Being off work for a week left me with plenty of time to dedicate to my much neglected cook book collection, specifically the chocolate section! This recipe comes from a book that Hubby bought me when we fist started seeing each other and, following on from the tradition of the Cook Book Challenge (CBC!), I've never made anything from it. This recipe is used as the base for several other recipes, the Hot Chocolate we sampled last night and this weekend I'll be attempting some truffles (time off also meant the bank account took a hammering when I found a fantastic website with callebaut chocolate at really reasonable rates!)
Burnt Caramel Base
3 1/2 cups granulated cane sugar (I used Billington's, which I was chuffed to bits to find was a product of Mauritius!)
1 cup water
If your kitchen has an exhaust fan, turn it on (also open all your windows and doors!!!). Put the sugar in a medium (I would advise an extra large!) heavy bottomed pot. Use an unlined copper pot if you have one. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the sugar melts. Then continue to cook, without stirring, until the sugar turns black, about 10 mins. If any crystals form on the sides of the pan as the sugar darkens, wash them down with a wet pastry brush. Just before it turns black, the sugar syrup may foam up. If it does, reduce the heat to low and, wearing on oven mitt, carefully stir it down. When the sugar syrup is ready, it will smoke (oh buy will it smoke!) and large bubbles will break on the surface.
While the sugar is cooking, bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. When the sugar is black, remove the pot from the heat and put a sieve or splatter guard over it. Wearing the oven mitt, slowly pour the hot water into the sugar syrup a little at a time. The mixture will splutter and foam (oh boy will it splutter and foam!). Be careful, as it is very hot.
Let the syrup cool to room temp. Transfer to a tightly capped storage container and refrigerate until needed.
Makes about 2 cups
Chocolate Obsession
I turned my back for a split second to read the instructions through and in that time the caramel went from a golden well behaved mixture, to a black bubbling mass that did more than just threaten to bubble over the top of the saucepan. With very steady hands I managed to get the pan to the sink before it boiled over the stove top!!!! It only took 4 minutes to get to that point and not the 10 stated in the recipe. I wasn't sure if the end result would have been effected or not so we tried it in another recipe from the book just as a test.
Milk Chocolate with Burnt Caramel Drink
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tbsp burnt caramel base, at room temp
55g milk chocolate, grated (I used callebaut buttons instead)
Bring the milk to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Pour the hot milk into a large clear vessel. Add the burnt caramel and the grated chocolate.
Blend with an immersion blender until the chocolate has melted and the drink is smooth.
Pour into cups and serve.
Serves 2
Chocolate Obsession
Both Hubby and I thought this could do for being a slightly 'longer' drink, with more milk to help dilute the sweetness. The burnt caramel adds a new level to an ordinary hot chocolate, which was lovely. After the initial hit of sweetness subsided the burnt caramel flavour lingered and surprisingly it didn't have a burnt flavour, just a mellow caramel.
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