Armed with lessons learned from last Christmas, I made two batches of Fleur de Sel Caramels this year, stopping a few degrees short of what the original recipe stated because last year’s candies set up harder than I would have liked. One batch is destined to be dipped in dark chocolate and the other destined to be gobbled up before Christmas even gets here.

Sweet, salty, chewy and dotted with tiny vanilla bean flecks… These guys don’t stand a chance of making it ’til Christmas.

Fleur de Sel Caramels with Tahitian Vanilla Bean
1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons European style unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp Tahitian vanilla
1 Tahitian vanilla bean pod, split and scraped
1 1/4 teaspoon Fleur de sel, plus more for sprinkling (flaky salt is prettier than granular, if you ask me)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup (can substitute corn syrup)
1/4 cup water

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly butter parchment.

Bring cream, butter, vanilla, vanilla beans, pods, and fleur de sel to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.

Remove pods and carefully stir cream mixture into the caramel (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248 on thermometer. Pour into baking pan and cool 30 minutes. Sprinkle another pinch or two of fleur de sel over the top of the caramel for a nice salty crunch and let until completely cooled. Cut into 1-inch pieces (I buttered a pizza cutter), and then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close.

Yields 64 1-inch candies
Adapted from here and Gourmet, 2004

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