Um, yeah.

It has been over a year, apparently, since I last posted. I got frustrated with the caramel business idea, stymied by the necessity of a professional commercial kitchen in order to be legal. And then I took a nutrition class in September 2009 that resulted in my discovery that I'm sensitive to gluten and dairy, and addicted to sugar. I cut out all three completely for six months and lost more than forty pounds. I didn't make caramels for a long time.

Recently, I started making them again, just simple maple butter batches, nothing fancy, to give as gifts. I ruined the first batch completely by not cooking the sugar long enough, but since then every batch has been perfect. The remnants of the last batch sits on the marble slab, and I can easily resist it. I know what dairy and sugar do to me. The flavor of fine caramel is still one of my great pleasures, I just savor it in much, much smaller doses.

As for love, I'm still trying. If it were as hard as learning how to make perfect caramels, I might have a chance. But it's much harder.

Experimental Caramels coming soon.

If you want a caramel, send me your address and I will mail you a small bag of them.

Cheers.

Today's Caramel: Vanilla Apple Vietnamese Cinnamon

1 c. washed cane juice
1/2 c. light Billington's
1/4 c. Apple Syrup
3T. Penzey's Double Vanilla (yowza!)
1T. Vietnamese Cinnamon (have you smelled this stuff? It's insane)
some random amount of fresh nutmeg grated into the cream

I added the apple syrup after I started cooking them, on a whim. It's cooking on the stove right now. We will see how they turn out.

OK, OK, I then added SOUR CREAM after I started cooking them because I figured the sugar/cream mixture would be off, so now they are Vanilla Apple Cinnamon SOUR CREAM Caramels.

And again, we'll see how they turn out.

This afternoon I will make a trek to the liquor store and buy Bulleit Bourbon and make bourbon caramels.

Caramels, Intermission: Caramels for Obama

This morning, I am going to attempt Obama Caramels. Ingredients will include coconut milk, palm sugar, a mix of spices (ginger, star anise, coriander, cloves, cinnamon, a bay leaf). Some spices will soak in the boiling cream, some will go straight into the sugar mixture.

The trick will be whether coconut milk mixed with heavy cream will work. It changes the protein to sugar ratio, and I don't really know what that will do.

I thought of this recipe while in the shower. Make of that what you will.

In the meantime, I keep putting Santogold, L.E.S. Artistes, on repeat and dancing around my apartment when I'm not checking the candy thermometer. It works well for this recipe. I think she sounds like Martha Davis, from way back before you were born, kids.