Quick & Easy Caramel Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are the two methods for making caramel? ›

Make absolutely certain the pan is clean AND your sugar is clean and free from impurities like dirt or residue. Sugar crystals can hook up with those impurities causing your caramel to seize and crystallize.

Heat sugar and water in a heavy-bottom, high-walled, light-colored skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is a deep golden amber color (caramel-colored) (this could take around 10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in butter. Whisk in heavy cream, stirring until smooth.

Caramel is made by heating sugar to the point where it melts, causing a breakdown of sucrose molecules into different flavor compounds. Think about the flavorless sweetness of white granulated sugar and the deep, dark complexity of caramel sauce.

For the "dry" caramel method, you simply heat the sugar in an empty pan until melted and caramelized. It's quick and direct, but the risk is that some parts of the sugar melt faster than others, and can burn before the rest had made it even to light amber.

The key to getting it right is to use soft caramels as opposed to hard. You must also add some sort of liquid, such as milk or cream, to prevent the caramels from drying out. Knowing these tricks will help you to melt caramels with ease.

Caramel can be produced in so many forms such as, sauce, a chewy candy, or a hard candy because of how much of an ingredient is added and the temperature it is being prepared at.

Carmel and caramel are not different spellings of the same word. Caramel is the correct spelling if you're talking about food or colors. Carmel is a misspelling when used in those contexts, but it is a word that can be used as a name for people or places.

There are 2 ways to make this superb caramel made from a can of condensed milk. You can boil a can in a saucepan for 3 hours or do it in a slow cooker. As a can of Dulce de leche will happily keep unopened in the pantry for months (as if!), I like to do a big batch – 4-6 cans at a time.

Why add butter to caramel? ›

Once the sugar has all dissolved and turned brown, we add butter. The heat of the caramel will melt the butter and create even more wonderful flavors.

The water evaporates, leaving sugar crystals behind. If even one sugar crystal falls back into the pan of cooking caramel, it starts a chain reaction of sugar crystals and the entire pan will harden. The result? Gross, grainy caramel that is unusable in most recipes.

Sugar Note: Most chefs say that only granulated sugar can be successfully caramelized; other sugars — such as brown sugar and unrefined sugar such as cane sugar — contain impurities that can inhibit caramelization. It's those impurities that can burn before the sugar has time to caramelize.

Dry caramel uses just sugar, while wet caramel features water in the manufacturing process. To make caramel, you'll need to heat the sugar to around 170 degrees Celsius. This temperature is the point at which its molecules break down and form new compounds.

In the dry method, you heat only the sugar, and its natural moisture releases as it is heated, which will turn brown and liquid. With the liquid method, you add water and an anti-crystallizing agent, such as lemon juice or cream of tartar, and then heat the mixture until it boils and then begins to darken in color.

Caramelization is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting rich, butter-like flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: caramelans (C₂₄H₃₆O₁₈), caramelens (C₃₆H₅₀O₂₅), and caramelins (C₁₂₅H₁₈₈O₈₀).

Carmel and caramel are not different spellings of the same word. Caramel is the correct spelling if you're talking about food or colors. Carmel is a misspelling when used in those contexts, but it is a word that can be used as a name for people or places.