until fluffy and homogeneous and used as a cream in a cake or filling in eclairs.
With cream and vanilla
Caramel, the recipe for which is prepared quickly and easily at home, in this case is prepared with the addition of vanillin and cream.
This preparation is used to complement desserts and baked goods.
Required Products
The cream preparation includes the following products:
- 300 g sugar;
- 150 ml cream;
- 10 g vanillin.
Cooking technology
According to this recipe, the dish is prepared for 25-30 minutes:
- Heat the sugar in a saucepan until it melts and darkens.
- Add a packet of vanillin to the sugar sauce and stir.
- The mixture is diluted with cream and stirred.
To store the workpiece you will need a glass or ceramic jar. After cooling, the caramel is placed in the refrigerator.
Cinnamon
Caramel candies with cinnamon are suitable for tea drinking.
They are used to prepare kozinaki, nougat, and sweets. Caramel with cinnamon is present in cakes and creams.
Required Products
To create a dish you will need:
- 0.5 kg sugar;
- 200 g butter;
- 10 g vanillin;
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon.
Step-by-step preparation
Cooking is carried out in stages:
- Heat the sugar and cook over medium heat until dissolved and darkened. It is important to control the process, stir the pan to avoid the formation of clots. You can prevent sugar from crystallizing by covering the container with a lid. You can add lemon juice (2-3 drops) when the granulated sugar dissolves.
- Mix the syrup with vanilla and cinnamon.
- Pour melted butter into the mixture and stir.
The finished product is placed in a prepared container and, after cooling, placed in the refrigerator.
How to make caramel from sugar?
Caramel is a well-known and beloved delicacy by everyone. It makes incredibly beautiful lollipops or fragrant and tasty toffees. Do you know how to make sugar caramel from the simplest ingredients?
How to make caramel from sugar at home?
- filtered water – 125 ml;
- fine sugar – 500 g.
We will tell you first how to make caramel from sugar and water. So, pour filtered water into the pan and add sugar. Place the dishes on low heat and heat the mixture until the crystals are completely dissolved. Stir the liquid with a wooden spatula until the caramel darkens slightly. After that, put the delicacy in candy molds and put it in the refrigerator.
How to make caramel from sugar?
- butter – 100 g;
- sugar – 200 g;
- liquid honey – 2 tbsp. spoons;
- cow's milk – 50 ml;
- vanillin - to taste.
Heat the sugar very carefully over low heat until it melts. Then pour in the milk and boil the mixture for 10 minutes, stirring with a wooden spatula. After this, put a piece of butter, add honey and vanillin. Cook the caramel until it thickens, and then put the mass on a sheet of parchment paper, distribute it evenly and wait until it hardens. Next, cut it into pieces and serve the sweets for tea.
How to make caramel from sugar and milk?
Pour sugar into a frying pan with a thick bottom and pour in milk. Place the dishes on the fire and cook until the mixture darkens slightly, stirring with a wooden spoon. After this, pour the mixture into a saucer greased with oil and wait 15 minutes. After hardening, break the delicacy into pieces, put it in molds and put it in the refrigerator.
How to make strawberry caramel from sugar and butter?
- sugar – 100 g;
- lemon juice – 1 teaspoon;
- butter – 20 g;
- strawberry juice – 40 ml.
Pour granulated sugar into a saucepan, put a piece of butter, pour in strawberry juice and add a little lemon juice. Place the dishes on the stove and bring the mixture to a boil. After this, reduce the flame and cook the delicacy until it thickens a little and darkens slightly. Next, carefully pour the resulting syrup into molds greased with butter and put the candies in the refrigerator so that they harden thoroughly.
Homemade milk caramel recipe
The consistency of milk caramel is similar to condensed milk. The cooking time determines the condition of the workpiece - it turns out soft, viscous or dense, like toffee.
You can soften the taste of caramel with homemade milk.
It is rich:
- proteins;
- lipids;
- carbohydrates;
- mineral salts;
- vitamins;
- hormones.
Vitamin B12 in milk calms the nervous system, prevents the development of cardiovascular diseases, and accelerates metabolic processes.
What products are required
A dairy dish is prepared from:
- 0.5 l of milk;
- 800 g sugar;
- 150 g butter.
Sequential cooking
The ingredients are first taken out of the refrigerator; they should be at room temperature.
Next, start cooking:
- Milk is boiled, mixed with sugar, and boiled until it is completely dissolved.
- Combine the sauce with melted butter and simmer for 30 minutes over low heat.
- After simmering, the caramel will become creamy, decrease in quantity, and thicken.
