Honey Butter Caramels

My husband married the right person. He loves food and I love to cook and bake. So about a month ago our world (just our food world) came crashing down when we started to read up on some the effects of wheat & other grains, low-fat milk, sugar and some oils on our bodies. So we decided to greatly reduce our family's intake of those things. Ben immediately cut out Pepsi which he used to drink all day and we began to eat gluten-free foods. Our biggest hurdle was sugar. We love sugar but it is in everything. So we started to replace sugar with honey in most uses and agave nectar in baking. Its been interesting and we are still learning more everyday.

So, with fall finally here, and lots of fresh apples in the house, I started thinking about caramel. We love caramel. But its sugar, sugar and more sugar. So I sought out to find a honey caramel recipe. I Pinterested it (Googling is so last year! ;D) and got two pins. The first pin was a honey caramel recipe (Yay!) and the second was a hair color. Here is the recipe I started with. I pretty much followed the recipe to the T, except for two things.

First, once I was 'simmering' my honey/cream mixture, I turned the heat to medium. You definitely have to stay with the pot and stir it with a wooden spoon or else it will bubble over. Also, do this when you have 20-30 minutes to yourself. (There's no leaving once you've started. Got it???)

Second, once the mixture was up to 255-260 degrees, I didn't put it in an ice bath. Instead, I mixed in a stick of butter. Before I started cooking, I prepped a 9" x 6" pan with butter. I then cut that stick into about tablespoon thick slices. When the mixture was done boiling, I stirred in the butter, one slice at a time, making sure the first slice was dissolved before adding another.

Finally, I poured the mixture in my prepared pan and allowed them to cool on the counter. Then once, cool, I placed them into the fridge.

According to my family, they are very sweet and they are but aren't caramels supposed to be? I love them. They have the same perfect texture as sugar-based butter caramels but with that added floral flavor of honey.

I plan on trying this recipe with agave nectar and orange blossom honey in the near future. I'll let you know how that goes.

Honey Butter Caramels

Original Recipe from Love at First Bite Honey Caramel Apples

1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used kosher and the original recipe calls for sea salt.)
1 cup Honey
1 stick butter

In a pot, bring cream and salt to low simmer. You want to see small bubbles around the perimeter of the pot.

Stir in honey and bring mixture to a boil. Turn heat down and continue to cook mixture to a temp of 255-260. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. (Believe it or not, I don't have a wooden spoon. I used two bamboo chopsticks.)

Once temp is reached, take pot off the heat and add butter, slice by slice, making sure first slice is dissolved before adding another.

Pour into pan and cool.