581678 Sat Dec 20 13:19:05 -0800 2008 20 31 Home Cooking 0 4262297 I am trying to make caramel for turtle brownies using the Cook's Illustrated recipe, and my caramel is gritty. Can I rescue it? If I try another batch how can I prevent this from happening again? The recipe includes corn syrup and I do not have a candy thermometer. Thanks! Sat Dec 20 13:19:05 -0800 2008 23966 Alicia 1 4262319 I just made some turtle brownies from a recipe a friend gave. I will share it; it is a quick cheater's version but quite good. Could you share your recipe? Preheat to 350, grease 9 by 13 pan. Press 1/2 of the mix (1 pkg choc cake mix, 1/2 c butter, 1/4 c milk) into pan. Bake 7-8 mins or until crust begins to form. Sprinkle on 6 oz ssweet choc chips, 1/2 c pecans, and drizzle 1 jar best quality caramel ice cream topping. Spoon on top other half of batter. Sprinkle 1/2 c pecans, bake another 109-20 mins. Caramel will be soft. Not like homemade but they are gone very quickly. I have tried caramel unsuccessfully without a candy thermometer. Run out and get one. Sat Dec 20 13:31:10 -0800 2008 4262297 79652 itryalot 1 4262412 How long did you cook it? Caramel takes a good ten to fifteen minutes after it reaches a rolling boil. It will start to change color when you are getting close. Caramel is a firm ball, which you can test by dropping a small amount into cold water, then squeezing with your fingers to test the consistency. I just made salt caramels today, from this recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/recipe-review/diy-salt-caramels-ungift-guide-2008-071818 Sat Dec 20 14:16:07 -0800 2008 4262297 13283 julietg 1 4262923 I make caramel very often and rarely use a candy thermometer nor do I drop any bits of the candy into water nor do I wipe the side of the pan with water. It's a visual thing, caramel-making and my biggest piece of advice is to never turn your back on the caramel and to err on the side of lower heat and longer cooking time...but your problem is, most likely, that the pan you used wasn't completely clean and, so, the sugar crystallized around little bits of debris. I once used vanilla bean sugar to make caramel and the end result was somewhat gritty. Please don't give up. Sat Dec 20 19:04:12 -0800 2008 4262297 11798 MollyGee 1 4263582 Making caramel can be difficult. What has happen is as MollyGee pointed out it has crystallized. Now this can be a problem, but using a clean pot, brushing down the sides of the pot with cold water while you sugar is going through the different stages will help to prevent crystallization. Brushing down the sides of the pot with cold water will help to prevent the sugar from becoming crystallized. This is very important. Now depending on the sugar, you may need to clean the side of the pot more often. It would appear that you might have stopped the cooking process too soon; you should have kept going until the sugar is golden amber. When the sugar is golden amber, it’s going to reach about 340ºf, and will start to burn at 350ºf. Also, most often once you hit the caramel stage (http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/sugar-stages.html), I suppose you want a golden caramel colour, the crystallized sugar will 90% of the time turn into caramel. What will happen is that a small part of the sugar in the pot will become a golden caramel colour; at this point you want to gently swirl the pot of caramel to help the browning process, do not swirl or mix the caramel using a spoon, swirl the pot. Once the caramel is a golden amber colour, you should stop the cooking process, so dip the pot into a bowl of cold water. This will also help to prevent you from overcooking (burning) the caramel. As a rule you do not want any smoke to come off the caramel, as the caramel begins to burn it will also give a very bitter taste. Also, be patient it takes some time to bring sugar and water to 340ºf. You do not need to add lots of water, just enough to make a paste. But it takes very little time to go from 340ºf to 350ºf, depending on the amount of sugar it can be a few seconds, turn you head and its burnt! Regarding the candy thermometer you don’t really need one to make caramel. You’re bringing the sugar water mixture up to almost the point of burring. So there is no need to worry about what temp the sugar is. You know you’re at the caramel stage as the sugar turns to a golden amber colour. Sun Dec 21 07:58:12 -0800 2008 4262297 193247 Pastryrocks 2 4363576 Do you mean 240 and 250 degrees? Tue Jan 27 16:30:25 -0800 2009 4263582 261058 onlyscratch 3 4366162 No, we are talking about caramel not firm ball stage. Wed Jan 28 11:43:24 -0800 2009 4363576 193247 Pastryrocks 4 4366292 I guess I'm confused. The initial question was in reference to caramel that would top a brownie, wouldn't that be firm ball stage? Also, doesn't cooking caramels to 340 degrees make it hard...more like toffee? If you caramelize sugar for syrup, you would cook to 340-350, but not for caramel topping...right? Soft to firm caramels, I thought, were cooked to 248 to 250 degrees, that's the temp at which I cook my caramels. I'm really not being a smart alec, I'm genuinely confused. Where am I making the disconnect? Wed Jan 28 12:19:26 -0800 2009 4366162 261058 onlyscratch 5 4366620 Once you get above hard crack candy stage, you reach caramel stage. So to make a caramel sauce or caramels, you need to bring the temp up into that range. Weird, right? I make almond toffee, cooking it to 280, where it cracks like a brittle. But my caramel sauce (delicious on ice cream or as a topping on brownies or