Caramel

“ Caramelize 1/2 cupful of the sugar, add the water, and cook until the caramel has dissolved. Mix the remainder of the sugar with the flour and moisten with the milk. Add this to the caramel and cook until the flour thickens completely, stirring constantly to prevent the formation of lumps. Add the butter and vanilla. Cool and fill into the éclairs. Cover the tops with a plain caramel icing. ”

“ Take one cupful of light brown sugar, one cupful of golden corn syrup, one-half cupful of milk, one-half cupful of strong boiled coffee and one tablespoonful of butter. Boil to the hard ball [53] stage. Remove from the fire, stir in one teaspoonful of vanilla, then pour into buttered pans, and mark off into squares. When cool cut into squares, and wrap each caramel in waxed paper. ”

“ Into the rest of the caramel turn a half cupful of hot water, and let it stand on the side of the range until the caramel is dissolved. This is for the sauce.
Stir four yolks and two whole eggs, with three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and one half saltspoonful of salt, to a cream, but do not let it froth; add a pint of scalded milk and a half teaspoonful of vanilla. Strain this into the mold onto the cold hardened caramel. Place the mold in a pan of hot water, and bake in a very moderate oven until firm in the center; test by running in a knife (see baked custard) , and watch it carefully. ”

“ Old “brown brandies,” which are nowadays not in great demand, require more caramel and sugar than do the pale varieties. The preparation of the “liqueur,” as the mixed caramel and sugar syrup is termed, is an operation requiring much experience, and the methods employed are kept strictly secret. Fine “liqueur” is prepared with high-class brandy, and is stored a number of years prior to use. ”

“ Am not sure the American language hasn't a certain piquancy. “Candies?” it sounds pretty, I think. Could not avoid noticing how nice she looked with a caramel in her mouth,—the provoking movement of the lips, don't you know. (By Jove, I have just written it! And she has been chaffing me about that British “don't you know” like anything!) Suppose there is nothing intrinsically beautiful in sucking a caramel, but some women are adorable whatever they do. ”

“ Add the whites of three eggs (unbeaten) . Put in a freezer and freeze as ice cream, stirring continually.
CARAMEL ICE CREAM. From MRS. LILY ROSECRANS TOOLE, of Montana, Lady Manager.
Take one pint of brown sugar and burn it; then add water, making a dark brown fluid. This ought to make enough to flavor three pints of cream. Have the cream very rich, more so than for ordinary ice cream. Then color the cream with the caramel until it is a good shade of brown—darker than coffee color. ”

“ Caramels.—Heat 10 pounds sugar and 8 pounds glucose in a copper kettle until dissolved. Add cream to the mixture, at intervals, until 2 1/2 quarts are used. Add 2 1/4 pounds caramel butter and 12 ounces paraffine wax to the mixture. Cook to a rather stiff ball, add nuts, pour out between iron bars and, when cool enough, cut into strips. For the white ones flavor with vanilla, and add 2 pounds melted chocolate liquor for the chocolate caramel when nearly cooked. ”

“ He turned white, and told me—very indistinctly—that it was a chocolate caramel.
It takes a complete boy to eat a chocolate caramel just five minutes before he will—in all human probability—be eating a boiled egg. ”

“ Foreign resins nearly always produce a coloration.
CARAMEL
Shake the bottle of vanilla, and if the bubbles, which form, are a bright caramel color, keeping the color till all are gone, the presence of caramel is indicated.
Concentrate a portion of the filtrate, which was saved in making the test for foreign resins, at a rather low temperature until it has about the same color as the original extract. Add a few drops of strong hydrochloric acid and heat very gently. If caramel is present, a yellowish-red flocculent precipitate will form. After the liquid cools, filter and wash with water. ”

“ This cream and the two that follow are flecked with brown, for which reason it may be colored brown with caramel, although I prefer it uncolored, the specks being no more objectionable than the vanilla seeds one rejoices to see in ice-cream. ”

