Description
Make hard caramels that taste just like alpenliebe at home !!
Ingredients
Sugar – 100 gms or ¼ cup + 1/8 cup
Water – 50 gms or ¼ cup
Liquid Glucose – 30 gms or approx. 3 Tbsp, use a wet measuring spoon
Fresh cream – 65 gms or 4Tbsp
Vanilla essence – 5-6 drops
Butter – 20 gms or 1 Tbsp
Instructions
- Take a clean pan, add the sugar, glucose and water.
- Switch on the heat and on low flame let it cook till all the sugar has completely dissolved and reached soft crack stage. Don’t stir a lot in between – just 2 or 3 times. If you feel that the sugar at the bottom is not melting then swirl the sugar syrup in the pan using the handle.
- If any crystals stick to the edges of the pan, don’t bring them back into the syrup while stirring. Use a wet brush to dab on them and melt them.
- To check soft crack stage, take a bowl of ice cold water. Drop a spoonful of the sugar syrup into it. If it sets such that you can break it with a snap but with a slight softness then its done.
- Then add the cream and butter and cook till it reaches hard crack stage. Don’t stir too much. But don’t let the caramel stick to the bottom either.
- To check hard crack stage, take a bowl of ice cold water. Drop a spoonful of the caramel into it. If it sets such that you can break it with a firm snap then its done.
- Once it reaches hard crack stage, immediately transfer the caramel onto a parchment paper lined tray and smoothen it.
- Let it cool for 5 -8 minutes and then using a knife make cuts across it to from small squares.
- Don’t cut through.
- Once it cools completely , it will set like a hard candy/ chikki. Now break away each piece easily and enjoy !!
Notes
- Use wooden spoon or silicon spatula for stirring the sugar syrup to prevent sticking.
- Before beginning ,Clean the pan with vinegar and salt to remove any leftover fat , that may cause the syrup to crystallize.
- Use a heavy bottom steel or aluminium pan for cooking the sugar syrup.
- Always measure glucose syrup with wet hands or measuring spoon. The water will prevent it from sticking and causing a mess.
- If you want to make more alpenliebes then make this same recipe in multiple batches. Don’t double the recipe. On a small home kitchen burner , it is not advisable to increase batch size as it may cause undesired results like crystallized caramel or burnt caramel.
- Wrap each caramel individually in butter paper and store in an airtight box at room temperature.
