Lately, I’ve been craving Polish soft caramel candies – the milky smooth melt-in-your-mouth kind, that you can bite and chew without pulling all the fillings from your teeth.
I’ll get to that in a minute. First I have to tell you something else. I have ODIYD – a severe case of it too. It’s pretty bad. You probably have it to! It’s Obsessive Do It Yourself Disorder. The main symptom is the need to make things from scratch, especially those things one loves to consume. After I saw the first picture of a macaron I obsessed so long about making it myself – perfectly – until I did. When I was out of my favorite coffee creamer I made it from scratch. I guess when I love something I just want to be able to have it at anytime and making it myself gives me the freedom to have it whenever I please. That it is more costly and time consuming doesn’t bug me one bit. Well ok, maybe half a bit, but these little caramel goodies are worth the extra mile!
After much research (including Google translating polish websites – a very entertaining pastime) and failing miserably the first try (caramel was liquid even after 6 days in the freezer – what the what?!), I finally got it right.
Ingredients
- 150g butter (plus extra for greasing the parchment paper in the pan)
- 200ml heavy cream
- 200g sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Method
1. Butter parchment paper and line an 8×8 in square pan or other container.
2. Melt butter and sugar over medium heat until dissolved, stirring often.
3. Add cream and vanilla, simmer on medium heat for about 30 minutes until you have a thick molasses type consistency. The batch will roughly simmer down to 60% of its original mass. Keep stirring often.
4. Transfer into a glass bowl and stir until the mass is cooled down (a few minutes). This also helps to tame any foam that might have built up during the cooking process. You will already notice that thinner layers on the side of the bowl start to harden slightly.
5. Pour into the parchment lined dish and let cool completely (over night in a cool place), then cut into bite sizes pieces. You can warp them individually – for extra credit you know 😉
But then again, you might just eat them all…
At least you can eat the result of my ODIYD. Do you have it too? Shall we share a room in rehab? I’ll bring some candy 😉
Hugs
Dani!
Eva says
Hmm, ich hätte hier nicht vor meiner Mittagspause vorbeischauen sollen *grins*, denn nun hab ich mir aus selbiger erstmal fertige Karamelbonbons mitgebracht, da ich jetzt kurzfristig keine Möglichkeit sah, dein Rezept direkt auszuprobieren… aber das werde ich sicherlich seeehr schnell nachholen 🙂
LG Eva
Magda says
Dani, next time we meet, I bring you some :). Great recipe!
Dani says
Eeek, that would be awesome. Are you coming to the Hive in May?
Dawn Ambrose says
Thanks for the recipe…I can’t wait to try it. My grandmother was from Poland and I’ve recently decided to find some recipes to try and reach out to my heritage. Thanks for this one!
Anna Nitschke says
I have to try these! my Dad loves these…just wondering what kind of cream (percentage) did you use? thanks!!
Dani says
Anna, my cream was 30% fat 🙂
Sarah says
these sound amazing!! But I’m a little confused about the measurements. I live in America so I’ve never really used ml or grams. Would anyone know the conversion by any chance? : ) thanks a bunch!!
Dani says
Hi Sarah, any Pyrex measuring cup also has ml on it, in addition to oz. I highly recommend getting a scale and those have both measuring systems included as well! It is much more precise then converting it to 1/17th of a cup you know?! 😉
Desiree says
I found this recipe while searching for a vanilla fudge to make for this Thanksgiving. I asked a friend from Poland if she had tried these or something similar. She said she had never ade th bit remeembers having them as a kid and that they had a similar consistency to the fudge I make. So of course I tried it. And of course it is amazing! There’s something to be said about the elegance of a few simple ingredients coming together to make a wonderful item. It was relatively easy to make as well. The hardest part being the conversion out of the metric system to my American measurements. But thanks to Google, that wasn’t hard either! Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe!
Brittany Matthews says
Can’t wait to try this recipe! But one question, does it matter if the butter is salted, or unsalted? I know some recipes specifically call for one or the other, and this one doesn’t. Thanks so much!
Elsa says
omg I have the same ilness lol
Elsa says
omg I have the same illness lol
Katy Hamm says
this recipe sounds yummy, are there measurements for the American kitchen ? thank you just curious….
Kerstin says
Wah, würd ich die jetzt gern machen. Aber hab’s mal überschlagen… bei 35 Stück (sieht so aus auf dem Foto mit der geschnittenen Platte) hat eins davon 70 Kcal etwa. Gut, man könnte sie kleiner schneiden. Aber wenn man dann doppelt so viele isst, hilft es auch nix, und ich kenn’ mich 😉
Trotzdem danke für’s posten – irgendwann werd ichs sicher mal ausprobieren.
lutfiyya says
Hi, this looks amazing. I am definitely going to be giving this a try. Could you please tell me about the butter though, salted or unsalted?
Thanks
Judith Divoky says
Please give equivalents. So many to choose from: dry, weight, wet… Had forgotten these little candies completely until seeing your post. My Grandmother made these. What a sweet memory.
Haley says
I will be making these for my culture day in my classroom at Wittenberg University. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Tanesha says
Quality posts is the crucial to interest the users to go to see the web site, that’s
what this web page is providing.
Andrea says
I am relieved to find another person who has ODIYD!! People think I do too much all the time but good things, I mean GREAT things take effort right?! Thank you for sharing!
marilene says
Hi Dani —
Great recipe, will try.. am into candies lately, so this is a good addition. Also, love your DIYs will certainly do those, ingredients are not as available here in the Philippines as in the States.
Cheers–
Morgan says
My Carmelo’s came out grainy
Morgan says
My caramels came out grainy
Sue says
OMG Thank you so much for this recipe! I grew up eating these and now with my Parents gone no one travels to Poland. Now I can make my own and get my candy fix again! If I remember right the candy was called Polish Cows? Yummy!
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judy says
can you give the measurements in tablespoon, ounces, cups, etc.? I don’t know what yours are. ty
Mrs Major Hoff says
Can’t wait to try it! Thanks for translating. Sometimes these things can be hit or miss, so thanks for sticking with it!
Dana says
This was my first attempt at making caramels. They turned out to be delightful, soft and creamy. I did use a thermometer to 250 F and am impressed by the result.
Thank you for researching and posting this recipe!
Shawn says
I tried making these and they tasted great, but came our grainy. It’s hard for me to tell when the sugar has dissolved when I have the butter in there. Can you advise?
Serra Koyshman says
Hi Dani,
I don’t know if you still check this or reply to comments, but I recently tried this recipe (twice now actually) and I can’t get it to stay the white creamy color you have in the pictures. They come out a perfect caramel color which is great, but confusing. I thought I figured out the problem, but the same thing happened with my second batch. Also, are they not supposed to be creamy? Are they thicker and when you bite them it goes clean through? Any suggestions you have would be appreciated!
Thomas says
Great post! Have nice day ! 🙂 xblau
Anna Jackson says
I made these and they never hardened, and I even put them into the freezer. You said that happend to you too the first time, so what did you change? I forgot to add vanilla extract, but could it really be because of that?
JamieInWyoming says
Anna, I have never made this recipe, but I make caramel for a living. If they didn’t set up, then they did not reach a high enough temperature. I highly suggest getting a candy thermometer. Then you will know for certain they are done. Also, different altitudes will change the temp you need to cook them to. I am in Wyoming, USA, and we are so high up that our water boils at a much lower temp than at sea level. If I cooked my caramel to the same temp as gals at sea level, my caramel would be suitable for a lollipop, lol. I sure hope that helped! JamieInWyoming