“ Do not try every one unless the cups are of different sizes, and make a small, narrow slit, so that their appearance will not be too much injured. This mixture may also be baked in a pudding-dish. Baked custards may be flavored with a variety of substances, among the best of which are grated nutmeg, almond extract, vanilla, and caramel.
To Make Caramel. Boil together one cup of sugar and one third of a cup of water until the color is a rich reddish brown, then add one cup of water, and bottle for use. Two tablespoons of this syrup will be required to flavor a pint of custard. ”

“ When the sugar is melted and browned stir into it about 2 tablespoonfuls of hot water, and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Then pour the caramel into a mould or cake-tin, and let it run all round the sides of the tin. ”

“ The non-paraff may be left out entirely if you wish, as that is simply put in to make them retain their shape after being cut up. In stirring it, do so very gently, but aim to cover the whole bottom of the kettle. If you stir it hard [44] they might possibly sugar for you, and your only idea in stirring is to keep them from sticking. It is very essential to use glucose in order to make a good caramel. If you should overcook it and they are too brittle, or undercook it and they are too soft, the batch may be put back in the kettle with a little more milk or cream, and cooked again. ”

“ In making the jam always avoid placing the preserving-pan flat upon the fire, as this of itself will often convert what would otherwise be excellent preserve, into a strange sort of compound, for which it is difficult to find a name, and which results from the sugar being subjected—when in combination with the acid of the fruit—to a degree of heat which converts it into caramel or highly-boiled barley-sugar. ”

“ Boil rapidly for about 10 minutes, then stir in the chocolate, replace the stewpan on the fire, and continue the boiling until, when a little is dropped into cold water, a hard ball is immediately formed. Turn into well-buttered or oiled tins, allow the preparation to remain until cold, then mark with a caramel cutter, and cut into squares.
2302.—CARAMELS, CREAM.
Ingredients.—1 lb. of sugar, 1⁄4 of a lb. of glucose, 1 oz. of butter, 11⁄2 gills of water, 1 gill of cream, caramel essence. ”

“ Ten pounds of Sugar, water to dissolve, and a small spoon of cream tartar, or seven pounds of Sugar and three of glucose; when it boils, add one pint of New Orleans Molasses, and [60] cook to a Hard Crack; pour out on a slab; when cold enough, pull all but about two pounds to a bright golden color; form it into a roll and stripe with the clear piece, as for stick candy; then spin out and mark with Caramel marker. ”

“ You can also dip the above in dipping cream; they make a nice piece of goods. In my mind, anything that tastes well in our line sells well, no matter if anyone else ever made the same piece of goods before or not.
CHOCOLATE-DIPPED CARAMELS.
It is not necessary to make chocolate caramels for dipping in chocolate, as it is only a waste of chocolate. Make a plain vanilla caramel, and when they are coated the coating itself will be all the chocolate flavor needed. ”

“ Put it into a paper cornet or forcing-bag, and as it is pressed out, cut it into small pieces, and let them drop on to a paper liberally dredged with icing sugar. Allow these centres to remain in a warm place until they harden slightly. Add the lemon-juice and whites of eggs gradually to about 3⁄4 of a lb. of icing sugar, work until perfectly smooth, then flavour to taste with coffee essence, and colour nut-brown with caramel. ”

“ There are many different ways of making cream for fondants. Almost every candy maker has a way of his own; but after trying twenty different ways of making it I find the ones given in this book give better satisfaction than any of the balance I have made or seen made.
NEVER SWEET OR KNEADED CARAMELS.
This is without question one of the best caramels on the market for the money. I believe this alone is worth the price of the book. First, place
6 pounds sugar,
3 pounds glucose,
Water enough to dissolve same, in your kettle, cook it to 238° ”

“ Little Confectioners.—Several little girls have asked me to give them some receipts for making chocolate caramels and other candies. I hope they will remember that in candy-making, as in other cooking, it is necessary to be very exact in measuring the different ingredients; neither sugar nor flavoring can be left to chance. And the little cook must keep a sharp eye on her fire, and watch her pan and its contents, so as to remove them at just the right moment. Sugar must be made into a syrup by adding water to it, and boiling it until it is smooth and thick. ”

“ Process.—Put the sugar and cream in the pan, stir it well together, then add the glucose; let it boil to a stiff ball, ease the pan off the fire a little and put in the butter in little pieces, then the chocolate; keep stirring together; bring the mass through the boil, then add extract of vanilla; remove the pan and pour contents on oiled slab, making the sheet about 1⁄2 inch thick; mark deep with caramel cutter when set; divide with sharp knife when cold and wrap in paper. ”

