Averie Cooks

-1 Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, spray with cooking spray; set aside. Tips - Do not skip the parchment paper, or your life will be very difficult getting these caramels out of the pan! Leave overhang over the sides, so that you can easily grab it and lift it out later.
-1 In a small saucepan, and the heavy cream, butter, cocoa powder, instant espresso (don't confuse instant with regular ground espresso because instant will dissolve and regular will not), and cook over medium high heat until the butter has melted; stir nearly constantly.
-1 Turn off the heat, add the vanilla, stir to combine; set mixture aside.
-1 In a separate high sided saucepan (Tips - nonstick is better but it's okay if it's not a nonstick but it MUST be high-sided due to the all the bubbling that will ensue so it doesn't overflow), add the granulated sugar, corn syrup, and cook over medium high heat until the sugar has dissolved; stir constantly.
-1 Slowly, add the melted butter and heavy cream mixture, stirring constantly while you at it.
-1 If you have one, clip on a clip-on digital thermometer to the side of the saucepan, and bring the mixture to a boil and allow it to cook until it reaches exactly 245°F. Tips - Do not cook it less and do not cook it more, do not leave your kitchen and it may take 20 to 30 minutes for it to reach temperature, but keep an eye on the boiling liquid the whole time. You must use a thermometer, and cannot guess.
-1 When the mixture reaches exactly 245°F, using potholders and extreme caution, pour the hot liquid into your prepared pan with the parchment paper.
-1 Wait for approximately 7 minutes, and if desired, now you can sprinkle on as much flaky sea salt as you like. Don't do it before because the salt will just melt into the hot caramel mixture.
-1 Wait for 5 to 6 hours before slicing the caramels. Be patient, I do not recommend trying to speed this process up by placing the pan into the refrigerator or freezer because it can affect the final quality of the caramels and they can become granular.
-1 When you're ready to slice the caramels, lift out the parchment, paper by the sides, place it on a cutting board, and use a very sharp buttered knife to make the cleanest cuts. You can cut the caramels any size you like, but because they are rich, I cut them fairly small.
-1 I recommend wrapping the caramels in wax paper or decorative wax paper wrappers. You could technically also use parchment paper however, it doesn't "seal" as well as wax paper does for this purpose.
-1 Caramels will easily keep airtight inside a large Ziplock bag at room temperature for 1 month. There's really no need to refrigerate or freeze them and the moisture from the refrigerator can actually do more harm than good unless you're making these in a very hot climate and your house is hot.