Caramel - it's the thing this season. We've made four batches now with varying degrees of success. All were delicious but some were, well, just a little too soft.
In our research on this troubling topic, we discovered that there is insider candy-speak for hard and soft caramels.
Caramels that are just a little too soft and moist (the ones you have to drag away from the wrapper, leaving a long tail behind) are called short by candy makers. Caramels on the harder side (they give you a headache to chew) are long.
Well, now that we've had long, short, and just-right caramels we can say they're all delicious to us!
I like them as soft as possible without them sticking to the wrapper. Luckily, that's how mine turned out this year, because I wasn't going to make a second batch.
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I know this is a late comment, but if you are using a mercury candy thermometer, this could be your problem.
They can vary up to 5 degrees in temperature in any direction, meaning by the time you see it's at the right temperature, turn the heat off, and pour into your pan... you could be up to 10 degrees off.
Chilling your pan before they are poured helps tremendously, as does using a butter caramel recipe instead of cream!
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