I was looking for a candy recipe for someone who likes “burnt” flavors and I came across Leche Quemada, which seems to be more or less Mexican praline. I chose a recipe that called for 2.5 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, a can of evap milk and 4 T butter, but made a couple of changes. First, I tossed in a half can of dulce de leche I had lying around, and second, I tried bumping up the deep caramel flavor by cooking one cup of the sugar to deep amber (hard crack) first, allowing it to cool, then remelting it with the rest of the ingredients. The flavor is exactly what I was hoping for, but the texture is caramel, period. No amount of beating got me to the praline texture.
So, candy experts - what’s the culprit? Did I ruin the crystal structure of the sugar by pre-cooking part of it to hard crack? The caramels themselves were cooked to 237 and ended up with a lovely texture (for caramel), but not what I was after. Appreciate your insights, HOs!
