Easy Autumn Spiced Caramel
I set out the other day, not necessarily to make an amazing fall treat to tempt your tastebuds, but I was desperate for something different to do with the abundance of goat milk I have from my lovely nubian dairy goats, Penny, Lillie and Daisy. So obviously I was on Pinterest trying to find something that sounded interesting other than 1000’s of different chèvre recipes (I love chèvre but I have been making it every week since march and I just needed a change) and I came across a picture of goat milk caramels, which eventually lead to this…. Now don’t leave! You do not have to use goat milk! You can make it with cow milk as well – so long as it is whole milk you should be good to go. You know what I really, really love about this recipe? NO STIRRING!!! Ok, actually there is a little stirring but not the vigorous, kill you arm kind of stirring. Have you made caramel before? While homemade caramel is the most amazing thing on earth (next to ice cream of course) I have a tendency to go, OH I just don’t feel like stirring it. Although it us totally worth it. However, in my mind if you can make a dark, rich, creamy caramel without stirring the blasted stuff…that’s a total win, win situation that must be taken advantage of. Now the spice part, you can use your favorite spice for this, or a combination of spices. I used cinnamon because my dear husband, Mr. Chemist, hates most of the delectable fall spices we all adore so much. Including ginger, nutmeg, cloves, all of them. The only one he loves is cinnamon. So I simply used a cinnamon stick. So mine caramel is a wonderful, warm and cozy cinnamon flavor. Oh for the love of dipping apple slices and eating ice cream, it is so good! Ok so check this out:
- 2 quarts whole goat or cow milk
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
- In a large pot, combine the milk, sugar and cinnamon stick. Place over medium low heat (especially if using goat milk as it is very delicate and cannot handle high heat) and cook and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved you can stop stirring but check on it frequently and give it a stir to make sure it doesn't burn onto the bottom of the pan.
- Once the mixture has come to a simmer, remove from the heat and carefully add the baking soda dissolved in water, it will bubble up but just stir it a bit until the bubbles settle down.
- Once the bubbles are nice and calm, place the pot back on medium low heat and bring it back to a simmer.
- Simmer the mixture keeping an eye on it and stirring once in a while until it turns a nice golden brown (about an hour), then keep a close eye on it as it thickens and turns to a deep caramel color.
- Once it is thick and dark, and before it starts to burn, remove from heat and pour into a container such as a mason jar. Allow to cool.
- It should keep in the fridge for about a month.
Thanks for the amazing recipe Rick Bayless!
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