Vegan Salted Caramels and Chocolate Caramels

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Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I present vegan caramels! It was my goal to give all of my loved ones handmade holiday gifts this year. After considering a few edible options, I set my heart on vegan chocolate covered caramels. I searched the internet high and low for a solid vegan caramel recipe, and despite my best Google-fu efforts, alas I found nothing. So I got to work testing conventional recipes and considered how best to veganize them. This is not as easy as it sounds when it comes to confectionery. I had never made candy before, let alone vegan chewy caramels, and I discovered that it’s a very scientific process. There were some early disasters! Every ingredient in the recipe is there for a reason. Details such as fat content and temperature have been dialed-in to make the process as reliable as possible, and one foul move and the whole batch can crystallize. Substituting ingredients, it seems, can be a delicate process.

My testing found that some brands of vegan products worked better than others. I encourage you to try different brands and see what works best for you, but I can only recommend using the specific products mentioned in the recipe. Sugar, butter, and cream are the main ingredients that must be veganized for caramels. To my delight, I found that Aldi carries Zulka Morena Organic Cane Sugar, which specifically states on the bag that it is bone-char free! Better still, it’s affordable. My love for Aldi knows no bounds! For the brown sugar, I have always used Wholesome brand organic sugars. In lieu of the heavy whipping cream in conventional recipes, I tested Silk Original Coffee Creamer and Wildwood Soy Coffee Creamer. Wildwood had seemed to work best in this recipe as it seemed much richer. To replace the butter, I tested the I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter (ICBINB) vegan spread as well as Smart Balance Original, which is vegan judging from the ingredients listed. Both performed equally well in this recipe, but I prefer the taste of the Smart Balance to the ICBINB spread. I suspect Earth Balance would perform equally well if you’d prefer to use a product that is certified vegan. For the chocolate coating, I suggest you use your favorite vegan chocolate bar or chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life chocolate bars or chips, or even Baker’s Chocolate Semi-Sweet bars, which seem to be accidentally vegan (although, the sugar is not organic).

You will need a few tools for this project. A candy thermometer or instant-read thermometer is required. Do not let this thermometer touch the bottom of the pot while cooking. It must be held up with a clip, ideally in the middle of your mixture for the most accurate readings. You will also need a 9-inch brownie pan or similar square pan to use as a mold, which will be lined with aluminum foil and oiled. You’ll need a medium or medium-large saucepan, preferably with high sides, as this mixture has the potential to foam up and overflow. You’ll need a basting brush or paintbrush and a bowl of warm water for painting any sugar crystals down from the sides as you’re bringing the caramel to temperature. You’ll need a wooden spoon. It’s nice to have a cooling rack, a pizza cutter, and some pre-cut wax or parchment paper squares for wrapping the candies. If you choose to coat your caramels in chocolate, you will need a double-boiler or a DIY double-boiler such as this one.

I’ll offer a few tips before sending you off on this journey. First, be sure to prepare all of your ingredients ahead of time. Candy making is a time and temperature sensitive process, and there won’t be a chance to stop and measure ingredients once you get going. I have grouped the ingredients by when they’re added to the mixture to aid your preparations. When pre-measuring the corn syrup, lightly oil the inside of the measuring cup so the syrup slides out easily. After pouring your candy into the mold, clean your pan and thermometer immediately by filling the pan with water and bringing it to a boil. This will dissolve the remaining sugar and make the cleanup way easier later. Placing your mold on a cooling rack or in the freezer will speed the hardening process. When cutting the caramels, I had the best results when I used a metal ruler as a straight-edge and cut 3/4 inch (roughly 2 cm) squares with a pizza cutter. The recipe below contains optional instructions to coat your caramels in chocolate. If you’re doing this, I recommend you wait to garnish the tops with sea salt or fleur de sel about 10-15 minutes after taking them out of the chocolate. Also, I found that the best tools for handling the caramels in the chocolate were a fork and a toothpick.

Show your sweeties just how much you love them and our animal friends with this decadent vegan treat!

Print Recipe

Vegan Salted Caramels and Chocolate Caramels

Show your sweeties just how much you love them and our animal friends with this decadent vegan treat!

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Servings: 144 Candies

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup Wildwood Soy Coffee Creamer 360 mL
• 1 cup Zulka Morena Organic Cane Sugar 200 g
• 2/3 cup Firmly packed Wholesome organic light brown sugar 140 g
• 1/3 cup Light corn syrup 80 mL

Added After Boil

• 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp vegan butter of your choice 13 g
• additional oil or butter for greasing your pans

Garnish

• 2-3 pinches Fleur de Sel or sea salt Optional, garnish

(Optional) Chocolate Coating

• 8 oz vegan chocolate chips or chocolate bar roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp vegan butter of your choice 13 g

Instructions

• Line your baking pan with foil and butter or oil the bottom and sides well.
• Over medium heat, add the soy creamer, cane sugar, brown sugar and corn syrup. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, bring the mixture up to a light boil (not a rolling boil), then stop stirring. Reduce heat a bit.
• Maintain a light boil, until the mixture reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius). This will take about 15-20 minutes or more. Do not stir while cooking, and watch it carefully. Don’t walk away! Every few minutes, swirl the mixture in the pan and then, with a moistened brush, paint down any sugar crystals that may have formed on the sides of the pan.
• At 250 degrees F, immediately remove the mixture from the heat. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and butter until completely melted and incorporated into the mixture. The butter may cause the mixture to foam up.
• Pour the mixture into your lined and oiled pan and place on cooling rack or in freezer and leave undisturbed until completely cool (2 hours or more at room temp).
• Optionally, after cooling about 30 minutes, sprinkle some flour de sel or sea salt crystals on top of the caramels as a garnish (If chocolate-coating your candies, save this step for later).
• When the caramel has cooled completely, lift the aluminum foil out of the pan and spread it out.
• Using a straight-edge and pizza cutter, cut into 3/4 inch (approx 2cm) squares.
• Optionally, wrap each caramel individually in small squares of wax paper or parchment paper. Store in an air-tight container or freezer bag in the refrigerator and it will keep for several weeks.

Optional Chocolate Coating

• Alternatively, after the caramels have been cut into 3/4 inch squares, prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper and a light coating of oil or butter.
• Add your roughly chopped chocolate bars and vegan butter to your double boiler and stir constantly while it melts slowly. Remove from heat.
• Working quickly with a fork and a toothpick, drop each caramel into this mixture, coating completely, and then fish it out with the fork. Slide the toothpick between the tines of the fork and gently slide the candy onto your lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining caramels.
• (Optional) After the chocolate has cooled for about 10-20 minutes, sprinkle with fleur de sel or sea salt.
• Serve when completely cool and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.