These Root Beer Float Caramels are made using premium vanilla ice cream, heavy cream, sugar, butter, and root beer extract.
These Root Beer Float Caramels are my last creation for Summer Dessert Week.
I hope you liked all the concoctions I came up with.
Special thanks to Angie at Big Bear’s Wife for hosting the event once again.
It really helps me get creative during the summer when I tend not to bake or make too many things.
These caramels were based off my chocolate ice cream caramels I made back in 2019.
Be sure and get a really high end ice cream that has lots of fat.
You need that or else you are going to get really runny caramels.
If you love root beer floats…you will love these caramels.
Ingredient Highlights:
Melted Premium Vanilla Ice Cream :
Using a high quality vanilla ice cream packed with butterfat gives the caramels a rich, creamy base and imparts that unmistakable vanilla float flavor. I used Haagen Dazs.
Heavy Cream: I use a 40% butterfat heavy cream. Most stores carry 30% or 36%. Try and find the highest butterfat content you can.
Unsalted Butter:
Butter contributes to the creamy texture. Unsalted butter gives you full control over the saltiness,
Granulated Sugar: While you can use regular granulated sugar, I tend to use extra fine when dealing with candy.
Lyle’s Golden Syrup:
This British classic adds a subtle, buttery sweetness and helps prevent crystallization for smooth, glossy caramels. Light corn syrup can be used as a substitute, but Lyle’s brings a touch of caramel richness.
Root Beer Extract:
You can use whichever one you like. While 1 TBSP seems like a lot, you need that to get the root beer flavor in the candy.
Tips for making successful Caramels:
Get a good thermometer.
There are a lot of variety of thermometers out there for candy.
I prefer a digital laser thermometer (link to the one I use is in the recipe) but you can use the old fashioned kind that hand on the side of the pot.
When making candy, especially fudge but even caramels I like to use a superfine sugar.
If you don’t want to spend the extra money (like me) for the special sugar just put it in the food processor and pulse a few times.
Have all your ingredients out and measured before you start.
Candy making is about timing and if you have to measure out as you go there is a good chance things won’t turn out.
Be patient.
This one is hard for people.
I taught Jr. High for years so I have a lot of patience.
Candy making takes time.
Don’t stir.
You will want to but don’t do it.
Don’t scrape the bottom.
Often in the caramelization process the bottom of the pan will get a little more brown than you want.
So don’t scrape that into the pan.
Just let what caramel comes out…come out.
Don’t touch.
You may be tempted to stick your finger in there to see how it taste.
It tastes like burnt off finger if you stick your finger in there.
Welcome to this year’s #SummerDessertWeek event hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife. We’ve got 10 spectacular bloggers/ blogs creating some of the best summer desserts this week and sharing the recipes! We will be sharing our recipes on our blogs (some of those recipe links posted in this post) and on social media with the hashtag #SummerDessertWeek
We hope you’ll find some new favorite recipes this week and have fun with us as we celebrate summer!
- No-Churn Banana Nutella Swirl Ice Cream from Big Bear’s Wife
- Strawberry Blueberry Cheesecake Dip from Semi-Homemade Recipes
- Blueberry Shortcakes with Lime and Ginger from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
- Preserved Lemon Loaf Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Strawberry Shortcake Trifle from Our Crafty Mom
- No-Bake S’mores Parfait Cups from Easy Recipes For One
- Strawberry Fluff Fuit Dip from For the Love of Food
- Root Beer Float Caramels from Sweet ReciPEAs
Want more Caramel recipes?
Root Beer Float Caramels
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup melted premium vanilla ice cream (the higher the butterfat the better)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 TBSP. unsalted butter
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 TBSP Lyle’s Golden Syrup (or light corn syrup)
- 4 TBSP water
- 1 TBSP root beer extract
Instructions
- Line a 8-x-8-inch pan with parchment paper, and spray with cooking spray.
- In a 2-cup glass measuring cup, add the heavy cream, vanilla ice cream, butter and salt.
- Microwave in 30 second pulses until melted and steaming. Set aside.
- In a 2-quart saucepan (seriously, don’t use a smaller one-it boils up), add the sugar, Lyle’s Golden Syrup and water.
- Turn the heat to high, and cook without stirring until it reaches between 290-295 degrees.
- Turn the heat off.
- Slowly stream in the heavy cream mixture, and whisk gently.
- Turn the heat back to high, and cook without stirring until it reaches 250F degrees.
- Turn off the heat, and add the root beer extract.
- Whisk gently to combine.
- Immediately pour the mixture into the loaf pan; do not scrape the bottom of the pan.
- Cover with foil.
- Let sit for a few hours, or overnight. If your house it too hot then place in fridge for about 2 hours.
- Slice into desired shapes and wrap individually in wax paper.
Leave a Reply