sea salted cookie butter-caramels

Ever have this recipe idea in your head for months on end, you can see the finished product, but you don't know how to get to that finished product?
That would be these magical little gems.
I had it in my head how I wanted them to look and exactly how I wanted them to taste.
Uncertain if cookie butter, added to hot caramel would hold up texture-wise or would it dissolve away?
First batch I burned the caramel and had brittle--Cookie butter brittle which I should post for you since it was quite tasty and I hate to waste food.
You know why I burned it?
I have crappy pans.
Only have one nice, perfect All-Clad, but it's so small for making caramels.
I used the All Clad for the second batch because I was not going to burn it again since I had a dinner date with hubby in less than one hour.  It was going to work!
Thankfully it did.
But the second time around the caramel got stuck to the pan.  I didn't butter the dish enough; I used too cold of a butter to grease it up with and it did not adhere all the way.
So tip(s) of the week?
Use room temperature butter to grease up your dish for the caramels.
AND should the caramels get stuck in the dish, pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes and they should lift right out.

I know a lot of you will click away seeing the title homemade caramels, please don't!
If you invest in a good candy thermometer you can make your own caramels.
Once you make them 2 or 3 times you will be more comfy--trust me.
My first batch of caramels I burned them, and I still do from time to time.
And use a good pan.  I can't stress enough how having a nice thick-bottomed pan really helps distribute the heat evenly and avoiding burn sugar.
With these cookie butter-caramels I made them so that there is a nice texture-like coating on the top of cookie butter. The cookie butter sprinkled with the sea salt is just a heavenly combo.
If you don't want a texture, but just want a taste in the background of the cookie butter then I suggest swirling the cookie butter more into the caramel before it sets up (see photos below).






If you're a cookie butter fan, you must make these.  The texture and taste of the cookie does shine through in these caramels and the sea salt on top adds that extra layer of flavor from the cookie butter.

sea salted cookie butter-caramels

print recipe

5 TB salted butter, plus more for greasing up pan

1/2 cup heavy cream, room temp

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

sea salt

¼ - ½ cup cookie butter

candy thermometer

wooden chop stick (or other similar item)

wax paper for wrapping caramels, optional

Butter an 8 or 9 inch glass or ceramic baking pan.

Clip the candy thermometer to the side of a medium heavy-duty saucepan (a saucepan with a nice thick bottom).

Over medium heat, heat up ¼ cup heavy cream along with the sugar, light brown sugar, butter and corn syrup, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves completely.

Continue to heat the caramel without stirring until the thermometer reaches 240 degrees F.  Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the remaining ¼ cup heavy cream.

Return the pot to the heat and re-heat the caramel until the thermometer reaches 243 degrees F.

Working quickly and having your cookie butter at the ready for adding, pour the caramel into the prepared baking dish.  Add in globs of cookie butter, let it melt a bit, then using a wooden chopstick gentle swirl the cookie butter around making swirls.  Being careful not to push the cookie butter to the bottom of the caramel—we want to keep a nice even bottom of caramel.

Let sit at room temperature for 3-5 hours to set up.

Before slicing, gently add on some sea salt to the top, and ever so gently push sea salt into caramel so it stays.

Using a small spatula, lift out of the baking pan onto a cutting board.  Using a sharp knife, into 1-inch squares.

Wrap each caramel in waxed paper and store at room temperature.