Soft Rum Caramels

The kitchen is in full winter mode. The oven at 375 (always 375), the crockpot on the counter, the pantry stocked with jars from last August's canning — the evidence of a woman who preserves summer against winter and loss against forgetting and food against everything.

Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made Christmas fudge earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.

The cookie season has ended and the soup season has settled in. The kitchen smells like broth and thyme and the slow simmer of food that takes hours and rewards the hours with warmth. Winter cooking is patient cooking. The patience is Marlene's gift. The cooking is mine.

The Christmas fudge I made earlier this week got me thinking about the other sweet things that belong to this season — the ones that take patience and reward it. Soft rum caramels are that kind of candy: slow, deliberate, and deeply satisfying in the way that only winter cooking can be. Marlene made things like this. Now I do too, and that feels exactly right.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes + cooling | Servings: 48 caramels

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons dark rum
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Flaky salt for topping (optional)

Instructions

Prepare the pan. Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on two sides. Lightly butter the parchment and set aside.
Combine and heat. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, sugar, corn syrup, and butter. Stir gently until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.
Cook to temperature. Clip a candy thermometer to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 245°F (firm-ball stage), about 25–30 minutes. Watch the heat carefully — patience matters here.
Add rum and vanilla. Remove from heat and carefully stir in the dark rum, vanilla extract, and fine sea salt. The mixture will bubble up briefly; keep stirring until smooth.
Pour and cool. Pour the caramel into the prepared pan without scraping the sides of the saucepan. Sprinkle with flaky salt if desired. Let cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours, or until fully set.
Cut and wrap. Lift the caramel slab out using the parchment overhang. Use a sharp knife to cut into 1x1-inch squares. Wrap individual pieces in wax paper or parchment squares and twist the ends to seal.

Nutrition (per serving)

Soft Rum Caramels — The Kitchen That Grows