Homemade Caramels

Used THIS recipe exactly

Recipe as follows:

1 vanilla bean - cut in half and use knife to remove seeds

1 cup heavy cream

5 tbs butter - cubed

1 tsps salt

• mix ingredients in sauce pan
• bring to boil over medium heat
• immediately turn off burner and let sit for > 10 min - letting it steep longer is better

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1 1/3 cup sugar

• combine in a second sauce pan (keep sugar in the middle so it doesn't stick to the side of the pan)
• heat over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves and begins to have a light brown color
• when temperature reaches 300°F (7-12 min), bring to medium-low and gently swirl the pan periodically
• mixture will turn to amber and reach 350°F (2-3 min, look for small bubbles), remove from heat
• add cream mixture to sugar mixture and return to low heat and continue stirring
• when temp reaches 248°F (~5 min) you're done - transfer to cooling dish and smooth with spatula
• allow to sit for 10-15 min, then transfer to fridge

Where we added the cream/vanilla mixture

Right after pouring hot mix from stove

After standing in fridge for ~1hr

• Didn't bring sugar mixture exactly to 350F
• Didn't let the combined mixture get to 248F (stopped around 240F)
• Caramel turned out softer than expected