Timms - Salted caramel dreams: over 70 incredible caramel creations

I should have seen Fatties in my stars.

As a child, I was obsessed with sweets whether eating them from soggy paper bags or stealing change to buy pick n mix from the village shop. None of this has changed as I have grown up: reading recipe books from back to front, starting with the puddings and bakes, folding down pages and scribbling in margins; mains and starters decided upon only after dessert is determined; the sweet drawer in the kitchen fully loaded and the obligatory packet of biscuits hidden in my bedside cabinet. Through lifes ups and downs, sugar has been my constant, and it has taken me all the way to my very own Fatties Bakery.

Being a self-taught baker means that I have learnt to cook with flavours that I enjoy. I believe that it is impossible to cook something really delicious unless you cant wait to eat it or share it. Conducting the magical transformation from white sugar to dark, smoking caramel and taking it on so many journeys is a joy that I will never tire of, and is something I hope you will come to love too.

I wanted to make a book that demystifies caramel that turns it from something mystical and scary to something youll be whipping up with confidence and imagination. Caramel is such a versatile confection once youve mastered the basics, you can go on and experiment to your hearts content.

To begin, Ill guide you through the basic equipment, ingredients and techniques needed to make caramel successfully; how to store caramel; and what to do when things go wrong. Once you have mastered the basics, you can tread your own path into sticky greatness.

In the can be used interchangeably in most cases or flavoured however you like. The same goes with the use of sea salt. I use a large crystal, Welsh, white sea salt and I have given my recommended amounts, but if you love things really salty, add another pinch, or pull back a little if its not your thing. Theres a fantastic range of salts available in speciality stores; have a play to find your perfect partner.

Once you have all this under your belt, you can move on to Fatties greatness! Build a fort of , or throw a full-on Fatties party, complete with cocktails and cake!

Whatever you do, go forth with an appetite and indulge in your salted caramel dreams

Ingredients

Store cupboard essentials to start you on your sticky journey.

SEA SALTS

There are many different varieties of sea salt experiment to find your favourite flavour profile. When fine sea salt is required use a fine ground sea salt or grind your own in a pestle and mortar. NEVER USE TABLE SALT.

DAIRY

Always use the best dairy products you can. The tastier the cream and butter you start with, the tastier the finished product.

SUGARS

Caster (superfine) sugar forms the base of most caramels. It has a small grain that easily liquefies. Darker sugars can add caramel flavour to a recipe without the actual inclusion of caramel.

INVERT SUGARS

Invert sugars are mixtures of glucose and fructose. I like to use glucose syrup in my caramels for a clean flavour, but you can also use other inverts such as golden (light corn) syrup and treacle. Temperatures may need to be adjusted if substituting glucose syrup for natural inverts such as honey and maple syrup in recipes such as .

VANILLA

Vanilla pods, seeds and extracts are perfect for flavouring, but never use essence it can taste bitter and synthetic.

CHOCOLATE

Use the best chocolate you can. Dark should have at least 70 per cent cocoa solids, milk between 38 and 40 per cent, and white should have a minimum 30 per cent cocoa solids. Never use anything marked as chocolate coating or chocolate-flavoured.

Equipment

There are just a few items that you need before you get started on your caramel adventure.

HEATPROOF SILICONE SPATULAS

Heatproof spatulas are imperative when cooking at high temperatures to avoid molten plastic. Caramel can easily stick to wooden spoons but chips right off silicone.

HIGH TEMPERATURE DIGITAL THERMOMETER

A digital, instant-read probe or thermometer makes reading temperatures easy and clear. Unlike old-fashioned sugar thermometers, there isnt a submersion level, making it easy to measure small quantities as well as large.

LARGE, HEAVY-BASED PAN

This should have at least a 7-litre (12-pint) capacity. Heavy-based pans are great for even heat distribution. A light-coloured pan is perfect for making caramel as you can easily observe the colour changes; however, you just cant beat a copper sugar pan for perfect caramel cookery.

MINI BLOWTORCH

Strictly non-essential but super fun for toasting and charring all things mallow.

HEATPROOF PASTRY BRUSH

Great for washing away errant sugar crystals.

PORTIONERS

A set of metallic sprung-handled portioners is a great way to equally divide cookie doughs and batters to achieve uniform results.

SET OF MEASURING SPOONS AND A MINIMEASURING JUG

Useful for measuring small amounts of wet and dry ingredients.

SHARP, LONG-BLADED KNIFE

Makes slicing up chewy caramels a snip.

STAINLESS STEEL RULER

Extremely useful for neatly cutting caramels and their wrappings. Stainless steel rulers are durable and hygienic.

WHISK

A good whisk is essential for achieving smooth batters, sauces and custards.

Mise en Place

I have my neurotic moments, but trust me this isnt one of them. Being organised and having everything weighed out, laid out and to hand will make you the best caramel cook.

Things can move quickly when working with caramel. The last thing you want to be doing is running to the other side of the kitchen, grabbing the cream, weighing it out, warming it and only then being ready to add it to the cooking sugar.

Not only is it dangerous to leave a pan of hot sugar unattended, its possible that your caramel could turn from perfection to burnt in a matter of seconds, forcing you to start over.

You should always work calmly around caramel; you dont want to be sploshing things about in a panicked hurry.

The same should apply to equipment: it is useful to have clean set of spatulas, pans and cloths to hand.

Most importantly, this way of cooking leaves you calm, organised and ready to enjoy the joys, excitement and transformations of caramel making.