Ingredients

The following ingredients have 4 Servings
  • ¾ cup plus 1 tbsp. heavy cream, (room temperature)
  • 4 oz piece of ginger, (peeled and sliced into thin rounds)
  • 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, (divided 2 tbsp./2 tbsp.)
  • generous 1/2 tsp. flaky sea salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 1 tbsp. crystallized ginger (optional)

Instruction

  • In a medium saucepan, heat the heavy cream until it just comes to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the chopped ginger and stir.
  • Cover with a lid and allow to infuse for 30 minutes.
  • While the ginger is infusing in the cream, line a 9-inch loaf pan with parchment paper or foil.
  • After a half-hour has passed, strain the cream mixture through a cheesecloth and return infused cream to the cooled saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons butter and the sea salt, then return pan to the stove and keep warm on a low heat while you prepare the caramel.
  • Place a candy thermometer in a large heavy duty saucepan.
  • Add the corn syrup and sugar and heat, stirring gently, until all the sugar granules have dissolved. After you’ve reached a uniform, clear syrup, continue cooking it until it reaches 310 degrees F, stirring/swirling the pan ONLY as necessary (as infrequently and gently as possible) if the mixture begins to color unevenly.
  • When the sugar mixture has reached 310°F, remove from the heat and stir in the warm, ginger-infused cream mixture.
  • Be careful, as it will bubble up vigorously.
  • Stir until smooth (at least one minute) and then return the mixture to the heat, and cook to 248°F (firm ball). (Once when making these the temperature did not go below 250°F when I incorporated the ginger cream. I never returned it to the heat and simply stirred in the butter as instructed in the next step.)
  • Turn off the heat, remove the thermometer, and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
  • Once incorporated, pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Cool on a wire rack.
  • Once caramels are cooled you can cut into desired shape. Wrapping in individual wrappers is recommended so that they do not stick together.
  • If you want to embellish caramels with crystallized ginger, cut into very small, very fine pieces and sprinkle 5-7 across top of caramel. Make sure they are spread out evenly over the top; if they clump together it can be overpowering.
  • Once wrapped and stored in a air-tight container the caramels should last 1-2 months.