The hot liquid is poured into a container, left to cool, and stored in the refrigerator for 14 days. After cooking, the container in which the caramel was cooked is soaked in hot water. If the sugar has not dissolved, pour water into the pan, put it on the fire, then pour it out, wash it with soapy water, and rinse.
Making caramel from sugar
Required products and equipment:
- 15 tablespoons of sugar;
- 5 tablespoons of water (the amount of ingredients can be changed as desired, but the main thing is that the ratio of water and sugar is 1 to 3);
- half a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar;
- a plate with cold water;
- clean tablespoons or molds;
- saucepan.
First, prepare a plate of cold water and place it somewhere not far from the stove and pan. Pour 5 tablespoons of boiled water into a saucepan and add sugar (15 tablespoons, or your proportions). Set the heat to medium power, and wait until the sugar dissolves in the water, add half a teaspoon of lemon juice or table vinegar so that the sugar mass does not roll into lumps, but becomes plastic. Stir constantly until most of the sugar has melted to prevent the caramel from burning.
When all the sugar has dissolved in the water, turn the heat down to the lowest setting just to maintain the temperature. Dip the spoon into the caramel and wait until it is filled with mixture. If you have molds, fill them with caramel. As soon as the spoon becomes full, immediately place it in a plate of cold water for a few seconds so that the mass “sets”. Place the filled spoon aside for a while to allow the candy to completely harden. Repeat the same with other spoons or molds. Sugar caramel is ready!
Chocolate caramel made from condensed milk and cocoa
Caramel, the recipe for which is easy to prepare at home, in this case is made with the addition of condensed milk and cocoa powder.
Condensed milk is rich in micro- and macroelements, it improves metabolism, restores energy and muscle tone.
Required Products
The chocolate preparation is made with:
- sugar 1 glass;
- condensed milk 400 ml;
- cocoa 4 tbsp. l.
Cooking sequence
It is recommended to prepare all containers and components in advance.
Next, start cooking:
- Melt granulated sugar over medium heat until it turns brown. It is important to ensure that the caramel does not burn - this will ruin the taste and smell of the product.
- Add condensed milk to the sugar mixture and stir.
- Pour cocoa powder into the pan through a sieve and stir.
Brown caramel is poured into a container, cooled, and put away for storage.
How to make caramel from sugar?
Delicious and aromatic sugar caramels - are there people who have never tried them in their lives or tried to make them themselves? If you don’t know how to make caramel at home without ruining all the dishes, then we will teach you. To prepare this treat, you don't need anything other than sugar, vinegar or lemon juice and water.
Fruit caramel with juice
A caramel recipe made with fruit juice has advantages - you can vary the shade of the product, diversify the flavor palette, and give the dish a berry, fruity aroma.
To prepare caramel at home, it is recommended to use freshly squeezed juices - they are rich in organic acids, minerals, trace elements, and vitamins.
What products are needed
Before starting cooking, prepare:
- freshly squeezed juice 1 glass;
- granulated sugar 150 g;
- cinnamon 5 g;
- vanillin 10 g.
Sequential cooking
Cooking time is 30 minutes:
- Melt sugar in a deep metal saucepan and combine with fruit juice.
- Boil the mixture over low heat until smooth. After the color changes, the mass is mixed with vanilla and cinnamon.
- After boiling, turn off the sauce and remove from the stove.
Forms for lollipops are greased with butter and filled with syrup. After 10 minutes, insert a stick into the caramel and leave to cool.
Homemade caramel recipe made from sugar
Author: Liana Raimanova
Many adults claim that caramel is a delicacy for children, although they themselves are not averse to occasionally treating themselves to a sweet product.
Despite the fact that today store shelves are bursting with a variety of types and brands of caramel, there are still craftsmen who prepare caramel at home.
Homemade caramel is unique in that it contains a minimum of products, which are also inexpensive and accessible.
In addition, regardless of the fact that the cooking process is not easy, it is quite exciting.
Well, the result of this interesting process will be a delicious delicacy that you definitely cannot buy in a store.
Chewy caramel with cream
Chewy creamy candies are identical to Soviet “toffees”. Homemade chewy caramel can be soft, chewy, hard, or semi-hard.
To thicken the product, mix it with flour, chopped nuts, and sesame seeds. To diversify the flavor palette, salt, cinnamon, nuts, and vanillin are used.
Required Components
Chewy caramel is prepared with:
- tea 3 tsp;
- cream 300 ml;
- sugar 400 g;
- vanilla ½ tsp;
- corn syrup 50 ml;
- honey 50 g;
- water 50 ml;
- butter 4 tsp;
- salt 1/3 tsp.
