Soft caramels have always been a weakness of mine. There's just something comforting about sinking your teeth into a rich, burnished chunk of transformed sugar. I'm also the girl that can polish off a tin of cashews all myself without coming up for breath, so the two of them colliding may be more of a danger than anything else.
This makes an 8-inch pan of caramels that can be cut into thick squares or rectangles, ensuring that they fit perfectly on your holiday baking tray amongst the other festive goodies. Speaking of salted caramel, you might also want to try these Pumpkin Caramel Sea Salt Blondies or this Salted Caramel Kentucky Butter Cake!
Salted Cashew Caramels
Soft, chewy homemade caramels generously studded with roasted cashews and topped with a smattering of sea salt.
by
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: ~30 minutes
Keywords: dessert soy-free vegetarian cashews cream Christmas candy
Ingredients (3 dozen)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- 1 1/2 cups roasted cashews
- 1-2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
Instructions
Grease an 8" x 8" baking dish, then line it with a overhang of parchment paper each way (to allow for easy removal of the caramels later); set aside.
Stir the sugar, cream, and corn syrup together in a large pot and clip on a candy thermometer. Bring to a boil, then lower heat a bit and allow to boil until the mixture reaches 248° F (firm ball stage) on the thermometer - this will take about 30 minutes, but don't walk away too far since it can go fast and it can bubble over.
As soon as it hits this temperature, dump in the cashews and 1 teaspoon of the salt, then pour into the prepared pan (if your cashews were salted, you can leave the salt out of this step).
Shake the pan a bit to make sure that the caramel is even, then scatter the remaining teaspoon of sea salt over the top of the caramels and allow to cool. To cut the caramels, use a warm, oiled sharp knife.
Store in a cool, dry place for up to one week. Layer the cut caramels between layers of parchment or wax paper for storage or gifting.
-slightly adapted from A Home-Baked Christmas from Delish
Welcome to Day 3 of Christmas Week!
This annual event was started in 2012, and is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic. This year we have over 35 bloggers sharing festive sweet recipes for the event.
Recipes from Day 3 of Christmas Week - please visit all of our talented participants:
- Bacon Butter Toffee from Comfortably Domestic
- Caramel Chocolate Cups with Peppermint Chips from Dixie Chik Cooks
- Chewy Sugar Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
- Chocolate Walnut Cranberry Pie from Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
- Classic Chocolate Crinkles from Daily Appetite
- Cranberry Cherry Spice Cake Trifle from Food Babbles
- Cranberry Gin Fizz from Poet in the Pantry
- Cream Puffs With Cranberry Orange Sauce from Everyday Southwest
- Dark Chocolate Turtle Cups from Try Anything Once Culinary
- Grandma's Scottish Shortbread from Farm Fresh Feasts
- Hazelnut Crescents from Amee's Savory Dish
- Holiday Marshmallow Oreo Santa's Hats from Desserts Required
- Holiday Triple Chocolate Bark from Mother Would Know
- Homemade Maple Candy from Cooking In Stilettos
- Maple Gingerbread Marshmallows from The Tomato Tart
- Mini No Bake Eggnog Cheesecake from From Gate to Plate
- No Bake Peppermint Oreo Cheesecake from Big Bear's Wife
- Nutella Ganache from Cravings of a Lunatic
- Orange Cardamom Slice and Bake Cookies from Savory Experiments
- OREO Snowball Cookies from Flour On My Face
- Peppermint Mocha Fudge from The Redhead Baker
- Petit Pains au Chocolat aux Amandes (Petite Chocolate Almond Croissants) from Pineapple and Coconut
- Pignolata-Italian Honey Balls from Savoring Italy
- Salted Cashew Caramels from All Roads Lead to the Kitchen
