Caramel Recipe

Here's my recipe for honey caramels that won a blue ribbon at the fair!  It can be doubled if you want.  It takes time to bring them up to the right temp; you need a candy thermometer.  If you don't get to at least 260 degrees, they will be too soft and gooey.  If you go above 265 degrees they will be very chewy so watch that thermometer closely.  I pour the mixture into a pan and let it set up overnight and then cut it up the next day.  I cut the pieces into squares but they slowly morph into blobs unless you eat them right away.

Queen Bee Caramels

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup honey

½ cup sugar

¼ cup cream

¼ teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon dark rum

Sea salt or kosher salt

Directions

1)      Meltbutter in small saucepan on medium heat.

2)      Addhoney, sugar, cream and stir until melted.

3)      Bringup to 260F using a candy thermometer (hard ball), stirring occasionally.

4)      Removefrom heat and add vanilla and rum, stir carefully (mixture will bubble).

5)      Pourinto a pie pan or 8” x 8” pan that is lined with buttered parchment paper.

6)      Sprinklewith sea salt after  the mixture hasfirmed up slightly.

7)      Cutinto squares after cooled completely (overnight ideally).

8)      Enjoy!

 

 

 

Submitted by SarahKirkpatrick for the 2012 Spokane County Interstate Fair

Getting Ready for Fall

Our first frosts came this week. The bees are busy for a few hours in the mid-afternoon when the hives are in the sun but when it cools off they're staying inside where it's warm. The foragers that do make it out are bringing in lots of bright gold pollen. I wonder where it's coming from.
Both hives are heavy and full of honey so I hope they're ready for winter. I checked on the girls last week and Cam's hive is looking really good: the top box is full of honey and the bottom is packed with pollen and brood in the middle with frames of honey on the sides. Beautiful! Toby's hive is looking better: the new queen is getting up to speed and laying more eggs. There's a lot more brood than the week before which is encouraging. They have lots of honey too. It's getting too cold to do much more in the way of inspections so I think it's going to be up to the girls now. Yikes! I'll worry about them all winter until I check on them in early spring (March) to see if they survived the winter. I plan to sign up for the second-year beekeeping class next year so I can learn about the management of over-wintered colonies. Worst case scenario is both hives dying out during the winter. Best case is they both survive with a big population and are ready to rock and roll once the flowers start blooming. That might mean splitting a hive into two. Or seeing a swarm. Only time will tell. For now, I just have to get stuff stored away for winter. And eat honey!