cakes) cooks until 350. Oh, and always gently swirl in the pot - never stir. Adding any instruments to the hot sugar, or you will increase your risk of crystallizing as the cold (or coldER) hits the hot. Wed Jan 28 13:33:56 -0800 2009 4366292 201585 RosemaryHoney 5 4370955 Onlyscratch firm ball stage is about 100ºf from becoming brown caramel. Caramels are a candy, not liquid caramel. I’m no candy maker, but I have made fudge, nut brittle and also coloured glass from sugar and food coloring for garnish. Also made a ton of spun sugar for Croquembouche, not to mention the caramel so that the choux balls stay on the Croquembouche and the dripping of liquid caramel to make icicles. Without knowing the recipe, I assume that 35% cream and/or butter was added when the sugar reached the brown caramel stage. From brown liquid caramel one could add 35% cream to make caramel sauce or also add some butter and make butterscotch sauce. Caramel is sugar that has been cooked to just over 340ºf. If allowed to cool in a cold water bath just until it could be piped (to prevent burring of the caramel), one could pipe out decorations. Add the liquid brown caramel to the bottom of ramekins allow to cool and become firm; and then pour in custard to make crème caramel. I could go on and on… I hope this helps. Thu Jan 29 16:30:21 -0800 2009 4366292 193247 Pastryrocks 1 4263790 The purpose of corn syrup is to prevent crystallization or grittiness. I have never seen a solution to fix caramel once it has become gritty. You can try to take the crystalized caramel and heat it over low heat to melt the crystals. Are you using a dry caramel or wet (using water) caramel? A wet caramel will give you more control over cooking time but you have to be careful with agitating the sugar mix which can form crystals. I've never had an issue with crystallization when using a dry caramel. Sun Dec 21 09:39:24 -0800 2008 4262297 133802 chocolateman 1 4264175 It seems to me that using a candy thermometer if you are new to caramelizing sugar would be a good idea, both to get a sense of what temperature corresponds to color and to permit the user to feel some semblance of control over the process. Sun Dec 21 12:29:30 -0800 2008 4262297 220415 petitgateau 2 4363578 I agree. Tue Jan 27 16:31:02 -0800 2009 4264175 261058 onlyscratch 3 4363969 I agree three. Any suggestions about which one to buy? Or I suppose that's in the "Tools" section. Tue Jan 27 18:57:42 -0800 2009 4363578 45208 somervilleoldtimer 4 4364482 Becareful of the taylor candy thermometers, I had the lettering rub off after a few uses. Tue Jan 27 22:44:52 -0800 2009 4363969 133802 chocolateman 4 4365305 I make and sell caramels, and have found that the expensive thermometers are no better than the thermometers that by Accurite ($3), at least for me they've been no better. I purchased two of the Sur La Table candy thermometers, and neither were accurate. I also purchased one from Taylor, and found it to be inaccurate as well, and there is the problem with the numbers rubbing off. My Accurite thermometer has not steered me wrong. I've made caramels for years and still use a thermometer...habit & security I guess. Wed Jan 28 08:17:29 -0800 2009 4363969 261058 onlyscratch 1 4364523 I had CRAZY trouble with this this weekend making a version of the almond- clementine cake. I KNEW I should have started a2 bew thread! You guys are great! Anyway, here's what I dug up instead. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/01/how_to_make_the.html Tue Jan 27 23:29:12 -0800 2009 4262297 39504 Shrinkrap 2 4366300 I am familiar with that recipe and found the caramel portion very tricky and after difficulty with it, abandoned it, asked for advice here and began using recipes and suggestions from the caramel experts who joined in to help. The temperatures are very high with that recipe and conflict with all others I've come across so my advice is to ditch CI (blasphemy!) and use one of those offered here. A search on caramel will turn up more help. That being said, I've yet to make a turtle brownie that pleases me. Often the brownie absorbs the caramel which I sandwich in the middle instead of swirling on top (that makes the top sticky and messy to eat and wrap.) Baking a base layer until set hasn't really helped and I'm almost ready to raise the white flag to my fantasy of the perfect turtle brownie. I have learned to make delicious caramel so all attempts were worth it. Wed Jan 28 12:21:46 -0800 2009 4364523 11122 tweetie 1 4366473 As was briefly mentioned below, you should NOT be stirring your caramel with a wooden spoon or anything, but should only be swirling the pot. According to Chef Michael Smith from "Chef at Home", stirring caramel will make it crystallize. Not sure how you can fix it, but if you start a new batch, I would try to just SWIRL, and follow the other suggestions such as brushing down the sides of the pot. Took me a few tries to find out what worked best. Wed Jan 28 13:05:06 -0800 2009 4262297 51490 icey 2 4366705 Also stirring can mix in some unmelted sugar crystals from the side of the pot and presto, crystallization. Wed Jan 28 13:49:26 -0800 2009 4366473 13445 Louise 2 4367145 Sugar should not be agitated in any way while it is being cooked to the caramel stage, stirring, swirling, wiggling, etc can start the crystalization process and you can end up with gritty sugar. For beginners, using a pastry brush and cold water to swab the sides can help prevent this from happening. I use a candy thermometer as well, just as a precaution. Wed Jan 28 15:51:16 -0800 2009 4366473 52629 gardencub