Step-by-step cooking process
Before starting cooking, you need to prepare the containers:
- Line the bottom of a rectangular shape with parchment and grease it with butter. The cream is poured into a container, mixed with tea, and boiled. After boiling the mixture for 5 minutes, remove it, leave for 10-13 minutes, and filter through cheesecloth.
- Add granulated sugar to the cream and mix with honey, vanillin, corn syrup, and water. Stir everything, put it on the stove, dilute it with butter and salt.
- Boil the mixture over low heat until it turns brown. The caramel is removed from the stove, poured into a mold, and left to cool for 3 hours.
The workpiece is taken out of the mold, cut into squares or triangles, and wrapped in parchment to prevent drying out.
Caramel filled with fried bananas, almonds, nuts, peanuts, fruits, apples, pears, pineapples
Caramel with berries, nuts, fruits, and natural dyes fills the body with minerals and trace elements, eliminates depression, and helps improve mood.
Calorie content per 100 g of product:
Name | Quantity in g |
Kcal | 360 |
Squirrels | 1,0 |
Fats | 0,8 |
Carbohydrates | 95,0 |
To prepare the filling, you need to prepare the basic caramel according to the above recipe.
Hot liquid is mixed with:
- crushed nuts/peanuts/almonds;
- candied fruits;
- chopped dried fruits;
- fried bananas;
- chocolate chips;
- sea salt;
- fresh pineapples;
- apple/pear porridge.
The filling is added to liquid caramel, poured into a mold or placed in an empty sweet ball, similar to a glass blower.
How to make figurines, caramel roses for decorating desserts
To finalize the dessert, confectioners prepare caramel decorations. Spirals, patterns, roses, domes, and scatterings are made from melted sugar.
Crushed caramel
Confectioners decorate cakes with crushed caramel and spread it over whipped cream/yogurt. To make crushed caramel, grease the frying pan with butter or line it with parchment. Hot sugar liquid is poured onto the surface, the thickness of the layer is 2.5-3 mm.
After cooling, the caramel is separated from the parchment and split into pieces. Fruits are served with crushed caramel – it gives them a sweet and sour taste.
Spirals
The remaining sugar syrup is used to make spirals. To do this, take wooden sticks, grease them with butter, and wrap them in plastic caramel in the form of a rope. After hardening, the candies are removed and used to decorate the dessert.
Roses
The preparation of caramel rose occurs in stages:
- Mix 500 g of granulated sugar and water (1 glass) in a container, cover and boil. After boiling, add 1 tbsp to the mixture. l. honey After the sugar has dissolved, the container is removed from the stove.
- The syrup is poured onto a marble surface, divided, and kneaded like dough. After thickening, the caramel is crushed by hand, stretched, and rolled into a ball. The mass is stretched until it turns white and acquires a pearlescent hue. The mixture from which the rose is made is mixed with colored food coloring. For leaves, pour 1-2 tbsp. l. syrup, mixed with green dye.
- If the mixture has frozen, it is heated and placed on the table. Next, a flat pancake 0.8 mm thick is formed, and the leaves are plucked off to form a flower.
- The base of the bud is made from a leaf, it is wrapped around a metal wire 2-3 mm thick. After the base has hardened, the rod is removed. The leaves form quickly, they harden in 5-10 seconds. The edges of the leaves are straightened and attached in layers. After the bud is formed, 3 leaves are attached to it.
With granulated sugar the roses will be creamy, with refined sugar they will be crystal white. Colored roses are made by adding food coloring to water.
Patterns
To create an abstract pattern, cooled sugar syrup is scooped out with a knife/fork and stretched on parchment. The plastic caramel is pulled out and twisted to give shape.
Golden scattering
When preparing the syrup, sugar is mixed with citric acid. It will give the product a golden hue and almond aroma. Using a silicone brush, scoop up the mixture and scatter it onto the baked goods in large drops.
Domes
To give the caramel a dome, you will need large fruits, like grapefruit. It is cut into 2 parts, the crust is greased with butter. They make a kind of bag out of parchment, fill it with melted sugar, and cut the tip. The hot mixture is squeezed onto the grapefruit in thin lines, making a grid. After the caramel hardens, the mesh is removed from the fruit and placed on the cake.
How to make caramel at home: preliminary preparation
Before you decide to make caramel, first make sure you know enough about what it takes to make it.
1. Arm yourself with the right utensils
It is best to make caramel in a cast iron frying pan with thick walls and bottom or in an aluminum pan (also with a thick bottom). A standard non-stick frying pan may work for you if nothing else is available.
2. The right sugar
How to make caramel truly tasty and of high quality? You need to use good sugar. Good caramel requires real cane sugar.
