Call it a flirtation, a fling, a fixation. Suddenly, we’re wild about caramel.
The mixture of tawny, melted sugar and cream is the flavor of the century so far. Sure, the millennium is young, but caramel is making serious inroads on the popularity of that 20th Century powerhouse, chocolate.
Caramel began sneaking onto the dessert menus of chic restaurants a couple of years ago. At the French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley, diners can enjoy caramel ice cream with a chocolate mille-feuille (a many-layered pastry). Banana cream pie with caramel sauce is served at Emeril’s in New Orleans, and warm banana tart with macadamia nut brittle is offered at Union Square Cafe in New York.
The caramel craze may have begun with creme brulee, a rich custard paved with an ultra-thin layer of caramel. The dessert has been popular for more than a decade and remains a staple in many restaurants.
Not content with merely topping pudding with the stuff, chefs began experimenting with other types of caramel, from liquid sauces to the thick, fudgelike ribbons that run through ice creams, bread pudding and cheesecakes.
Food manufacturers took note and came up with a host of caramel products. Starbucks sells a caramel frappe. Haagen Dazs hit a home run with its dulce de leche ice cream, in which, according to the carton, “ribbons of pure caramel wind lazily through rich caramel ice cream.”
Long history
Caramel has been around as long as sugar cane. In its purest form, it is simply sugar melted and simmered until it develops a rich flavor and an amber color. Sometimes the melted sugar is mixed with cream to produce a texture that remains soft even when cool.
Until sugar became widely available during the Renaissance, honey was the main sweetener in most of the world. Sugar proved to be much more versatile for candymaking, though, and soon was used for all kinds of candy, including caramel.
Caramel can be tricky to make at home. It tends to “seize”–return to its original crystalline structure–if a grain of uncooked sugar falls from the side of the pan into the melted sugar.
This problem is easily solved, though, by covering the pan with a lid. The sugar will melt beautifully every time when cooked in a covered pot.
With just two ingredients–sugar and water–everything from caramel sauce to brittle caramel sheets can be made. The texture of the finished product depends on how much water is added and how long the sugar-syrup is boiled.
Caramel is a passion in Argentina, where dulce de leche originated. This caramel is made in an entirely different manner, though. Sweet milk (sweetened, condensed milk) is simmered until it becomes thick and golden brown. The resulting caramel has a sweet, milky flavor and a thick, fudgelike texture. This is the caramel that is used in dulce de leche ice cream.
An old recipe for dulce de leche that some people still use calls for placing an unopened can of sweetened, condensed milk in a pan of water and simmering until the milk turns to caramel. This method is unsafe, though, because the can could explode.
A more painstaking but safer method is to transfer the milk from the can to the top of a double boiler and cook over simmering water for about two hours, stirring every five minutes. Carry around a cooking timer to remind you when to return to the kitchen and stir.
Homemade indulgences
We experimented and came up with recipes for homemade dulce de leche ice cream and a knockout caramel cheesecake.
For the ice cream, two cans of sweetened, condensed milk are caramelized, and half of the mixture is stirred into a custard base. When the custard is almost frozen, the remaining caramel is dropped in ribbons into the ice cream as it continues to churn in the ice-cream maker.
We used a countertop ice-cream maker with an open top to allow additions during churning. If you’re using an old-fashioned ice-cream maker that relies on ice and rock salt for freezing, add all of the caramel before processing.
The cheesecake is made with traditional caramel. Sugar is melted with water in a saucepan, then cream is stirred in. The dark amber mixture is used to flavor a portion of cheesecake batter. The flavored batter is swirled with plain batter in a springform pan, then baked. The resulting cheesecake has a deep, intense caramel flavor.
We decorated the top with panes of brittle caramel made by melting sugar and boiling it to the hard-crack stage, then cooling it on buttered plates. The cooling caramel was cut into wedges with a pizza cutter.
If you don’t have the time or the patience to make the caramel decorations, simply top the cheesecake with whipped cream and drizzle it with caramel ice cream topping.
Piece of cake.
Dulce de leche ice cream
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours
Chilling time: 2 hours
Freezing time: 1-2 hours
Yield: 1 quart
2 cans (14 ounces each) sweetened, condensed milk
3 cups whole milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Pour sweetened, condensed milk into the top of a double boiler. Cook over simmering water 1 1/2-2 hours, stirring every 5 minutes, until a golden caramel color. Pour half of mixture into a bowl; chill in refrigerator. Cool the other half to room temperature.
2. Heat 2 cups of the whole milk almost to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Whisk eggs in a bowl. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot milk into eggs, whisking rapidly to prevent eggs from cooking. Whisk eggs into remaining milk in saucepan. Stir constantly over medium-low heat until custard thickens and coats a spoon. Do not allow custard to boil. Remove from heat; stir in the room-temperature caramel, the remaining 1 cup milk and the vanilla. Refrigerate until very cold, about 2 hours.
3. Pour custard into an ice-cream maker; process according to manufacturer’s instructions, until ice cream is thick and almost done. Add chilled caramel by spoonfuls to mixture, allowing it to drip in ribbons. Process until done. Freeze until firm, 1-2 hours.
Nutrition information per 1/2 cup:
395 calories, 29% of calories from fat, 13 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 100 mg cholesterol, 58 g carbohydrates, 12 g protein, 185 mg sodium, 0 g fiber
Rich caramel cheesecake
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 54 minutes
Chilling time: 2 hours
Yield: 14 servings
Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons melted butter
Caramel:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup whipping cream
Cheesecake:
4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
Whipped cream, optional
1. For crust, combine crumbs and butter, mixing well with a fork. Press into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. For the caramel, combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat; stir well. Cover with a lid; cook until sugar turns a medium amber color, about 3 1/2 minutes after mixture heats to a boil. Remove from heat; stir 30 seconds. Slowly stir in cream, being careful to avoid spatters. Set aside.
3. For the cheesecake, beat cream cheese and both sugars in bowl of electric mixer at medium speed until soft and fluffy. Add vanilla and salt. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on lowest speed of mixer just until incorporated. Pour two-thirds of batter over crust. Beat caramel mixture into remaining one-third of batter. Pour caramel batter over plain batter in pan; swirl mixtures with a rubber spatula.
4. Bake until edges are firm but middle still wiggles, about 50 minutes. Remove from oven; cool. Chill 2 hours. Decorate with whipped cream if desired.
Nutrition information per serving:
665 calories, 56% of calories from fat, 42 g fat, 25 g saturated fat, 205 mg cholesterol, 64 g carbohydrates, 10 g protein, 485 mg sodium, 0.4 g fiber
