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I love caramel candies. I always had them as a kid and I loved how sticky they were, even though they were probably super bad for my teeth. I would always find it a fun game to see how fast I could unstick it from the roof of my mouth or my back molars. I’m sure you’re thinking, “wow Julie was a weird kid.” Haha, but I really liked the Werther’s soft caramel that they came out with several years ago. I think that’s my favorite caramel candy, until, of course, I made my own!
I made these apple cider caramels because it was one of my bucket list items to conquer in the kitchen. I really wanted to learn how to make some sort of candy in the kitchen and I knew caramels were a pretty easy way to start but something about boiling sugar just freaked me out and I refused to do it. I just always got this vision in my head that it’d splatter all over my arm and I’d get horrendous burns. Dramatic, much?
I finally decided to conquer that sugar fear and just do it! Turns out, there’s nothing really scary about it and it’s actually super easy and low maintenance. Although, I will say, that if you ever want a really good arm workout, cut some caramels. That was the hardest part of all this. Cutting this the next morning. I Google’d it and a lot of tips came up with guitar string. I don’t have guitar strings just lying around the house so I just decided to use the sharp warm knife approach. It worked well but man, after cutting about 64 caramels, my arm and hands were sore!
Apple cider caramels literally just scream Fall. I mean, I just picture orange and red leaves, a large apple orchard, and crisp, beautiful weather! They’re so soft and chewy too that you can’t have just one :)
**Note that the boiled cider and apple pie spice that appeared on the blog earlier this week are both used in this recipe!
Apple Cider Caramels
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups (473 ml) heavy cream
- 1 cup (341 g) light corn syrup
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar
- 6 tablespoon (84 g) unsalted butter
- ½ cup (118 ml) boiled cider
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
Instructions
- Lightly grease an 8×8″ baking pan and line with parchment paper with overhangs on opposite sides. Set aside.
- In a large, nonstick pot, combine cream, corn syrup, sugar, butter, and boiled cider. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce to medium-high heat and cook without stirring until the candy thermometer reaches 248 °F (120 °C). It will take about 20-30 minutes depending on your stove and pot.2 cups (473 ml) heavy cream, 1 cup (341 g) light corn syrup, 2 cups (400 g) sugar, 6 tablespoon (84 g) unsalted butter, 1/2 cup (118 ml) boiled cider
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the salt and apple pie spice.1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
- Carefully pour the mixture into the prepared pan and let it stand for 12-18 hours at room temperature before cutting into 1″ squares.
- When cutting the caramels, run a very sharp knife under hot water until it’s warm to the touch then spray both sides with cooking spray and cut caramels in a sawing motion.
- Wrap caramels in wax paper.
Notes
Nutrition
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These are gorgeous!!
I love how you lead up to recipes by posting a few prior to get to that point – great thinking! I’d love to make a few batches of these caramels and give them out to friends!
I love caramels and these are the perfect way to infuse the flavor of fall!
I friggin’ love these! I just made a similar batch this weekend and ate them all… no lie!
I’m loving seeing the little specks of spice in those caramels! Yup, my fall fever is officially on.
I am totally scared of candy making too! I just bought a candy thermometer though, so now I’m committed! Your caramels look perfect, and I’m so glad to hear that it wasn’t that scary!
Good luck to you!! You definitely have to give it a try now to break in your new candy thermometer!
You can’t beat homemade candy!
Is it weird to say that caramels are stunning? they are. I have never made caramels, but now I am inspired!
Yummy! Love the flavour combination! Glad you got to cross that one off your list, and it was easier than you thought. :) (Cept for the sore arm muscles).
Love homemade caramels and I bet these taste fantastic! I use either a wheel pizza cutter or a large pizza cutter that cuts pizza in one slice on my caramels. Makes it super easy!
Brilliant! I always use one to cut french toast, waffles and pancakes up for the kids quickly.