This summer, I was lucky enough to have met Kate Whittle-Utter, who has been helping me out with Wallflour while on her summer break from college.  We had been inspired by the more apparent trend of lavender in food these days and wanted to try our hand at it as well.  Up to now, the only time I had used anything with lavender was in hand soaps or on the occasional DIY facial mask.  The usages for lavender are endless for both the body and soul.  It is used as a soothing scent, a healing potion, treatment for skin irritations and just plain old relaxing.  There’s a great list of usages as well as how to make lavender oil on this Zephyr farm site.

 

A couple recipes we pulled were a lavender panna cotta (to be posted shortly) and a lavendar and honey fleur de sel caramel.  Lavender and honey and lavendar and cream are an amazing combination.  Apparently there are several kinds of lavender and the ingestible kind is Lavandula Angustifolia. I have had artisanal ice cream and pastry cream infused with these flavors and found the floral hints surprising and soothing.  There are also traces of lavender found in herbes de Provence, a great dried herb mix I fall back on a lot in the kitchen for Mediterranean dishes as well as for grilling meats and veggies.  A lavender creme brulee is next on my list.  

 

We doubled the recipe for the caramels so that we had plenty to give as gifts and keep a few for ourselves.  From past experience of making fleur de sel caramels, I knew I liked them on the saltier side and I also remembered that the hardest part of making caramels came when they had to be wrapped.  Finishing them with fleur de sel at the end gives a nice crunch and added salt.

 

I prefer to cut my caramels similar to the ones they sell at Boule. These are long and skinny,  and a nice, healthy 2 bite size caramel. and individually wrapped in iridescent cellophane.  Ok, I admit mine are a bit larger. I am not quite as fancy as Boule and instead, I use individually cut parchment paper rectangles that feel very rustic and look like giant salt water taffys. Or caramel cigars.  I have purchased pre-cut candy papers from places like Surfas and Sur La Table before but find them to be too small and rather costly.

 

 

 

Fleur de sel caramels with lavender, honey, and vanilla bean.

Makes about 4 dozen 2″x3/4″-inch long caramels

 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole milk

1½ cups heavy whipping cream

2 tsp dried lavender buds

1 vanilla bean - split lengthwise and scraped OR 2 tsp vanilla extract 

5 tbs unsalted butter

¾ cup honey

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar

2-3 tsp fleur de sel (or other sea salt) 

reserve 2 tsp+ for sprinkling onto caramel after it has been poured into the pan.

 

Equipment

9″ square pan or an 9″ x 13″ rectangular pan if doubling the recipe

A large pot that holds at least 4 quarts-  We used my Le Creuset enamel pot for even heat distribution

Traditionally, candy and confitures are made in copper pots for even heating.  I do not have one and figured my enamel pot was just as good.

It worked out great and was easy to clean up.

Candy thermometer-  I use a digital one purchased at Target.

Rubber spatula

 

Parchment paper-  and about 50 4″x6″ pieces.  These can be cut while waiting for the caramels too cool.

 

 

Prep:

Butter the pan then line the bottom with parchment paper.Pour the milk, heavy cream and lavender buds, and vanilla in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Make sure you don’t leave the pot unwatched.  Milk will boil over very quickly and make a mess if you don’t watch it. 

 

Once the liquid comes to a boil, turn off and remove from heat and let the lavender steep for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, reserving the liquid and discarding the lavender. Measure out 2 cups of the liquid.

 

 

Combine the cream and lavender mixture, butter, honey and sugar in a deep pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture comes to a full boil. The aromas coming off this pot of creamhoneysugarvanillalavender should be enough to want to make this recipe. I haven’t smelled anything quite that intoxicating.

 

Allow the caramel to continue boiling, stirring occasionally. Using a spatula, gently push down any sugar that has crept up the sides of the pan. When the mixture reads 240˚ F on the candy thermometer, begin stirring constantly until it registers 248°F. 

 

The total time for reaching the final temperature is about 25 minutes.  You will want to take your time so the caramel has enough time to “burn” and get a nice tan color.  The point from 240˚ to 248˚ happens very quickly-  about a couple minutes. Immediately remove from heat, stir in the vanilla extract and 1 tsp of the salt, and pour into the prepared baking pan.

 

Be very careful when pouring hot caramel.  It is beyond hot and will give a nasty burn.  As much as you want to stick your finger in the vat of love, do not.  It is extremely hot.  

 

 

Immediately sprinkle the rest of the fleur de sel on the pan of caramel before it sets. Cool the mixture completely until it is firm, at least 3 hours.  Invert the caramel onto a cutting board. Cut into desired size pieces and wrap them individually. 

 

Wrapping caramels takes some time, especially when doubling the recipe.  You will see why I have cut them a bit larger than usual, which also deters the casual muncher from unwrapping candy after candy.  Well that’s not totally true. But at least they eat two caramels instead of four.

 

 

Wallflour Tips:

 

Making caramels is not difficult and extremely rewarding.  

When choosing a pot, make sure it is heavy, heats evenly, and has tall sides since the caramel will triple in volume when boiling.

 

Store caramels in an airtight container and they will last about a week.  Keep this in mind when making for the holidays or a gift.  Last year I was planning ahead and ended up making these way too early for Christmas.

 

It’s a good idea to give these away as they can be very dangerous to have around the house.