Salted caramel recipe

Hello 2016, you pretty little thing. 

I officially disappeared over the holidays and I'm not sorry one bit. I feel like a new woman ready to take on the new year! 

{My beautiful little sisters on Christmas day}

I've had a wonderful Christmas and new year, spent lots of time with the family and got around to transforming my garage into a sort of studio space {'studio' being a very fluid concept.} 

Rather than giving something up for new year, I've decided on things that I would like to achieve. I sat down in front of the fire, 'Up' on the TV {sob} and wrote a list for motivation- bloody love a list.

Anyway! Back to salted caramels... I was given a book on how to make 'old fashioned' type sweets so thought I would pick a recipe to make for Christmas presents. I don't think I've ever met someone who would turn away a salted caramel, so I thought they were a good option. They took about 35 minutes plus overnight cooling.

You will need:

• Oven tin: 20cm L, 15cm W.
• Greaseproof paper
• Thermometer- I got mine for £6 from Amazon, mine is marketed for meat but does the same thing. 
• Jars and cellophane 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 380ml double cream
• 400g granulated sugar
• 240ml golden syrup
• 55g unsalted butter
• 15g sea salt flakes 

How to make:

Line the baking tray with greaseproof paper. 

Pop the golden syrup, butter, sugar, vanilla and half the salt in a LARGE pan. The reason for the emphasis is I used a pan which was too small and it bubbled over everywhere. Use the biggest pan you can find! 

Keep on a steady heat and wait until the ingredients have all melted. Add the cream in small amounts, stirring as you add. 

Increase the heat to medium-high and allow the mixture to boil without stirring. As the caramel cooks, use a pastry brush dipped in a little water to wash down the insides of the pan to stop crystals from forming- they give the caramel a weird texture. 

Keep testing the caramel until it reaches 121c. Once it is hot enough, remove from the heat and pour into the tin. Pop any air bubbles with a toothpick or sharp knife. 

Once almost cooled, sprinkle over the remainder of the salt. Leave in a cool dry place overnight. The next day, cut the caramel into small squares and wrap in pieces of non-stick baking paper or cellophane.  

H xx