Soft Maple Caramels With Sea Salt recipe

Instructions

1. Put the vanilla extract, cream, half the butter and a pinch of salt in a pan and bring to the boil – then take it straight off the heat and set aside.
2. Put the sugar and syrups in another pan to melt the sugar – don’t stir, but keep shaking the pan to keep the sugar distributed. When the sugar has melted, heat it to 155C on a sugar thermometer (this is known as hard crack stage: when syrup is dropped into cold water, it separates into hard brittle threads that cannot be bent without breaking). 
3. Remove from the heat; add the vanilla cream mixture. Heat to 126C (this is hard ball stage: when dripped from a spoon, the syrup forms thick threads that after being dropped in cold water can be moulded into a ball that will hold its shape). 
4. Add the remaining butter, stir, then pour into the tin. Leave it to get slightly firm and sticky, then sprinkle over the remaining salt. Leave it to cool. When you want to cut it into squares, use a hot-bladed knife.