I’m not a big tea drinker, I prefer a strong hot coffee any day! So you might think, well why has she made tea flavoured caramels? It’s not that I don’t like the flavour of tea, it can be gentle and warming as well as strong and robust. I like baking with different teas and I love the theatre of Afternoon Tea.
However my drink of choice in the morning, or any time someone mentions putting the kettle on is always a coffee. This explains why I have a bag of loose leaf tea in the cupboard from my visit to The Savoy from over two years ago. It apparently has a couple of months left before it will start to detoriate, so I thought I better put it to good use.
The tea gives these caramels a mild earthy aftertaste that is warming and very delicate. In fact, unless you knew they were Earl Grey, I’m not sure you’d be able to pinpoint the subtle flavour.
These caramels are wonderfully soft set and buttery rich, they keep for about two weeks (if you’re much more restrained than me), which means they make a perfect gift. I know first hand that they fair pretty well when sent through the Royal Mail too.
Here’s the recipe for these caramels, they’re very quick to make and take around 4 hours to set, but I generally leave them overnight to set.
#ConfectionCollection: Earl Grey Caramels
Ingredients
- 150/200 ml Double Cream
- 2 Tsp Loose Earl Grey Tea
- 1/4 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- Strip of lemon peel
- 300 g Caster Sugar
- 100 g Unsalted Butter
Instructions
- Put 150ml of cream, the tea, vanilla extract and lemon peel in a saucepan and bring the cream to the boil. Allow to boil for 2 mins and then leave to infuse for an hour. The cream will thicken and reduce during this process, after an hour, strain the cream into a bowl, check how much cream there is and use the reserved cream to top the amount back up to 150mls.
- Line a standard loaf tin (23cm by 13cm) with greaseproof paper, then use a flavourless oil or butter to grease the greaseproof paper. This will make removing the caramel easier when it has set.
- Add the caster sugar to a heavy bottomed pan and heat the sugar until it starts to turn golden.
- Whilst the sugar is cooking bring the cream to a boil in another pan.
- When the caramel has reached the correct colour and all the sugar has dissolved, remove the sugar from the heat and add half the warm cream.
- The caramel will bubble up and a lot of steam will come out, keep your hands out of the way as the escaping steam will be hot.
- When the bubbles subside, add the rest of the cream and again when it has finished bubbling add the butter and stir.
- Return the pan to the heat and cook the caramel until it reaches 122C, then pour the caramel into the pan and leave to set for at least 4 hours.
- When the caramel has set, turn it out from the pan, cut the caramel into portions with a sharp knife that has been coated in flavourless oil. Wrap the caramels in greaseproof paper and store them in an airtight container.
- They will keep for about two weeks like this. If you want a truly chewy caramel, pop these in the fridge.
Thanks for reading.
Angela
I’ve also added this to Fabulous Foodie Fridays.
Dannielle from @ Zamamabakes
Angela these caramels sound like little mouthfuls of perfection and you sound like one very clever lady.
I’m a tea drinker through and through, coffee and I don’t mix well together sadly 🙁
Thanks for linking up with our Fabulous Foodie Fridays linkup.
Have a gorgeous week xx
PatisserieMakesPerfect
I’m so pleased you like the look of these caramels. They are just as you’ve described them, the tea flavour comes through really well. Thanks for hosting Fabulous Foodie Fridays.
Jennypaulin
oh my wooly word these look and sound AMAZING!! that fudge looks all glossy and sweet ansd i just want to reach into my screen and pop some in my mouth! I am pinning this to try one day x
PatisserieMakesPerfect
It’s so, so good Jenny. You wont be disappointed at all. I hope you like them as much as I did.
Tea infused desserts + #recipeoftheweek 23-29 May - A Mummy Too
[…] Get the recipe from Patisserie Makes Perfect […]
Steph @MisplacedBrit
These look AWESOME!!
…Pinned; tweeting; absolutely delicious… I LOVE making little treats like these x
PatisserieMakesPerfect
I love things like this too Steph. They’re so easy to make and people love getting them as a gift. Thanks for pinning and tweeting!
Beeta @ Mon Petit Four
Angela, these look beautiful! Just from the pictures they look so buttery and luscious – I wouldn’t be able to restrain myself either! I love that it’s got that added depth of flavor from the earl grey – so lovely! Fantastic job 🙂
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you so much for the comments Beeta. These are really amazing, I never expected them to turn out so well. I shall definitely be making more infused caramels in future.
Michal
Wow! that looks really amazing. Great idea.
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thanks very much Michal!
Emma @ Fork & Good
I love love love this recipe! Caramels and tea are two of my favourite things, I am shocked at loose leaf being in your cupboard for 2 years though, that would’ve been gone in a month at ours!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Emma. The reason the tea has survived so long is because my boyfriend would never make tea from anything other than a bag and I would never make a pot just for him! So our collective laziness is to blame!