There was a bag of these delicious caramels in my stocking last Christmas. I unwrapped one right away, obviously, and took a bite: butter, honey, salt. Heaven. And I knew that Beth had made them. You know Beth, of The Perfect Granola?
I had to have the recipe.
Funny thing, it turned out to be mine, from these caramel apples. Flattered, yes, but there's this one thing. She made them with the honey from her own bee hive.
Uncle.
I thought these would be the perfect treat to send to my April Leftovers Club partner, Shashi of Runnin' SriLankan. In return she sent me the most wonderful Breakfast Biscotti. Imagine something really nutritious: oats, flax seed, coconut - and then douse it in white and dark chocolate. Yum.
When you make these caramels, and you should, you'll need just four things on your grocery list: honey, heavy whipping cream, salt, and vanilla. You'll also need a little bit of patience. Every time I make caramel, or any confection, I end up tapping my candy thermometer and thinking, "Is this thing broken?" Every. Time. But, be patient, 255 degrees will come, in 20 minutes or so. And it will be well worth the wait.
Salted Honey Caramels
Ingredients
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- kosher salt or other flaky salt (like Maldon) to finish
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch x 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, allowing parchment to line sides as well as the bottom. On one side, fold the parchment in so that the width is 5", otherwise the caramels will be too thin.
- Cut out 40 parchment wrappers, about 3 ½ inches wide and 2 inches long.
- In a narrow, heavy saucepan heat the heavy cream and salt to a simmer – don’t allow the cream to boil. Stir in honey. Heat to boiling and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, for 20-25 minutes, until the mixture reaches 250-260F degrees. (Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature)
- When the caramel reaches 250-260F degrees, remove from heat, add vanilla and stir.
- Carefully pour caramel over parchment in pan, taking care to keep the width to about 5 inches.
- When the caramel is nearly cool, sprinkle with kosher or other flaky salt.
- Allow caramel to cool completely and then transfer, with parchment, on to a cutting board.
- With a lightly oiled, sharp knife cut caramel lengthwise into 10, ½-inch strips. Then cut crosswise into 4, 2-inch strips.
- Place one caramel on the edge of a parchment wrapper and roll up. Twist ends to seal. Repeat with remaining caramels.
Hi! I am so excited to find a caramel recipe without corn syrup! Would this recipe work to make turtles? Do you think i could just spoon the caramel over the pecans and let it set up that way? Thank you!
That is such a great question, Camille! I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why not. I’d love to hear how it goes!
Marissa, it worked beautifully! The caramel recipe is delicious and the turtles turned out great. I just let it cool slightly in the pot before spooning it over the pecans. Thank you for a great recipe!!
That’s wonderful, Camille! It’s so sweet of you to come back and let me know.
Hands down yummiest caramels ever! Love the few and wholesome ingredients. Bonus is if you accidentally burn a batch a little, they are still amazing with a bit of burnt sugar flavour. Thanks for the amazing recipe!!
I'm so glad you enjoyed these, Lisa! I may have to intentionally burn mine a little next time. 😉
Do you think I could sub coconut cream for heavy cream (I need dairy free)?
That's such a great question, Sarah, but I honestly don't know. My best guess is that it would work fine because of coconuts high fat content, but without testing it, I can't say for sure. If you decide to try it, will you let me know how it goes?
I'd like to add these to my holiday candy list. Do they ship well, and how long do they keep?
Hi D'Ann! The wrapped caramels ship well and will keep for about four weeks stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Happy Holidays!
I have made these a couple times and they are really liquidy still at room temperature (I am an experienced at home cook). I found that the soft ball stagebwhen using honey just doesn't cut it.
These candies really need to be heated to the hard ball stage so they dont turn into goo if they aren't in the fridge. They hold their shape better this way and are much easier to wrap while still being chewy and yummy.
We made these last night. Our only other candy making experience was making honey pecan brittle a week ago. I can tell you these turned out amazing! (Much better than the brittle!) The only problem was that the salt disappeared overnight. I sprinkled a little more salt on them before cutting and wrapping. We have plenty of honey and we’ll definitely be making these again! I can’t wait to share these with friends and family!
The recipe says “250-260”. We took ours to 260 and they turned out great! This was only our 2nd candy making experience but I did a lot of reading before diving in. (Our first was honey pecan brittle that tasted good but honestly didn’t look very good) I agree 250 would have been too soft. That 10 degree range can make a huge difference in texture.
They are really delicious, but how do you get these off the parchment without totally destroying them?
Hi Stephanie - I'm glad you like the flavor! I haven't had an issue with removing the parchment paper. I'm wondering if the caramel didn't get quite hot enough? Do you remember what it reached on the candy thermometer?
They look amazing- I hevan't tried to make candies yet....impressive!
Thanks Elizabeth!
These are awesome! I totally suck at making candy. The candy thermometer and I are not really friends. And fresh honey?!!!! Geezzzzzzz. Totally amazing.
Understandable. 😉 Thanks Heather!
I don't know if I'd have the patience needed to make these, but it sure sounds delicious! Homemade anything is always the best
It does seem forever for that thermometer to reach 260!
These caramels sound amazing! I don't think I've ever had any made solely with honey instead of sugar. Super interesting!
This was my first attempt - I really love the honey flavor in the caramel.
Love these! Shashi is very lucky to have received these, I wouldn't have been able to share 🙂
Thanks, Ashley!
also not sure but I accidentally rated these....these deserve all five stars!!!! fabulous
😉
I don't think I could have sent these -- I would have hoarded them all for myself!!! 🙂 These look fabulous!!
Ha! I love it...
Looks divine!
Thank you, Lacey!
YUM.
Thanks Marie!