Honey Salted Caramels

I’m a dessert kind of person – I feel like a meal just isn’t complete without a little bit of sweetness to cap it off. I don’t need a big slice of pie or scoop of ice cream after every meal, but I do appreciate a little taste of something sweet after dinner to signify the meal is over. Chocolate is fine but mostly what I want is candy. So I made some. You should too.



Candy making is not very difficult since it’s mostly playing with sugar temperatures to manipulate the granules into a different texture. The problems lies not in its complexity but the fact that sugar burns and it also takes a while to heat up, increasing the chance that you will lose interest and walk away only to return to find sugar burned to the bottom of a pan. But home candy making is not something you should be intimidated about. It does require some special equipment (a candy thermometer) but it’s a relatively easy task once you have that. Plus, the cost of messing up a batch is pretty small – just a few cups of sugar are wasted since it’s generally in the sugar cooking stage that things tend to go wrong. The real key here is: don’t walk away from the stove. Just don’t. It might be boring to stand and watch the sugar darken but if you walk away it will burn. Make a game of it, dance around, practice counting in foreign languages, whatever you have to do; but don’t walk away.



The 1000 pound gorilla in the room when it comes to home candy making is corn syrup. Yes, corn syrup is in most recipes for home candy making. The problem is that while sugar can be melted into a liquid to form a chewy delicious treat, it really wants to stay in granule form. So if the pan is moved too much when you make the candy, the sugar has a tendency to recrystallize, thus ruining all your hard work. Using corn syrup, or any liquid sweetener high in glucose, helps prevent that recrystallization since glucose doesn’t crystalize. But with all the concerns about high fructose corn syrup (which is not the same as home use corn syrup), and the fact that most plain corn syrup is made with GMO corn, it can be a sticky subject. I’m not saying I don’t cook with corn syrup – in some cases it’s really the only option for high glucose liquid sweetener – but when I can find a way to avoid it, I will.



In the case of these caramels, honey plays the role of high-glucose liquid sweetener to prevent your chewy sweets from becoming full of hard sugar crystals. The end result is definitely honey flavored which is a nice added dimension to these sweets. It’s also a great beginner caramel recipe since the honey adds some color to the caramel so you don’t need to cook the sugar as much to get a deep golden color. I’ve been enjoying these for two weeks now and they’re still just as chewy and delicious as the first day.
Worried about cleaning that pan? Don’t be – place all your sugar-coated implements (no judgment; just getting clean) into the caramel pan and put it all in the sink. Boil a kettle of water and pour the just-boiled water into the pan, making sure to get all the little splashes of caramel. Let it sit for a few minutes, then give everything a gentle scrub. Clean pan, delicious candy, no sweat.



Honey Salted Caramels
Adapted from Chez Pim

1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup honey
1 cup heavy cream
½ stick (4 oz) butter, softened to room temperature, cut into half-inch cubes
1 tsp kosher salt plus additional for sprinkling.

Pour cream into a small saucepan and put on very low heat to simmer.*

Place honey and sugar in a pot over medium heat. Cook until caramelized to the color you want in your caramels. Shake or swirl the pot to get sugar crystals to melt but don’t stir – that encourages recrystallization.
When the sugar reaches your desired color, whisk in butter a few pieces at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated, whisk in the cream and add salt.** Attach your candy thermometer to the pan and cook the mixture until it reaches 260F.

Pour the hot caramel onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cool for 8-10 minutes, then sprinkle evenly with salt; I used Maldon sea salt. Let caramels cool completely, 3-6 hours, before cutting. Cut into bite-sized pieces with scissors or a well-greased knife. Wrap individual caramels in parchment or waxed paper.

*Adding cold cream to the caramels will cause the caramel to seize and the cream to curdle.
**When the cream is added the mixture will bubble up a bit. Be prepared.

Chess Pie

I have a tendency to make unusual word associations, often involving food. Certain words remind me of food and then I have this strange imagery inserted into whatever conversation I’m having. For example, the word “extraordinary” always makes me think of “strawberry.” I’ve found that in conversation, “extraordinary” is often said right before the word “achievement” and then I have this image of a strawberry with a gold star while everyone else is talking about meeting fundraising goals in record time or something of that nature. Strange? Perhaps. Worrying? Never.



A few weeks ago I was playing an ultimate frisbee tournament with a team named “Occupy Sesame Street.” And as tradition goes, right before we took the field each game we would form a huddle and cheer and generally our cheer would be “Occupy.” The team played a total of 6 games over two days and somewhere around game 3 I started to hear “Occu-PIE.” Every time we broke from our huddle all I could think was, “Mmm, pie.” At one point I even asked the team if they heard it too – everyone kind of looked at me like I had grown a new head and then we all laughed it off and I didn’t mention it again. But all weekend I kept thinking of pie and how I could get some.



Here’s the problem: I will not buy a slice of pie with mediocre crust. I just can’t do it. So if I want pie I am often forced to make it for myself. I know. My life is just so hard. But I must say, you do an excellent job playing such a small violin.



