Pistachio and Rosemary Caramels...

I have no idea where the idea for this recipe came from, seriously. If anyone has ever made it before let me know because lately I have been on a candy kick but not really in an eating sort of way, more like an experimental, scientific endeavour trying to iron out some kinks especially with chocolate. That's a story for another day though and after finding an awesome recipe for plain caramel here it was time to add some life to it. I know adding nuts to caramels is nothing new in the candy world so when I decided to use pistachios I didn't just want to leave it at that. After staring at my spice rack for what seemed like a whole day but was really only about thirty seconds I saw the rosemary but I always like to use fresh herbs when possible so off to my semi-giant rosemary bush to pick some spears.
I had no idea how this would taste or if it would even work. I thought the caramel would give me some issues if a fresh herb was used but after the latest round of chocolate mishaps I just decided to try it and see what the result would be. This is where I need to pause so I can think of a good enough word to describe these caramels....they were really bloody good (a more polite version of what I really said).

 Creamy and crunchy, salty and sweet with a great fresh rosemary taste. I was really pleased with how they turned out and now my mind is racing with a whole bunch of different varieties of caramel for me to make. I just finished another batch and can't wait until it's cool enough to try, I'll let you know the flavor tomorrow but I was inspired from the land of the laua. I think I know what people are getting this year as a gift for the holidays.

Here's the recipe:

Prepare an 8 inch cake pan by lining it with some parchment paper.

2 cups of heavy cream

2 Cups of sugar

1/2 Cup of light corn syrup

1 Stick of butter

2 tsp of vanilla

12 oz's of chopped roasted/salted pistachios, shelled

1 Tbsp of fresh chopped rosemary

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

In a large pot melt the butter and then add the cream, sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and wait until the temp reaches 255 degrees on a candy thermometer. Be patient as it takes a little time and these caramels end up being a little more on the harder side which is just my preference.

When it reaches temp, take the pot off the heat and add the vanilla, chopped nuts and rosemary. Stir gently and pour into a prepared lined  8 inch baking pan. Sprinkle lightly with the sea salt and leave to cool for about 4 hours.

To cut the caramel slab once cool, use a very sharp small pairing knife and make 1 incision where you want to cut and then keep going along that line and you'll very quickly cut right through without cracking the bar. Although this seems like a difficult recipe it's actually very easy if you have a lot of patience and a good candy thermometer! I cut them into squares and wrap in some wax paper.