Chocolate and espresso caramels

I only made caramels one or two times so I am not the expert by any means, but I really enjoy making them. They do not take a lot of time to make and do not need a lot of ingredients. When I was thinking about making them I had this idea about adding the cookie base at the bottom of the caramels, to add some crunch to the chewy texture, similar to the chocolate bars we all know, like Twix or Snickers. To add a finishing touch I dipped my caramels in tempered chocolate for an extra chocolaty hit.

The idea was great but the execution was not as smooth as I thought. The cookie base was to thick and started falling of the caramel which created a big mess when I dipped the caramels in the chocolate. The picture I had in my mind of the perfect chocolate covered caramels shattered and I was left with not so good looking caramels but the flavor was really good and the cookie base that was left on the caramel was delicious and added its own texture. I gave the best looking caramels away as gifts and I was told they were delicious.   

After this I have learned that if you want to avoid this messy experience it may be better to replace the crumbled cookie base with shortcrust pastry or store bought cookies. 

Chocolate and espresso caramels

(Makes about 50 medium sized caramels)

Time:

Preparation: 20min

Cooking: 45min

Cooling: 8 hours or overnight

Tempering and dipping: 40min

For the caramel:

• 225g heavy cream
• 1/2 tea spoon vanilla extract
• 200g white granulated sugar
• 2 table spoons of honey (can substitute for inverted sugar/corn syrup)
• 62ml water
• 45g butter
• a pinch of salt
• 112g chocolate (I used milk chocolate)
• 1 table spoon of instant espresso or espresso powder (I used Nescafe classic powder)

For the cookie base (can substitute for store bought cookies or shortcrust):

• 50g butter
•  35g pecans
• 13 lady finger cookies (can use butter cookies)
• 1 tea spoon brown sugar (I used dark muscovado sugar)
• a pinch of salt

For the chocolate dip:

• 200g dark chocolate 

Making the cookie base:

Roast the pecans in the oven or in the pan until they brown slightly. Melt the butter in a pan and set aside. In a food processor combine lady finger cookies, roasted pecans, brown sugar and salt. Process until you have coarse crumbs. Add the melted butter and process so that the mixture holds together, set aside.  

Making the caramel:

First you will need to butter and line a square baking dish preferable the size of 20cm (8 inches) with the parchment paper, the sides of the paper must stick out, so that you can get the caramel out of the pan when it cools. If you do not have one you can use 23cm (9 inches) baking dish will work but the caramels will be flatter. 

Put the cookie base in the prepared square baking dish and pat in down. I used a potato smasher, it works really well and smashes the crumbs together nice and flat. Put in the fridge to set.

    

Chop the chocolate to small pieces and set aside.

In a medium-sized sauce pan combine the cream, vanilla extract, butter and espresso powder. 

Heat the mixture until it starts to boil, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Allow to sit for 2 minutes. Stir the chocolate until it is completely melted and the mixture is smooth, set aside.

Choose a large pot or saucepan, deep enough so that the caramel doesn't bubble over. Combine the sugar, honey and water and heat over medium heat to melt the sugar. When the sugar has melted increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush away the sides of the pot to remove sugar that is clinging to the pot. It is important that you do not stir at this stage of the cooking process, just gently swirl the pan a few times to ensure an even caramel. 

Continue to cook the sugar until it is dark amber, at this stage the caramel will give off a bit of smoke but do not worry. Bring the sugar mixture to 120°C (248°F). Pour the chocolate mixture slowly in the pot with the sugar while whisking, be careful the mixture will bubble up and it will be extremely hot, so watch out. Bring the mixture back to 120°C (248°F) this can take a while so keep whisking to ensure that the caramel doesn't burn at the bottom.

When the caramel reaches the right temperature, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the salt. Pour the mixture on top of the cookie base in the baking dish, do not scrape the bottom or the sides of the pan in case there are some burned hard bits left in the pan.

Let the caramel cool completely uncovered for 8 hours or preferably overnight.
Cut the caramel in the desired shaped pieces, here you will notice that the cookie crust starts to fall of the caramel but do not worry, some of the crust will stay on.

You can just enjoy them like that or you can cover them in chocolate like I did.

Chocolate dipping:

You will need to temper chocolate for that shiny finish on the caramels.

Chop 150 grams of dark chocolate in medium sized pieces, put in the heat-proof bowl and set aside. Chop the remaining 50 grams of the chocolate in tiny pieces and set aside.Put some water in a pot and heat gently to a simmer. Place the bowl with 150 grams chocolate on top of the pot, the water should not touch the bowl. When the chocolate starts to melt, stir and check the temperature. Keep checking the temperature until it reaches 45-48°C (113-118°F). When the chocolate reaches the right temperature take the bowl of the heat and stir in the remaining chocolate. The temperature should drop. Stir the chocolate gently to cool until it reaches 27°C (81°F). When the chocolate is cool enough place the bowl back on the pot of simmering water and heat back to 30-31°C (88-90°F).

Now the chocolate is at the ideal working temperature, and you must work quickly. 

Take a piece of the caramel and dip it in the chocolate, using a fork take the caramel out and set it on the parchment paper to set. You can use some of the cookie base that fell off to top the caramels like I did. Continue dipping the caramels and leave to set, they should set fairly quickly if the chocolate was tempered properly.   

These caramels are a perfect accompaniment to your favorite cup of coffee.

I know it looks like a complicated recipe but once you try making your own caramels you will see that they are worth your time and effort. Have fun making these caramels and let me know how they turn out.