Chocolate coated caramels, The Sweet Swap

When I first found out about The Sweet Swap I was really excited and wanted to sign up for it straight away! But unfortunately I didn't know if I would be able to make it in time to send them off seeing that my exams were coming up. But in the end, nothing stopped me!! Ahaha I was super duper excited to get started!

The Sweet Swap is an event hosted by Sara from Belly Rumbles and Amanda from Chew Town where more than fifty bloggers across Australia made little sweet packages for each other. We each made a sweet and sent them to three other bloggers and in return we received three packages. The small registration fee was donated to the charity Childfund Australia.     

From the day of my last exam to the due date of sending the sweets off, I only had a few days (literally three days) to decide what to make, attempt it, make an edible batch, package it and then send them off! I was so worried if I could make them in time! 

Firstly, what to make!!

This brought me back to weeks ago when I got the Origin Energy freebie at Central Station which were Allens Fantales lollies (wrapped in Origin Energy packaging). I haven't eaten Fantales in years and boy did I forget how good they tasted. They were gone fast and before I knew it I was the the supermarket buying more Fantales. And yep, the big family size. Haha. And when I studied for my end of semester exams I had bags and bags of that stuff with me. I can't even remember how many packets I went through. So  after my exams I decided to make my own version of Fantales for The Sweet Swap.

I figured that since the caramel themselves were already quite sweet, I should probably just coat one side with chocolate. And unlike Fantales, my caramels were actually pretty soft so I was pretty worried about it melting with the chocolate in the mail. 

I sent these off to Tina from Bitemeshowme, Simon from The Heart of Food and Marian from Apricot Tart. I hope you all enjoyed it!

And for the sweets I received!! During those couple of days I was really excited to coming home and finding these lovely packages with lots of yummy sweets! I wish it would never stop and I could come home everyday to a lovely sweet surprise haha. 

The first package I received were these cute and colourful freckle shapes from Annie from The Random Foodie. Unlike Allens milk chocolate Freckles, these were bittersweet, which tasted even better!

  

The second package were Twix tartlets from Mary from Beyond Jelly. Man these were sooo goooood! I could not stop eating them. I love Twix and these tartlets were even yummier. I'm so happy that the recipes for The Sweet Swap are posted cause I'm definitely going to make these!

And my last package was hazelnut brittle from Wen from What's Mummy Up To. The mini butcher knife was so so adorable and such a lovely idea! Hehe I had lots of fun with that cute knife. And the hazelnuts smelled and tasted soo nice!

Chocolate coated caramels

Recipe adapted from theKitchn

Makes about 50 caramels

Ingredients:

1 cup thickened cream

55g unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp liquid glucose

1 ½ cup sugar

Cooking milk chocolate

Method:

Line a baking dish with baking paper and spray the sides with nonstick cooking spray. 

Place the salt, butter and cream in a saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts and then take it off the heat.

In a larger saucepan (the sugar will bubble up to three times its size) combine the liquid glucose, water and sugar. Using a dampened pastry brush, brush down the sides of the saucepan so there are no sugar crystals. Without stirring, bring it to a boil over medium heat.

When it reaches around 125C the syrup will darken to a light caramel colour. Whisk in the butter and cream mixture (make sure that you do not stop whisking). This is when the sugar bubbles up vigorously and grows about three times in size. When all the mixture is added in, stop whisking and let it boil again (without stirring). 
Let it boil to about 120C and then turn off the heat. Quickly whisk in the vanilla extract.

Pour the caramel into your prepared baking dish and place it on an even surface. Let the caramel set which can take from three hours or even overnight.

When the caramels have set, take it out of the dish and onto the chopping board. Using a sharp knife, cut the caramel into any shape or size you like.

Place the caramels onto the baking paper. 

Using the microwave or a double boiler, melt the cooking milk chocolate. Coat one side of the caramel with the chocolate and allow for the chocolate to harden. 

Wrap each caramel in baking paper. If the caramels are still soft, place them in the fridge for a bit longer before eating. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the lovely sweets! I really enjoyed The Sweet Swap experience and thank you to Sara and Amanda for this lovely event and all the effort you put in organising and creating it. Thank you! I can't wait for it to happen again next year!

Hope you have a lovely week, 

E
xx