Chocolate Walnut Caramel Petit Fours

Pick a caramel, any caramel...

This is a quick post on some of the petits fours that I made for a joint French-inspired dinner the other week.  I thought I got off quite easily, with only the sweets and entree (of oysters) to prepare.  Until I decided to do three lots of petits fours...

Here is the first temptation: Chocolate-covered walnut caramels. 

{Deep voiceover}:

Experience the joy of tender, bite-sized pieces of gooey caramel, studded with walnuts and dipped in rich.dark.chocolate.  

Chocolate Walnut Caramels

makes about 50

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, chopped

385g (1 tin) sweetened condensed milk

1 tblsp golden syrup

160g soft brown sugar

3/4 cup walnut pieces (or walnut crumbs)

300g dark chocolate, melted

Method

1.  Mix the butter, condensed milk, golden syrup and brown sugar in a saucepan over low heat.  Stir until the butter melts and the sugar has dissolved.  Increase heat so that the mixture slowly boils, and stir for 10 minutes until it leaves the side of the pan.

2.  Remove from the heat and stir walnuts into the caramel, then pour into a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin lined with baking paper. Leave to set at room temperature.

3.  After the caramel has set, remove from the tin and cut into 8 pieces.  Roll each piece into a log about 2.5cm (1 inch) thickness.  Place the logs onto a paper-lined tray and refrigerate 2 hours or until firm.

4.  Remove caramel logs from the fridge and cut into 2cm (3/4 inch) pieces.  Dip the pieces into the dark chocolate - use a fork to dip and drain. Place the caramels onto a paper-lined tray, top with some walnut crumbs, then refrigerate until the chocolate sets.

Caramels will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Recipe adapted from Petits Fours (Murdoch Books)

Ingredients

Look at all that sugar and condensed milk (dentists, look away).

The caramel will firm up, then it's rolled into wobbly logs (the caramel is quite soft).

I really didn't feel like dipping all those caramels, so some were wrapped in greaseproof paper.  Without the chocolate coating, the caramels are fudgey and moreish. 

An army of dipped walnut caramels.

These choc walnut caramels are perfect with coffee.

And here is a sneak peek of the other petits fours...

Something to look forward to!