Caramels, Sea Salt, Creamy Caramels
This is the pan of just-hardening caramels with sea salt on top of it.
Sugar being boiled; Caramels being boiled
Candy Thermometer being used to make caramels.

A lot of people make plans for the holiday like going to the beach.  I always like to take the time to try out something new in the kitchen.  Over the past few days I have made a challah (recipe coming soon) banana chocolate chip muffins (ditto) and caramels.

I took the caramel recipe from thekitchn.com, a site almost certainly born out of the lack of available top-level domain names.    However, I like the conversational tone of the recipe, and the clearly written advice throughout.

The recipe can be found here and is worth checking out.    I had most of the ingredients, but I needed a candy thermometer.  Luckily, there’s a restaurant supply shop nearby, so for less than 10 dollars I walked out with a clip on candy thermometer that has helpful demarcations like “soft ball” and “hard ball.”

I think the recipe might need some tweaking, because the final came out both bland and too hard.  Of course, I blame it all on being a candy-rookie, because I know by Labor Day  I’ll be getting it just right.

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