For the Love of Caramel

I was hoping we would never speak of caramel again.  I guess our last foray into caramel was the Caramel Coconut Cluster bars....and my caramel turned out okay.  But caramel....it scares me.

Do not go stirring gently into that good caramel.
Caramel should bubble and sputter at close of day.
Rage, rage against the making of the caramel.
(see Dylan Thomas wasn't keen on caramel either)  I think he might just haunt me tonight along with the caramel for that tomfoolery.  But perhaps using the word tomfoolery will appease his ghost.

Okay, okay I'll just make sure I have all the ingredients.  It would be awful to not have everything and then not be able to make these caramels. (fingers crossed)

Darn it Yay, I have all the ingredients required to start this recipe right now!  Isn't that great.....just great......so freakin' happy......





Well it looks like I'm about ready to begin then.  All ingredients are at hand and waiting for their time in a hot pot on the stove.  (not being stirred of course....we all know how caramel is about that)







Caramel is a simple thing to make.  Few ingredients with few instructions.  Yet it is one of the most daunting things for me to make.  I think it is because there are no specific times associated with caramel.  It is all about the temperature.  (though I also believe Karma comes into play as well)

This time I found the process of caramel making to be less daunting.  (shhh, don't tell the caramel I said that...it'll get angry)










 But it's true.  At least this time I knew that it would take a while to get the caramel back up to temperature.  So I didn`t stress when it wasn`t happening right away and I knew that I`d probably need to turn the temperature up a bit on the stove.

This is the caramel NOT being stirred.  I didn't stir it at all!!  Go me!

And this is caramel having a hard time getting it up...
temperature wise.  Yeah I went there caramel!










But it did get up to temperature....after a while....a long while.  I`m not even sure how long it took.  I just walked away from it and did other things.  Yep, that`s how cool I am now about caramel.  Gone are the days of staring at the pot, worrying, more staring, and yes even swearing.


                                      
And here is the caramel before it goes into the fridge to cool overnight.  Sleep tight my friend...for tomorrow you go under the knife.





I was a little concerned about getting the block of caramel out of the pan, but it did finally release.  And the cutting of it really wasn't that hard to do. (yes, I was a little surprised)
I found some lovely foil wrappers and also used wax paper for some of the caramels.  The photos coming up are all courtesy of my hubbie.  (he's so much better at taking pictures than me...thank goodness I've kept him around)  And he didn't just take the pictures, he also set up the displays!  Love it!

Can I just say, I loved these caramels.  Absolutely loved them.  (I don't hold up my boombox to just anyone or anything)










 Let me just be clear....I did NOT want to make these.  I really didn't.  (still have caramel issues)  But I'm so glad I forged on and made them.  These would be lovely to make for gifts.  The foils I used are super cute. 

Oh dear, I think I have just been suckered into loving caramel.  And you know what that means?  Yep, I'll not be so hesitant to make them again....and we all know what that means....yep, it will end in failure and there may be tears and definitely swearing.  But I think that's okay because like me caramel can be moody.  And hey, people still love me. (love/tolerate...it all means the same, right?)