keto Caramel
Adapted from Ann Reardon's recipe here: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/giant-snickers-bar-recipe/
Yield: 5 servings (6 if making caramel sauce)
Serving size: 1 tablespoon / 15ml
1/4 c + 2 Tb (85g) isomalt or sorbitol (**see the note below for using erythritol/xylitol instead of isomalt)
2.5 Tb (40g) cream (room temperature) (add only 30g for a stiffer chewy caramel, or 60g for a pour-able caramel sauce)
1 ts. butter (room temperature) (add 2 ts. for a pourable caramel sauce)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 teaspoon salt
(optional) 1/2 teaspoon molasses (for a deeper caramel color and butterscotch flavor)
2-4 drops of caramel/toffee flavoring (OR a mix of 1 drop imitation almond extract and 2 drops coffee extract)
a few drops of stevia for added sweetness
Combine your cream, vanilla, salt, molasses, and flavorings in a bowl and set aside.
Melt your isomalt in a pot on medium heat, watching carefully and swirling, until it reaches 100C. Immediately remove from the heat and dump in your cream mixture. It will steam and bubble up violently, so stand back a bit as you first begin whisking.
Once the misxture as come together and is smooth and viscous, immediately spoon or pour into your mould or container of choice and let cool at room temperature, or in an ice bath if making a larger quanitity (larger quantities of caramel will stay hot for so long that they will continue to cook the sweetener inside causing them to harden into a hard candy-like caramel instead of the chewy gooey texture we want).
This is super yummy with nougat and chocolate in a sugar-free Snickers bar copycat.
IMPORTANT:
If you substitute xylitol or erythritol for the isomalt, the end result will be a grainy broken mixture of fats and solids, as shown in the video. Isomalt resists crystalization, unlike xylitol and erythritol which would need special chemical additives to stay in emulsion.
**LOOPHOLE: If you want a lower-carb caramel SAUCE, as opposed to a thick candy, you can use erythritol in place of the isomalt and just avoid boiling off the moisture from the cream, simply heat all the ingredients together until the sweetener has dissolved and then it's finished. (The extra water content keeps the erythritol dissolved and prevents it from crystalizing like you see it do in the video).
For more information on sweeteners, please check my INGREDIENTS page.
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Nutrition info (per serving):
Please note that this info is calculated on a FREE website, so it may not be fully accurate: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
High-carb caramel: 117 kcal 19g net Carbs 18g Sugar 5g Fat 0g Protein
TPH caramel made with isomalt: 66 kcal 9g net Carbs 0g Sugar 5g Fat 0g Protein
TPH caramel SAUCE made with erythritol: 45 kcal 1g net Carbs 0g Sugar 5g Fat 0g Protein