Due to the cane molasses included in cane sugar, it contains many useful substances - calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus.
3. Safety precautions
If you are making caramel in a frying pan, be sure to protect the exposed parts of your body with clothing. Wear an apron and gloves. Make sure the heat isn't too high so that the melted sugar doesn't accidentally get on you.
Caramel is burnt and melted sugar. There is a lot of debate about the “right” color of caramel. Some say it should be as bright as amber. And some argue that the color should be dark, chocolate brown.
The caramel is melted almost until it burns. However, the taste of proper caramel is sweet.
There are two types of caramel: liquid and dry.
Liquid is made from water and cane sugar. Used as dressings and sauces.
Dry caramel is drier and harder in consistency. It is prepared only with sugar. It is included in pralines, lollipops, and pies.
Very soon you will learn how to make caramel. It's not that difficult, although you will need some practice. The main thing is to follow safety precautions. Melted sugar can cause serious skin burns!
1. For caramel, you need the right pan - for example, aluminum with a thick bottom, colorless, so that the difference between the bottom of the pan and the changing color of the caramel is clearly visible.
2. This quantity is enough to make crème caramel for six people or six creme brulee. Heat the pan over medium heat for a few seconds, then add 175g white sugar without removing from the heat. Brown sugar is usually recommended, but in this case it is better to use white as it is easier to see the color change. Leave the sugar for a while, keeping an eye on it until it begins to melt.
3. After 5 minutes, the sugar should begin to melt and become liquid around the edges. Then you need to shake the pan and leave again until about a quarter of the sugar has melted.
4. Then, using a wooden spoon, stir lightly and continue to simmer until all the sugar becomes a liquid the color of dark runny honey - dark amber. Everything should take about 10 minutes from start to finish, and it's important to be patient and not rush the process - this is the easiest thing to do wrong when making caramel. You need to keep it on medium heat all this time.
5. Then, remove the pan from the heat and add 2 tablespoons of warm tap water - the caramel will sizzle and splashes will appear, so you need to protect your hands with a towel. Stir well - you may need to return the pan to the heat and heat gently again to melt any lumps. Caramel is ready to eat.
Here is the simplest recipe on how to make caramel. For it we only needed sugar and water.
But for the next recipe we will need a few more components.
I suggest you get acquainted with how to make milk caramel.
You will need milk, butter, cane sugar.
Half a liter of milk, 100 g of butter and 3-4 cups of sugar is enough.
After an hour of cooking caramel according to this recipe, you will get a cream or sauce. After an hour and a half of cooking, you will get wonderful boiled condensed milk. After two hours - real milk caramel. And after 2.5 hours, sugar, butter and milk will turn into toffee.
Useful tips and tricks
To obtain a quality product, the following rules must be observed:
- caramel is cooked from refined granulated sugar over low heat in a saucepan with a thick bottom;
- It is necessary to stir the sugar mass only for the first 5 minutes; after melting, do not interfere with the sugar - it will crystallize;
- You can avoid sugaring the syrup by adding citric acid, juice, or vinegar essence;
- it is important to prevent the sugar from burning - this will make the caramel dark and bitter;
- You can enhance and soften the taste of the product with cream and milk;
- Instead of butter, you can use full-fat margarine;
- the taste of the product does not change at different temperatures, it becomes thicker or thinner.
Caramel is colored using food coloring. Cold water is needed to dissolve the powder dye - this is done to ensure uniform coloring of the candies.
You can make the taste of candies bright and rich by heating water with lemon or orange zest. The mass is cooled, filtered, and added to the melted sugar.
Caramel is made at home in any form. If there are no special forms for lollipops, cover the table with parchment, lay out hot caramel, insert a stick, and cool. The recipe for homemade “chupa chups” is simple - pour the caramel mass into silicone/plastic ice molds, and after cooling, cover with parchment.
Author: Anna Rukas
Caramel at home - general principles of preparation
Homemade caramel can vary in taste, shape and texture.
The main ingredient of the product is sugar, and depending on the additional ingredients, the taste of the caramel is regulated.
For example, soft caramel can be made from milk, cream, sour cream with the addition of cocoa, coffee, or chocolate.
It is permissible to add fruit or berry extracts to hard caramel to obtain the appropriate taste and aroma.
The shape of the finished caramel depends on the molds in which the product will be cooled; in the absence of special forms, it is permissible to use any suitable container - small bowls, a base for making ice, and even ordinary spoons.
The texture of the product can be soft, hard, crispy, viscous, liquid - this moment depends on the technology and cooking time.
All sorts of subtleties, interesting recipes, tips and tricks that we tried to collect for you in this article will help you discover the fascinating process of making caramel at home.