October 20, 2014

Sea Salt Chocolate Caramels Plus Sweet Cookbook Review


This cookbook is FULL of sweets, sweets and more sweets.

I thought it would become my new favorite cookbook.

But . . . I didn't like this cookbook as much as I had hoped.  It is full of yummy looking desserts, but there is only a handful of recipes that I would actually make.   Each section has one or two recipes that I "flagged" and that is about it.

Some of the recipes have a full-size picture while others have a small picture.

 There is quite the variety of sweets in this book that range from very simple to make (like Classic Lemon Bars) to more intermediate recipes (like Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake).

There is a divine sounding fudge recipe, but it is a long and very detailed recipe that involves cooking the ingredients to a certain temperature and then cooling it to a certain temperature before mixing  and so on and so on . . . not the easiest fudge recipe, but the picture looks amazing. 
I only tried one recipe out of this book for my review.
Have you ever heard of a chocolate caramel?  I hadn't either until I found this recipe.

These chocolate caramels are weird, yet good at the same time.  They kind of taste like a cross between regular caramel and a tootsie roll.   I only added the Sea Salt to half, because I had no idea what to expect, but I liked it.  It didn't make these taste "salty" it just added a hint of a unique flavor.

The original recipe said to use an 8x8-inch pan, but those would have been the thickest caramels and not what I prefer.

This was a fun twist on the traditional caramels that I am used to, but it won't be replacing my go-to caramel recipe

Anyway,  I would suggest borrowing this book from someone or checking it out at the bookstore before actually purchasing it.  Hey, you might love it and it might become your new favorite.

For me, it was just okay. 
Sea Salt Chocolate Caramels
adapted from: Sweet
(Printable Recipe) or (Printable with Picture)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
2 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
Sea salt, for sprinkling

Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.  Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; add the sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder.  Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer registers 248 degrees, about 15 minutes.  Carefully pour the hot caramel mixture into the prepared pan, sprinkle with Sea salt and let cool.  Cut into 1-inch squares.

For High Altitude: Subtract 1 degree from the final temperature for every 500 feet you are above Sea level.  I am at around 4600 feet above Sea level, so I subtracted 9 degrees.  I took my caramel off the heat once it reached 239 degrees, but it still took right around 15 minutes.    

I received this book from Blogging for Books for the purpose of this review, but all opinions express herein are my own.

Linked up at Weekend Potluck!  and Time to Sparkle!

3 comments:

  1. These caramels look so tasty! I like that you made them thinner too. What a bummer about the cookbook though. I recently heard that a cookbook is worth it if you find one recipe that you love and would make forever. I'm in a debate about that though...

    Luci’s Morsels – fashion. food. frivolity.

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  2. I definitely need to try making caramels! These look amazing!

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  3. These look fantastic. I love the sea salt sometimes but back to basics is always on point. Glad you split the batch and tried it both ways.

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