Apple Cider Caramels

Apple Cider Caramels is a candy recipe built around apple cider, heavy cream and granulated sugar. Plan on 60 caramels and about 120 minutes.

• Yield 60 caramels
• Ready in 120 minutes
• Prep 15 minutes
• Cook 105 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 cups apple cider
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 tablespoons salted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse, kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Pour the apple cider in a medium saucepan and simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until reduced to 1/2 to 2/3 cup, about 1 hour.
2. Butter the bottoms and sides (get into the corners, too!) of a 9X9-inch square baking pan. (Alternately, you can line with parchment and butter the parchment – this may make it easier to pull the slab of caramels out of the pan after they have cooled in order to cut and wrap them.) Set aside.
3. Heat the cream in a saucepan or in the microwave until steaming. Keep warm.
4. For the caramels, in a large, heavy-bottomed pot (at least 5- or 6-quarts), stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water, taking care to not splash the mixture up the sides of the pot. Clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat WITHOUT STIRRING or moving the pan. As it begins to boil, fill a cup with water and use a pastry brush to wash down the sides of the pan so there are no granules of sugar sticking to the sides of the pan (you probably won’t need to repeat this after the sides have been well-cleaned). This prevents the caramel mixture from crystallizing in later steps.
6. Cook until the boiling sugar turns a light-to-medium amber color and registers 325 to 345 degrees F on the thermometer, about 15-20 minutes .
7. Slowly and carefully pour the warm cream into the caramel. Add the reduced apple cider, butter and salt. The mixture will bubble high during this step but will go down after a few minutes.
8. Begin stirring the caramel with a heatproof silicone spatula with a flat top (a flat edge does better at preventing the caramel from burning than a rounded edge). Avoiding scraping the edges of the pan, and continue to cook, stirring constantly and slowly, until the mixture reaches 245 to 248 degrees F, about 10-15 minutes (these caramels tend to be softer than a *normal* caramel, likely due to the apple cider, so if you want a firmer caramel, consider adding 2 to 3 degrees to the cooking temperature).
9. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla and cinnamon.
10. Immediately pour the caramel mixture into the prepared pan.
11. Let the caramels cool completely. Lift the caramels from the pan and transfer to a cutting board (I use a large, metal spatula to gently peel the whole slab of caramel out of the pan).
12. Cut into squares using a sharp knife or bench scraper, wrap, and store in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to two weeks.

Let the center settle before you cut it, or the slices will slump.