Dark Salty Caramels

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These caramels are NOT for everyone. They are not to be confused with regular caramels--they are supposed to taste kind of burnt, that's the whole idea. They are the most aggressive candies I've ever tasted. I used to like store-bought caramels, but not any more-not after eating these. I've made them maybe 4 times, and the only problem I've had is that I can't make them harden. I have to refrigerate or freeze them before cutting, and I store them in the freezer. I wish I knew what I'm doing wrong, but they're so delicious I just keep on making them!

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I've made caramels before and they turned out good, but these were too burnt. I followed the other's suggestions to not turn it up to med high (I turned it to medium, then reduced to medium low but 350 degrees is too hot for caramel. The texture was nice and smooth, but it was just too burnt. Next time I try this recipe I'll let it cool when it gets to 300 degrees. They're still edible although I'm pretty disappointed.

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Ok maybe somebody can help me out. I followed this recipe to the T and it just didn't come out right. The caramel just ran all over the place after like 4 hours of cooling when i tried cutting and wrapping them. help! where did i go wrong? has anyone else had this problem?

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These caramels are amazing! The first one was strange, but I have not been able to stop popping them in my mouth since.

I wrapped the caramels in wax paper instead of parchment paper. So far it's worked great. :

There seems to be some confusion in the reviews. These are NOT normal caramels. If you watch the whole episode, the point of the recipe is to display how salt heightens the taste of sugar and actually blocks the tongue's ability to perceive bitterness (i.e., burned taste. So, you're supposed to push the sugar to it's smoking point.

So, follow the recipe. As much as I love AB, I think the video has a 'typo'. That's why they altered the written recipe (obviously, they can't change the episode. There's no way you can get sugar to go from 300 to 350 degrees without outside heat. So DON'T follow the video and shut the heat off before the caramel reaches 350 degrees. If you do, you'll miss out on the great subtleties of the bitterness and just have normal caramels.

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The first time I made this it burned, but I'm sure it was user error. My pot isn't terribly heavy, my gas burners run a little hot, and my very cheap candy thermometer was far past its useful lifetime. The second time, I used a heat diffuser under my pot and a new heavy-duty candy thermometer. Not sure which made the difference, probably both, but the caramels turned out fantastic! I'd only heated sugar for marshmallows a few times before this, so I was delighted to have success with so little experience. Well worth the effort!

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@The Daring Domestic:
Alton said he likes to use a pizza cutter sprayed with a bit of cooking spray. I hope this helps. I just made some today and it looks wonderful!

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I just finished making this yummy carmel, but I was wondering how to cut it into pieces? The video stopped right before that last part. This might be a dumb question, but I had to ask!

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Hey! For everyone saying it was burnt! My mom and I made the recipe once, and it burnt as well. Luckily we had saved the episode on our pvr. So we decided to watch it, and see what it said! While he was making the recipe he said cook it at Med High heat! Not High like the recipe calls for, so to bring it to a boil, we put our stove at 7 (it goes up to 10, and when it said to bring it down to medium, he turned his down to 3, so that's what we are currently doing, and it is working out WAY better than the first time! I hope this helps in making delicious salty caramel! Enjoy!

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I just made another batch; this time I used agave syrup. I used 3/4 cup agave instead of sugar and didn't add any water. Kept all else the same. Since there was no sugar to melt, I took the temp straight to 350. The rest of the cooking directions were the same.
mrbortlein

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Good. Only burnt on side of pan slightly. Very rich, a little too buttery. Don't know how it will work out but you might want to cut the fats down somehow?