I lasted approximately three hours after getting home from the tournament, if you don’t include the time I spent sleeping, before I made myself a pie. I woke up, opened the fridge to find some breakfast, saw a half container of leftover buttermilk, and immediately started thinking about chess pie. Chess pie, for the Yankees among you who have never experienced this Southern delight, is a custard pie flavored with lemon or vinegar. It’s pretty typical in the South but not so common above the Mason-Dixon line and I think it’s time to expose that delicious secret. This is a one bowl pie, not including the crust , and it takes about ten minutes to throw the filling together if you spend five of them looking for the ingredients in the fridge. And the result is delicious – silky delicate custard with just enough sweetness countered by the tang of buttermilk and lemon. This pie is also best served the day it’s baked so invite over a few friends and share it around. Or don’t. I won’t tell.



Chess Pie
From the Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

1 recipe flaky piecrust
1 egg white

3 eggs
1 ½ tsp cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 stick (8 tbs) butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp lemon zest
Juice of half a lemon (approximately 1-2 tbs)
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425F for at least 20 minutes so that it is uniformly hot. Roll out pie dough and arrange it in the pie pan. Place a piece of parchment or oiled tinfoil on the unbaked shell and fill with pie beans or pie weights.* Bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the beans or weights and lightly prick the crust with a fork, making sure the tines only go halfway through the dough so the filling won’t leak. Continue baking crust for 5-10 minutes until it pale golden brown. Check it halfway through and prick it again if the dough begins to bubble up. Remove the prebaked crust from the oven and when it has cooled slightly but is still warm, brush it with egg white.** Let crust cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 325F and place an oven rack on the lowest level of the oven. Put a foil lined baking sheet on the rack to preheat with the oven.

In a large bowl, combine egg, cornstarch, and sugar and whisk until well mixed. Beat in buttermilk, alternating with the melted butter, in several parts. Beat in the lemon zest and juice, nutmeg, and salt. Pour the filling into the dough and bake for one hour or until surface is lightly browned and filling is set. The filling will jiggle slightly when moved but will not stick to your finger when lightly pressed. A knife inserted between the crust and filling should come out clean. Serve at room temperature

*I use a half pound of black beans that I keep in a bag clearly marked “pie beans” so that I don’t accidentally try to cook them.
** Egg white will create a shield so that the wet filling won’t make the bottom crust soggy.

How To - Flaky Piecrust

Ahh, pie crust. Pie dough is one of those things that is pretty good from a package. But well done homemade pie dough can take a pie from “this is good pie” to “this pie is amazing.” I make a pretty mean pie crust. And there’s no reason you shouldn’t too. Don’t know how? Well this is your lucky day.

“This pie crust is so good that it makes anyone who uses store bought pie crust look like someone who doesn’t know how to make pie crust.” – Michael Tyler Frederickson.

Nicely said! Added bonus, when you make this pie dough you know exactly what goes into it. And it doesn’t include Yellow 5 or Red 40 or preservatives. Unless you’re into that thing. In which case this recipe will not help. But for the rest of us, let’s begin.

You’ll need:
1 stick (8 tbs) cold butter
1 cup flour, sift before measuring – this part is really important for consistent results! It minimizes differences in the amount measured due to how tightly the flour is packed.
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbs apple cider vinegar - makes the crust more tender and relaxes the gluten formed while mixing.
Up to 1/3 cup of water, added 2 tbs at a time.

Step 1: Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and add the butter, cut in slices. Mix the flour/salt and butter together using just your fingers. Don’t use your whole hand to do the mixing since your palms are usually pretty warm and you want to keep the butter as cold as possible. Mix until most of the flour has at least some butter on it but there are still some large chunks of butter hanging around. Those big pieces are essential to lovely flaky layers so err on the side of undermixing.



Step 2: Add the vinegar and then add water a few tablespoons at a time until the flour comes together into a dough. It should all stick together but it shouldn’t stick to the bowl or to your hands when you press it.



Step 3: Place the dough on a piece of plastic wrap and flatten it with your hands into a disc about 6 inches across. This can also be a last minute check for stickiness. If the dough sticks to your fingers when you press it out, sprinkle it with a little extra four, then wrap it up. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes. You can even make the dough a few days ahead and leave it in the fridge or freeze it for up to a month before using.



Step 4: Roll it out so that it’s about an inch or two bigger than your pie pan on all sides. This part will be important for sealing the top crust or making a pretty crimped edge. And those lovely big pieces of butter in the dough? Those are going to make some nice flaky pastry!



Step 5: The best way I’ve found to transfer dough is sprinkle extra flour on top, fold it into quarters, then place it so the tip of the triangle is in the center of the pie pan and unfold. Works like a charm.



Bonus step: Crimp the edges by folding that extra inch of dough under so you now have a double layer of dough on the rim of the pie pan with the edge hidden under the dough. If some areas of the dough are longer, rip that piece off and use it to patch a shorter piece. To get that traditional crimp place your index finger and middle finger on the outer edge of the dough about a half inch apart and your thumb on the inner edge of the dough between them. Pinch lightly. Now move your index finger to the indent made by your middle finger and repeat. End result, a beautifully crimped edge.



Use with your favorite pie recipe. Also with your second favorites. Try this one. Wow your friends. Tell them, “It was easy.” Right?