How to Keep Melted Caramel From Hardening

Recipes

We received a question from our website to this effect: "If I use your Cocomels in a pie, will they reharden once the pie has cooled or will they remain in a sauce-like consistency? If they will reharden, what can I do to make them more syrupy?"

The answer is that they will likely reharden.  It works like this:  Cocomels get harder as moisture leaves the candy.  Cooking cooks moisture out of the candy, leading to a firmer texture once cool.  If, however, you have a lot of moisture in your pie (from berries etc) that moisture might actually soften the Cocomels during the cooking process.

How to keep Cocomels from hardening during baking

Therefore, if you want Cocomels in your baked good to be as soft or softer than they currently are, and don't feel like you have enough moisture in your baked good to soften the Cocomels during cooking, you will have to soften your Cocomels before baking so that when the moisture gets cooked out of them they end up where you want.

Best ways to use organic, dairy free caramel as an ingredient

Cooking your Cocomels in a liquid (like canned coconut milk, water or something fun like chai tea, coffee, etc…).  

To do this, use about 1/4 of liquid per 1/2 pound of Cocomels, dissolve the Cocomels into it, stirring the whole time, and cook the resulting sauce to a temperature (as shown by a candy thermometer) that matches the consistency you want. (see this post for some more insight into melting Cocomels into a liquid - How to make Cocomel apples)

  • 220-230 F for a sauce
  • 230-240 F for a loose and saucy caramel (could be good for baking)
  • 240-250 F a chewy caramel
  • 250 F and up,  a more brittle caramel

One note: be careful of Cocomel that sits on the bottom of a dish as that can burn during baking.

Share your delicious coconut milk caramel creations

Let us know how it goes, we'd love to hear how your creations turn out. Tag us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and we might even share them with our followers!

JJ



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