Score!! I think.

This morning I attempted to resurrect the coffee bean brittle.  The jury is still out on that and I'm not holding my breath that the verdict will be positive.  I will, however, find something to do with this stuff because I am NOT wasting a cup and a half of perfectly good coffee beans!

Since that took all of about five minutes, I decided to go forward with the goat's milk caramels.  (Thanks to the hubs for picking up corn syrup last night.)  This time I was a good girl and made sure I had all of my ingredients before doing any measuring, mixing or pouring.  I'm optimistic about this recipe.  I have to wait until tomorrow to cut the caramels, but what I scraped out of the pan is tasting pretty darn good.  I found the evaporated goat milk and goat milk butter at the Neighborhood Co-op in Carbondale. 

Goat's Milk Caramels

Recipe adapted from Charlotte Albright

Yield:  depends on how big you cut your caramels

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup evaporated goat milk

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 cups light corn syrup

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 ounces unsalted goats milk butter, cut into 6 pieces

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Coarse sea salt, optional

Spray the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray and line bottom and sides of the pan with parchment.  Rub with the one tablespoon of butter, paying particular attention to the corners.

 In a small heavy saucepan, combine cream, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk.  

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine corn syrup, sugar, water, and salt.  Over high heat, bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, about 6 to 8 minutes, brushing down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove any sugar crystals.  Stop stirring, insert candy thermometer, reduce heat to medium and let come to a boil.  Cook, without stirring, until temperature reaches 250°F (hard-ball stage).  This may take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, place cream and milk mixture over low heat and stir until warm.  Do not boil.

When the sugar mixture reaches 250°F, stir in the warm cream and the pieces of butter.   Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until thermometer reaches 244° (firm ball stage), 30 to 60 minutes.  Stir in vanilla.  Immediately pour into prepared pan without scraping the pot.  Let the caramel cool for 2 to 3 minutes, then sprinkle the top with coarse sea salt, if desired.  Allow to rest, uncovered, at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours without disturbing.  

Unmold caramel by lifting the parchment paper out of the pan.  Cut into pieces with a very sharp, heavy knife.  If necessary, spray the knife with cooking spray.  Wrap with precut waxed paper squares, twisting ends to seal.  The caramel pieces will stick together if not individually wrapped.

ADDENDUM:
After pouring your caramels into the prepared pan, immediately scrape the remnants from the cooking pan into another dish and fill the pan with hot water.  Otherwise, you'll be spending much more time than necessary trying to get hardened caramel out of the pan.  Like me.  Oh, and what you scrape out is perfectly edible.  It's my consolation while I'm trying to clean the pan.