This is Happening: Mezcal Spiked Caramels (aka Mezcaramels!)
When the “it” thing of the moment partners with an old favorite, only good things can happen. Case in point, Taylor Swift rocking a classic bob, Cara Delevingne covered head to toe in quintessential Burberry, and now mezcal making its way into caramels. If there can be an “it” alcohol, mezcal is… well, it. And god knows we’ve had our fair share of meetups with salted caramel, making it classic in our book. And so for the first time ever, we married the two just to see what would happen. The results are a salty, sweet, smoky mashup of magical mezcaramel madness. Ready to try them for yourself? Grab that candy thermometer. Things are about to get sticky up in here.
Ingredients:
– olive oil spray
– 2 cups sugar
– ½ cup light corn syrup
– 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
– ½ cup sweetened butter
– 1 tablespoon mezcal
– ½ teaspoon salt
– fleur de sel
Special Tools:
– parchment paper
– candy thermometer
Instructions:
1. Lightly spray a 9×9 inch pan with olive oil spray. Line the sprayed pan with parchment paper, leaving a two-inch overhang on each side. Spray the parchment paper.
2. In a medium sauce pan, heat sugar, corn syrup and ¼ cup of water over medium-high heat, bringing mixture to a boil and stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let the mixture continue to boil for 10-12 minutes or until it turns a deep, rich, caramel color. Stir occasionally during the process.
3. While the mixture boils, cut butter into small chunks. When the mixture has turned a deep caramel color, remove the pan from heat and whisk in the sweetened condensed milk and butter. There will be a lot of foaming and sputtering when you do this. That’s totally fine.
4. Attach your candy thermometer to the pan, and heat the mixture over medium-low heat, whisking continuously until the thermometer reads 240 degrees F.
5. Remove the pan from heat. Stir in the mezcal and the salt. Pour the mixture into the prepared 9×9 pan, and sprinkle with fleur de sel. Allow the caramel to cool completely.
6. Cut the caramel into 2-inch-by-1-inch rectangles and wrap each one in parchment paper. Caramels will keep up to two weeks in the refridgerator. Or you can just pig out ASAP, which we highly recommend.
Pretty basic stuff here. Spray the pan. Line the pan. Spray the parchment paper. While we used olive oil spray, you can really use any type of non-stick spray.
Mix the sugar, corn syrup and water, stirring to dissolve the sugar. The mixture will thin out as it heats up.
See that dark caramel color? When your mixture gets there, it’s time to add in the sweetened condensed milk and the butter, and watch the sputtering and foaming commence. SCIENCE!
Return your pan to medium low heat, and continuously whisk the caramel until the thermometer reads 240 degrees F.
Now comes the good stuff. Remove the pan from heat. Add in the mezcal and salt, and pour into the prepared pan.
Add fleur de sel on top, as much or as little as you want. We were liberal with it. Because it’s pretty and tasty.
Cut and wrap for individual eating. Then go hog wild on them and eat more than a single serving. Or let your friends enjoy!
Are you ready to get stringy with spiked caramels? Let us know in the comments below!
