Vaniljkola: Vanilla Caramels

I got the recipe for Vaniljkola: Vanilla Caramels years ago while working at a bakery in San Francisco. Although they are not Swedish, I decided to include them in my 12 Days of Christmas YouTube series in 2022, which had a Swedish theme. I felt justified because these caramels are quite popular here in Sweden. I have also made vaniljkola while working at a bakery in Stockholm, but I prefer the recipe I got in San Francisco, so that’s the one we’re using here.

Vaniljkola

These caramels are incredibly buttery, chewy, and have a great vanilla flavor. It is important to use vanilla bean in this recipe instead of vanilla sugar or extract. While both of those options work well in baking, they won’t give the same result as using vanilla bean. If you can’t find vanilla bean, you can simply omit it. These caramels are still fantastic even without the vanilla flavor. If you like, you can easily turn them into salted caramels by adding a sprinkle of flaky salt on top before wrapping them.

Glucose 

I should also mention the importance of glucose in this recipe. Glucose plays a crucial role in giving the caramels their desired texture and helps prevent crystallization. If you can’t find glucose, you can substitute it with corn syrup. While corn syrup is similar to glucose as it contains a significant amount of glucose, it also includes other sugars.

Safety Precautions

 When working with hot sugar syrups, it is vital to exercise caution. The syrup reaches extremely high temperatures, so please be very careful throughout the entire process.

Vaniljkola: Vanilla Caramels make fantastic gifts as they stay fresh for quite a while at room temperature. I’ve personally had them sitting out, wrapped, at home for a month, and they tasted just as good as the day they were made.

Print Recipe

Vaniljkola: Vanilla Caramels

Vaniljkola are vanilla caramels. They're buttery! They're chewy! They're delicious! They’re perfect for gifting or enjoying yourself.

Ingredients

• 400 g cream
• 400 g sugar
• 40 g honey
• 240 g glucose
• 1 vanilla pod
• 20 g butter
• 1 g salt

Instructions

• In a large pot, combine the cream, sugar, honey, and glucose.
• Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod and add them to the pot.
• Place the pot on the stove over medium-high heat and stir the mixture continuously to prevent sticking or burning.
• Bring the mixture to a temperature of 116°C (241°F). Add the butter as soon as it reaches this temperature and continue stirring.
• Continue heating the mixture until it reaches a temperature of 118°C (245°F). Once it reaches this temperature, turn off the heat.
• Add the salt to the caramel and stir well to combine.
• Line a small baking dish with parchment paper and pour the caramel into it. Allow the caramel to cool and set overnight.
• To make the wrapping papers for the caramels, take pieces of parchment and fold them in half.
• Press down the folded edge with an offset spatula and then slide it through to create a clean cut.
• Repeat the folding and cutting process until you have the desired size of paper.
• Cut the cooled caramel into individual pieces and wrap each piece in a piece of parchment paper.
• Enjoy your delicious homemade caramels!

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