EASIEST SALTED CARAMELS

I know, I know, like you haven't already spent the past few days endulging in far too much already. But seriously. I don't believe there is a recipe for caramels that's easier than this one. As Graeme put it, "more effort goes into a grilled cheese sandwich." And I'm not gonna lie, I've gone through my fair share of failed caramel attempts. I've ruined both pans and spatulas, and more often than not I've ended up with caramel so hard you could probably use it to cut glass. Or at least to break teeth. I’d pretty much decided that making caramels just wasn’t for me. But then by chance, as I was looking for a completely different recipe, I came across a recipe that recommended using caramels in the microwave. In the microwave?

I was pretty sceptical at first, but as the recipe looked so simple and wasn’t exactly going to take a big chunk out of my day, so I decided to try it out. And boy, am I glad I did. In less than 15 minutes, I was standing there with a tray of perfect caramels. On my first try.

Caramels recipe (yields about a dozen caramels):

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
100 ml double cream
100 ml sugar
flaky sea salt

Directions:

Throw everything in a microwave-safe bowl. I recommend using one that's not too shallow, as the mix is going to end up boiling and bubbling a lot. Put everything in the microwave on a high heat for 8 minutes. Take it out every 2 minutes and stir. After the 8 minutes, pour it into an ice cube tray and sprinkle with the sea salt. Allow them to cool. Once they're cool, carefully poke them out with a kitchen knife and wrap them up individually in some greaseproof paper. Then try not to eat them all straight away.

NOTE: If a dozen caramels aren't enough, make sure to make your caramels in batches. If you double the recipe and try to make it as the instructions above, they will not set and you'll end up with a caramel sauce. Unless that's what you're after.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!