If you’ve never had freshly made caramels before, they taste so much better than the ones you can buy at the store. These are chewy and sweet, with a touch of sea salt for balance.

Sea Salt Caramel - Squares on Cutting board with Knife

Many think that sea salt with caramel is just a stupid trend.

Like macarons.

Or cupcakes.

But let me tell you, when I put these in the fridge without the salt, my husband would not eat them.

I raved about them and ate one after the other, but he wasn’t having any of it. The response I always got was: eh…they’re okay.

After I finished making them and sprinkled the sea salt on top, we had to FIGHT over them (note to self, in the future do not put salt on the caramels so I can hog them all to myself).

Sea salt makes such a difference in balancing out the sweetness and also bringing out the caramel and vanilla flavors, so definitely give it a try.  It doesn’t have to be salt caramels, just give it a little sprinkle of a flaky sea salt or fleur de sel and it will do wonders.

Here’s how to make these:

Combine sugar, water, and corn syrup in a saucepan and cook until amber colored. Add the cream and butter.

Sea Salt Caramel Recipe Shown in Stainless Steel Saucepan with Blue Spatula

Cook the caramel to the soft ball stage and pour the caramel into a parchment lined dish so the caramel can harden up. Refrigerate and cut into squares.  Enjoy!

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Squares of Sea Salt Caramels on Wooden Board

Sea Salt Caramels

If you've never had freshly made caramels before, they taste so much better than the ones you can buy at the store. These are chewy and sweet, with a touch of sea salt for balance.
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Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 5 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions 

  • Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper smeared with a little oil (doesn’t matter what kind).
  • Place the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a saucepan and cook over medium high heat until amber colored (approximately 10 minutes).  Don’t ever stir the caramel (you risk crystallizing the caramel), just swirl it gently in the pan if you need to move it around a bit.
  • In the meantime, heat the cream, butter, and salt together until melted, either in a saucepan or in the microwave.
  • Remove the saucepan from the heat, and slowly and carefully pour in the cream mixture, being aware that the mixture will bubble up a lot (wear oven mitts if you’re concerned).
  • Return the pan to medium heat and cook for about 10 more minutes until it reaches 248 on a thermometer (the soft ball stage), adding the vanilla extract right before it reaches 248.  Pour into the parchment lined dish and refrigerate for a few hours until hard enough to cut into squares.  Enjoy!

Notes

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten’s Fleur De Sel Caramels.

Nutrition

Calories: 76kcal, Carbohydrates: 10g, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 13mg, Sodium: 21mg, Sugar: 10g

Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.