“ It is very soluble in water, but only slightly soluble in strong alcohol. Its taste is somewhat sweet, its sweetening power being estimated at from 1/2 to 3/5 that of cane sugar. When heated to above 200° it turns brown and produces caramel, a substance possessing a bitter taste, and used, in its aqueous solution or otherwise, under various trade names, for colouring confectionery, spirits, &c. The specific rotation of the plane of polarized light by glucose solutions is characteristic. ”

“ If your batch should happen to grain and turn to sugar, put it back in the kettle with a little more glucose and another pint of cream or milk, stir over a slow fire to dissolve, then cook up as before. When these caramels are set or cold, mark them in perfect squares with a knife and one of the bars, then cut up with a large knife, in a sawing motion. If the milk curdles, do not stop stirring and set the batch off, but simply cook according to directions, and the curd will not show. These caramels should be wrapped in wax paper to prevent sticking together. ”

“ A much longer time is demanded for thawing—i. e., supplying 142° of latent heat—than might be supposed. To ascertain whether the thawing is completed, drive an iron skewer through the thickest part of the joint. If there is a core of ice within, it will be distinctly felt by its resistance.
XV.
Before leaving the subject of caramel, I should say a few words about French coffee, or "coffee as in France," of which we hear so much. ”

“ Take 2 ounces of tincture of orange peel. Take 1 ounce of tincture of lemon peel. Take 1 ounce of tincture of gentian. Take 11⁄2 ounce of tincture of cardamoms. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and color with Solferino and caramel, in equal proportions. ”

“ The use of beets, for instance, has added to the candy-maker's palette a very attractive new shade. Each vegetable contributes at least one new flavor. Novel as are candies made from vegetables, they must not be thought faddish. Caramels, marshmallows and bon-bons and all the rest are here; tastes that have already won favor are here, and many new ones as well. ”

“ Candy Fruit.—Take 1 pound of the best loaf sugar; dip each lump into a bowl of water, and put the sugar into your preserving kettle. Boil it down and skim it until perfectly clear, and in a candying state. When sufficiently boiled, have ready the fruits you wish to preserve. Large white grapes, oranges separated into small pieces, or preserved fruits, taken out of their syrup and dried, are very nice. Dip the fruits into the prepared sugar while it is hot; put them in a cold place; they will soon become hard.
Popped Corn.—Dipped in boiling molasses and stuck together forms an excellent candy. ”

“ Cream Made from Confectioners' Sugar
Take the white of one egg, and measure just as much cold water; mix the two well, and stir stiff with confectioners' sugar; add a little flavoring, vanilla, or almond, or pistache, and, for some candies, color with a tiny speck of fruit paste. This is the beginning of all sorts of cream candy.
Candy Potatoes
Make the plain white candy just given, and to it add a tablespoonful of cocoanut, and flavor with vanilla. Make into little balls, rather long then round, and with a fork put eyes in them like potato eyes. Roll in cinnamon. ”

“ There's not in the wide world so tempting a sweet
As that Trifle where custard and macaroons meet;
Oh! the latest sweet tooth from my head must depart
Ere the taste of that Trifle shall not win my heart.
Yet it is not the sugar that's thrown in between,
Nor the peel of the lemon so candied and green;
'Tis not the rich cream that's whipp'd up by a mill:
Oh, no! it is something more exquisite still.
'Tis that nice macaroons in the dish I have laid,
Of which a delicious foundation is made ”

“ Take care that all the finest fruits are used to form the outer rows. When the mould is almost full, with a layer or two of each kind of fruit, fill it up with jelly and set on ice.
Creams are a favorite sweet in Europe, and eaten ice cold are delicious. Too often they are confounded here with blanc-mange, which may mean anything from corn-starch and milk to gelatine and cream, but seldom is improved by the confectioner’s art into a really handsome and dainty dish.
[224] Ginger Cream.—Make a custard of a gill of milk, an ounce of powdered sugar, and the beaten yolks of three eggs. ”