07/14/2023
Keto-friendly (THM-S) Caramels dipped in sugar free chocolate.
Here's the recipe (it's involved but pretty easy if you break it down; please read and let me know if you have any questions!)
Caramels
THM and Keto friendly
Make ahead:
1 recipe of Keto Corn Syrup
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups allulose
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp xanthin gum
Instructions: Add water to a medium saucepan and mix in the sweetener with a whisk. Heat until just boiling and all sweetener is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Whisk in vanilla extract and then slowly add the xanthan gum while continuing to whisk. Use a stick blender if needed. Strain the corn syrup into a jar and use as needed
Recipe from: https://ihackeddiabetes.com/keto-corn-syrup/
1 recipe of keto sweetened condensed milk
I used a recipe from Trim Healthy Indulgence book by Esther Allison. You can find it in the Lemon Cheesecake recipe. You want to end up with a little more than 1 cup of sweetened condensed milk, which is the perfect amount for this caramel recipe. You can make this ahead and use it later or you can make it right before you transition to the caramels and add the not-yet-cooled sweetened condensed milk to your pan for caramels.
If you don’t have THI, you can find recipes for Keto Sweetened Condensed milk online. I have used the following recipes at different times with great success. Just make sure you end up with about 1 cup or the equivalent of 1 can:
https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/sugar-free-condensed-milk/
https://www.wholesomeyum.com/sugar-free-condensed-milk/
https://thebigmansworld.com/sugar-free-condensed-milk/
Pro tips - When making sweetened condensed milk, use a large skillet instead of a pot. You will get to your end product faster this way. Also, you can use any on plan granulated sweetener. For most baking and candy making recipes, I prefer to use a combination of sweeteners. I use at least 1/3 of the called for granulated sweetener as allulose and the rest as an erythritol based sweetener. I often use Gentle Sweet in the appropriate amouont, but you can use a Monk fruit sweetener like Lakanto, or Swerve too. I have never used the reformulated Swerve that now includes allulose in it, so if I did, I would probably not use any allulose or would reduce it even further
For Caramels
1 recipe Keto Corn Syrup (See above)
1 recipe sweetened condensed milk equal to a little more than 1 cup (1 commercial can is 14oz; see recipes above)
1 cup Swerve Brown (or other “brown sugar” sweetener substitute
1 cup granulated sweetener (Swerve, Lakanto, or the correct ratio of Gentle sweet)
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp salt
Butter a 9-inch square baking pan; set aside. In a heavy bottomed 4-quart saucepan, combine corn syrup, milk, sugars, butter and salt. (Note: I also like to add homemade vanilla paste to the candy). Place over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture comes to a boil.
Clip on candy thermometer. Stirring constantly to prevent scorching, cook to firm-ball stage (approx 244F, but you may need to adjust for altitude. See Notes below). Regulate the heat as needed (it does not need to stay on medium, but you don’t want to go above medium). Pour into prepared pan (see tips below). Cool completely at room temperature until firm. Cut into 1-inch squares. Wrap in waxed paper or dip in tempered chocolate. Makes 81 pieces.
Variation: add 1 cup chopped nuts (roasted cashews are delightful!) before pouring into cooling pan.
Recipe adapted from 30-minute Caramels page 62 of Candymaking by Ruth A Kendrick and Pauline A Atkinson
NOTE:
- Water boils at 212 degrees at sea level. If your altitude is different, you may need to adjust your candy thermometer temperature. You can easily test by boiling water and checking the temperature when it it boiling. At my altitude, water boils at 204F, which means I generally need to subtract about 8 degrees from whatever temperature it says. If I am aiming for 244F, then I would want to remove the candy from the heat at 236F. This will prevent overcooking your candy.
- Cold Water Test: Since we are working with alternative sweeteners and they don’t always behave exactly the same way as sugar does, I used a second method to test the temperature and make sure that the caramels were at the right consistency. Fill a small mug or bowl with ice water. When testing candy, remove the pan from the heat and drop a small amount into the cold ice water. If the candy forms soft ball in the water but flattens when removed, it is at the soft ball stage (approx 234-240F). If the candy forms a firm ball which does not flatten when removed from the water, it is at the firm ball stage (approx 242-248F). If the candy forms a hard ball but is still pliable when removed from the water, it is at Hard ball stage (approx 250-268).
- My experience: when I had made these as off plan candies previously, I removed them from the heat at 232-234 and they were the perfect caramel consistency (a little soft for dipping but I froze them before my class and they were perfect to dip and perfectly chewy. Using on plan sweeteners changes things a bit. I had to do my cold water test several times and even then - the consistency wasn’t quite the “firm ball” stage I expected - more soft. But after cooling completely, they were definitely in the firm or hard ball stage - a nice consistency for caramels. So, do both tests, but you should be able to trust your candy thermometer. I cooked the batch I made to 244, which would have put it in the hard ball stage by temperature (with altitude adjustment), and that’s the final consistency. Mine took 3 days to fully cool, and even then the interior was softer than I expected.
TIPS:
- When pouring candy out of the pan, do not scrape the excess caramel left in the cooling pan into your cooling pan. Instead, scrape it onto a butter plate or dish and eat it separately. It won’t cause your candy to crystallize but it will cause harder spots in your candy since that part of the caramel was cooked longer (to a higher temp/harder candy stage). So scrape it out and enjoy it separately.
