Any suggestions (especially because of your work with the Bernachons) on how to incorporate liqueur into caramels? I’ve trolled the web looking for recipes and i can’t find anything that helps me to even make one up myself. For example, if the liqueur goes in at the sugar and corn syrup stage, it will boil off, but will the flavor remain without hurting the texture? Or, if added with the cream, will there be flavor, maybe some alcohol and still will it set adequately ,or if added at very last stage, will it affect the setting of the caramel? How to compensate for the additional liquid? substitute the vanilla with it? or give it up and just enjoy plain old caramel?
etc etc. If you have any advice without having to work hard to get it, I’d be grateful. I put this on the caramel sauce posting but got no answers so I am trying here.
Thanks.Virginia

VIRGINIA:
  Good afternoon & welcome to our culinary club. If the truth be known, I have no knowledge about making Caramels. But however
I have a good culinary imagination. Sooo, I put it too work for you. Virginia, I believe beside corn syrup & sugar water is employed
in making caramels??? is this so???. If so why can’t you add a little liquor flavored oil with the water???. Anyway my friend if you wish to go this route I have a place to go to in Mich. You can buy it there. If interested post back & I will provide you with the information.
  In any event, you can consider peppermint extract…but not to much. Good luck & enjoy the rest of the day young lady.

  ~FRESHKID.

Hi Virginia,

I saw your other post but, as I don’t have a definite answer, did not reply.  However, I do make a lot of caramel of all various consistencies from fillings to caramels for dipping in chocolate.  I have never added alcohol to caramel and am sure it would evaporate during the heating process.  Although I don’t use water in caramel, you can add liquids along with the sugar and, as Freshkid suggests, you could add flavourings at that point.  I add vanilla pod seeds to the sugar before melting it and then ‘fleur de sel’ at the very end after the butter.  I’m wondering if you heated the caramel a couple of degrees hotter than required and then added some liquid if you would end up with the same consistency???  It may mess up the chemistry, so maybe someone else can answer that.
Annie

I’ve made soft caramel candies and caramel sauce. Nothing fancy, just vanilla flavored. They usually call for cooking the sugar with a small amount of water until it turns a deep amber color. Then you add in more liquid—water, milk, cream, butter…  it bubbles up like crazy.

For the sauce, the recipe called for just pulling the mixture off the stove at that point and adding flavorings, like vanilla extract. I’d do that with the liqueur, too. If you’re using quite a bit of it and don’t want to thin the sauce down too much, just reduce the amount of other liquid you add.

For the soft caramel, the recipe called for further cooking to concentrate the mixture. For that one, you needed a candy thermometer. Again, my recipe called for adding vanilla extract after the caramel was taken off the heat. If you’re adding a whole lot of flavoring liquid as you take it off the heat, you might want to cook it to a slightly higher temperature to make up for diluting it more with the flavoring.