Christmas Candy on the Cheap
Times are tight this year, so making candies and gifts sounds attractive, but damn do the prices for specialty candy ingredients chafe! Well fear not - I have a festive, delicious, cheap, and EASY candy for you all to make for friends and loved ones this year. It's a unique caramel confection called Sea Foam - and no, not the nougatty divinity. It truly resembles that chunky, gunky, brownish foam that washes up on Pacific Ocean beaches, but it tastes like magic. It is a hard-caramel foam. It's what would happen if grandma's toffee met your junior high science project. It's delicious, crunchy, one-of-a-kind foamy caramel candy that you coat in chocolate for the ultimate in yum. Enjoy!
Sea Foam Candy
Makes lots
2 C brown sugar
2 C Karo syrup (dark for deep butterscotch flavor; light for less-intense caramel)
1/4 C water
2 Tbsp baking soda
Line a 9x13 baking pan with waxed or parchment paper, or buttered foil. Combine the first three ingredients in a HUGE pan - the biggest, deepest sauce pot you have; like, lobster pot or stock pot if you have one - and bring to 300º, hard crack stage. VERY CAREFULLY, very thoroughly, and very quickly stir in the baking soda until you have a foaming mass of uncontrollable caramel. Pour into 9x13 pans. Allow it to cool overnight before you even think about touching it. The next day, break it into irregular crazy-shaped chunks of whateve size you want (the smaller they are, the easier to eat; the bigger, the more impressive the gift). Dip these in melted chocolate (yes, chocolate chips are fine since the theme is cheap). And there you go! I would say this will make 6 nice gifts, all for under $10 and under 2 hours of work. This is totally doable, guys, and I'm not saying that just because I want sea foam for christmas... >.>
Don't get this on yourself please; it will burn very badly. If you DO get it on yourself DON'T SPREAD IT AROUND OR TRY TO WASH IT OFF!!!!! This will just make it worse because more skin will be burning. Just stick it under cold running water until the caramel cools down, and remove it (and, likely, your skin). I told you not to get it on yourself. Listen, wear long rubber dish gloves if you're likely to hurt yourself, for instance, you're really bad at draining pasta. There's no shame in being careful.
So, why does this work? Well, it's like the baking soda and vinegar volcano you made as a kid. The acids and impurities in the sugar react with the baking soda, which is a base. The result is chaos! Sweet, delicious chaos!! Added bonus: it doesn't smell like the accumulation of a year's gym socks, like that volcano did.
Anyway, I've had a fun and also busy weekend. I'll tell you later. :)
Sea Foam Candy
Makes lots
2 C brown sugar
2 C Karo syrup (dark for deep butterscotch flavor; light for less-intense caramel)
1/4 C water
2 Tbsp baking soda
Line a 9x13 baking pan with waxed or parchment paper, or buttered foil. Combine the first three ingredients in a HUGE pan - the biggest, deepest sauce pot you have; like, lobster pot or stock pot if you have one - and bring to 300º, hard crack stage. VERY CAREFULLY, very thoroughly, and very quickly stir in the baking soda until you have a foaming mass of uncontrollable caramel. Pour into 9x13 pans. Allow it to cool overnight before you even think about touching it. The next day, break it into irregular crazy-shaped chunks of whateve size you want (the smaller they are, the easier to eat; the bigger, the more impressive the gift). Dip these in melted chocolate (yes, chocolate chips are fine since the theme is cheap). And there you go! I would say this will make 6 nice gifts, all for under $10 and under 2 hours of work. This is totally doable, guys, and I'm not saying that just because I want sea foam for christmas... >.>
Don't get this on yourself please; it will burn very badly. If you DO get it on yourself DON'T SPREAD IT AROUND OR TRY TO WASH IT OFF!!!!! This will just make it worse because more skin will be burning. Just stick it under cold running water until the caramel cools down, and remove it (and, likely, your skin). I told you not to get it on yourself. Listen, wear long rubber dish gloves if you're likely to hurt yourself, for instance, you're really bad at draining pasta. There's no shame in being careful.
So, why does this work? Well, it's like the baking soda and vinegar volcano you made as a kid. The acids and impurities in the sugar react with the baking soda, which is a base. The result is chaos! Sweet, delicious chaos!! Added bonus: it doesn't smell like the accumulation of a year's gym socks, like that volcano did.
Anyway, I've had a fun and also busy weekend. I'll tell you later. :)