Chocolate-Covered Caramel Nut Turtles

first in a pan boil water which boils at 212 degrees place your candy therm. in the water to make sure it is on, temp wise. adjust accordingly . i did as the recipe said. i only make a 1/2 batch so if i mess up it’s not quite as expensive. i set my timer for 10 minutes at 160 deg add the milk and raise my heat from med high to high while constantly stiring time is not necessary it just gives me an idea of about how long i have. when it gets to 225 watch it very close, temp. raises fast. when it gets to 236 i add the vanilla and take it off the heat right at 238 deg. place on a cooler burner add the pecans about 2 cups stir a minute or so keep on cooler burner and take gobs out 1 at a time. i put 2 to 3 pecans in a pile on semi greased cookie sheets let them cool a degree or two really makes a diff. in the hardness of the carmel. at 240 it’ s all-most too hard 236 almost too soft. although too soft is better than too hard the throw away stage.

Can I give zero stars??? Gale Gand USED to be a respected pastry chef, however notoriety has weakened her craft.

I stopped my carmel boiling @ 250 & result was hard as a rock. The video showed it was so simple & easy. Very disapointed!
Rose

Directions are not very comprehensive. For the amateur cook you should research the basics of making caramel before making the recipe. Helpful hints in the recipe directions should include:
1) make sure all the sugar is dissolved before bringing to a boil or the finished caramel will be gritty
2) do not stir the caramel when its boiling – swirl the pan instead
3) wash down any sugar crystals on the side of the pan with water
4) add salt to the recipe – i used 1 teaspoon
5) i boiled to 238 degrees as another comment suggested. caramel had perfect consistency
6) when boiling caramel, use lowest possible setting on the range that maintains the boil. If you cook on high the pan can easily scorch as you reach the end of cooking. Next time, i will try medium to med-high.

Hope these tips help.

This recipe didn’t include enough information. It was impossible to tell when the candy was ready, aside from waiting for the temp to reach 255 F. There was nothing that suggested what to expect as candy neared its finish. What should the consistency be like? Color? Smell? I didn’t know whether to stir or leave boiling candy to do its work. I had no idea if I was supposed to wait for candy to cool or use it while it was hotter.

Soft chewy and habit forming

As Josh from Tennessee discovered, 255 degrees will turn this caramel into hard rock candy. I adjusted the recipe as follows, with good results. Set your temperature goal at 238 degrees, cook to that temperature before adding the second cup of evaporated milk, then bring the caramel back up to 238 after adding the second cup. And stir gently, just to keep the caramel from burning to the bottom of the saucepan.

The first time I made this I ruined my candy thermometer and so I cooked it until it looked right and just before it started getting to the hard stage. I added chopped pecans instead of whole and I dropped them by spoonfuls onto wax paper. I cooled them down, and the caramel was moldable so I formed each into ball and dripped them in chocolate. My family loved them but suggested that I add more pecans next time.

Caramel turned dark and separated at 23O degrees. It turned into a greasy mess. I am an experienced candy maker and have never seen anything like this before.

I only cooked the caramel to 250 degrees, and I am very pleased with the results. I used walnuts instead of pecans and cut them up to dip in chocolate at higher than room temperature while they were still a little warm from cooking.