Dairy Free Caramels
My family adores caramels! But this year, my oldest decided that we needed to master a dairy free option of this amazing little treat so…. much delicious experimentation later, we have a tried and true, totally vegan and organic caramel that can be made into chewy candies or a decadent sauce! I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.
Ingredients:
1.5 cups Sugar
1/4 cup Rice syrup
1 can Coconut Cream
4 TBSP Coconut Oil
1/2 - 1 tsp Salt
1-2 tsp vanilla or other extract of choice
optionally a few teaspoons of dry spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves…
Method:
In a medium sauce pot add the sugar and rice syrup, add just a little water to help the sugar start to melt.
In another pot add the remaining ingredients. Put both pots over low heat.
Stir the sugar mixture constantly to help it dissolve. Once the coconut oil and cream mixture is warm and uniformly combined you can turn it off and just leave it to the side.
When the sugar mixture begins to bubble slightly and is fairly dissolved, stop stirring. Now you watch until the mixture reaches the color you like, I usually go for a copper penny hue myself.
Once the desired color is reached, slowly and carefully add the coconut mixture into the sugar mixture, stirring continually the whole time. This will bubble up and spit so be careful!
Continue to heat over medium/low heat until the mixture thickens, around 250-300f. (My thermometer is not digital and definitely not very accurate so I don’t go much off of the temperatures…) When it starts to look gloopy and thick you can drop a bit in ice water to check the consistency. Cooking more = harder candy, less = softer. If you want a caramel sauce instead of chewy bites simply cook to around 220f, before it gets super gloopy in the pan, and pour into small canning jars.
Once it is done to your satisfaction, pour into a silicone or parchment lined mold (or into half pint canning jars if you made sauce) and allow to cool overnight.
If you are feeling particularly rebellious, I also can my caramel sauce for long term pantry storage. Simply add hot sauce to warm clean jars, leave about 1/2 inch head space and water bath for 10 minutes. This is not a USDA approved recipe for canning.
Once the caramel loaf is cool, slice, wrap in parchment squares, and enjoy within a month or two!
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