CARAMELS
ONE Friday afternoon, as mother was sitting at the window engaged in
her sewing, Betsey bobbed in and exclaimed: "Mother, I want to make
caramels!"
"Right now?" asked mother, looking up from her sewing with a quizzical
smile.
"Well, no, not just now," replied Betsey, "but I really would like to
make caramels."
Just why Betsey wanted to make caramels puzzled mother, until Betsey
told her of the delicious caramels Dorothy's uncle sent her for a
birthday remembrance and which she had shared with her little friend.
"They were wonderful!" sighed Betsey.
Mother looked at her daughter's wistful little face and said:
"To-morrow, dear, I will start you on caramels, and I hope they will be
just as 'wonderful' as the ones you had to-day; at least some of them."
So here are the different caramels that Betsey made, and some of them
Betsey agreed were quite as "wonderful" as Dorothy's birthday candy.
Vanilla Corn Syrup Caramels
Sugar (granulated), 1 cup
Corn syrup, 1 cup
Water, 1/4 cup
Vinegar, 1/4 cup
Butter, 2 tablespoons
Flavoring (vanilla), 1 teaspoon
After Betsey put the sugar, corn syrup, water and vinegar in the
saucepan she let them boil six minutes before adding the butter, then
let them continue to boil until they formed a soft ball when tried in
cold water. Taking the candy from the fire, she stirred in the vanilla
and sometimes one half cup of candied cherries cut in halves, reheated
the candy, then turned into a buttered pan.
When the candy was cool Betsey marked it in squares but did not cut it
until it was quite cold. She used a firm, sharp knife, then wrapped
each caramel in waxed paper.
Plain Vanilla Caramels
Sugar (granulated), 3 cups
Condensed milk, 1 cup
Water, 1 cup
Butter, Size of an egg
Cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoon
Flavoring (vanilla), 1 teaspoon
Mother told Betsey she had heard that condensed milk was considered by
some expert candy makers to give better results in caramels than cream.
To the condensed milk Betsey added the water and mixed thoroughly, then
added the sugar. She let these boil, then added the butter and cream of
tartar and continued the boiling until a little of the syrup, dropped
in cold water, cracked between her thumb and finger.
It was then ready to take from the fire, add vanilla, pour in buttered
pan, mark in squares when cool, cut with sharp knife when cold and wrap
in waxed paper.
Rich Walnut Caramels
Sugar (granulated), 2 cups
Corn syrup, 1-3/4 cups
Cream, 2 cups
Butter, 1 cup
Flavoring (vanilla), 1 teaspoon
Walnut meats cut in pieces, 1 cup
When the sugar, syrup, _one_ cup of cream and butter reached the
boiling point Betsey added the other cup of cream a little at a time so
that the candy did not once stop boiling.
After trying it in cold water, and it formed a firm ball between her
thumb and finger, she added the vanilla and nuts, turned it into a
buttered pan, marked into squares when cool, cut with a sharp knife
when cold and wrapped in waxed paper.
Betsey found that these took a long, long while to make, nearly an
hour, but my! weren't they worth it when she popped one into her mouth!
Plain Chocolate Caramels
Chocolate, 4 squares
Sugar (brown), 1 cup
Corn syrup, 1 cup
Milk, 1 cup
Butter, 1 heaping tablespoon
Flavoring (vanilla), 1 teaspoon
Betsey let the chocolate, sugar, syrup and milk boil until they formed
a hard ball in cold water, added the butter just before removing from
the fire, then the vanilla, and poured into buttered pan, marked in
squares when sufficiently cool, cut with a sharp knife when cold and
wrapped in waxed paper.
Chocolate Nut Caramels
Chocolate, 4 squares
Sugar (brown), 1 cup
Corn syrup, 1 cup
Milk, 1 cup
Butter, 1 heaping tablespoon
Flavoring (vanilla), 1 teaspoon
Walnut meats (cut in pieces), 1 cup
As soon as the chocolate, sugar, corn syrup and milk had cooked long
enough so that a little tried in cold water formed a hard ball, Betsey
added the butter to the mixture before removing from the fire. When
she removed the saucepan she added the vanilla and nuts, poured into
a buttered pan, marked in squares when sufficiently cool, cut with a
sharp knife when cold and wrapped in waxed paper.
Betsey found that all candies worth eating took time, patience and care
to make, yet she never seemed to tire of making them. Her enthusiasm
was just as fresh at each lesson and mother felt well repaid for her
time and trouble.
To be sure, Betsey had some failures, as most little girls do, but she
was never discouraged and kept on practising until she had mastered
every recipe.