Welcome to the twelfth and final installment of The Sweet Side of Finance for 2021! If you've signed up for my newsletter, you already know about today's tasty treat.
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If you missed my other recipes, they can be found here:
January: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
February: Sugar Cookies with Meyer Lemon Glaze
March: Veggie Frittatas
April : Bean Salad
June: Hot Fudge Sauce
September: Healthy Blueberry Banana Pancakes
October: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
November: Walnut Wafers with Dulce de Leche Icing
If you give my recipes a try, I'd love to see pictures and hear about what you thought of them!
This month, we've been talking about budgeting for the holidays. I've written about it on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and my blog.
Since we're talking about holiday budgets, I thought I'd share one of my go-to recipes that makes a great homemade gift and spares your budget!
Sea Salt Caramels
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons honey
½ vanilla bean
½ teaspoon sea salt
Directions:
Generously butter an 8 by 8 inch pan and set aside
Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise and use the back of the knife to scrape out the seeds
Stir the vanilla bean and seeds with all other ingredients except for salt in a medium size copper bottom pot
Place pot over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved
Once the sugar has dissolved, place a lid on the pot for about 5 minutes. This will allow the condensation to wash down the sides of the pot to dissolve any sugar crystals to stop the entire mixture from crystalizing
Bring the mixture to a boil and place a candy thermometer in the pot making sure it doesn’t touch the bottom
Boil the mixture stirring occasionally until the thermometer says the mixture has reached 250 degrees Fahrenheit (hard ball stage)
Remove the vanilla bean from the boiled mixture
Pour the mixture into your prepared pan
Sprinkle the sea salt evenly over the caramels
Allow to cool to room temperature
Cut into ½ inch by 1 inch pieces and wrap individually in waxed paper
Enjoy!
I love these caramels and make them every year for the holidays. I really like the salt sprinkled on the top and think it brings out the caramelly flavor.
Remember to use sea salt for the top rather than just regular iodized salt. The sea salt adds a different flavor and has larger granules so they don’t just dissolve when sprinkled on the caramels.
See you next year,
Ella
