Lunch: Beer and Pretzel Caramels

This recipe so embodies everything about us and why we started Liddabit that we just had to share it. It's a little out-there, it's fun, it's delectable; there's a good hit of salt and a touch of bitterness. We had to do a lot of improvising to come up wi

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Barley

Health benefits of Beer and Pretzel Caramels

Barley is about the best grain a woman with PCOS can eat. It is low in calories and has the lowest GI of all grains. Low-GI grains such as barley take much longer to digest and create a slow, steady rise in blood glucose and insulin levels. As mentioned before on Fertility Chef, low-GI foods reduce cravings. If possible, try and find hulled barley as it is the most nutrient dense of all types of barley.

Ingredients

7 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. unsalted butter
1 c. heavy (whipping) cream
3 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. barley malt syrup (see below)
1 tbsp. barley malt syrup (see below)
2 tsp. fine sea salt
4 tbsp. Beer Reduction
1 tsp. Beer Reduction
2 1/2 c. crushed and sifted crunchy pretzels (see below)
1 tsp. coarse sea salt

Instructions

Grease the bottom and sides of the baking sheet with the 1 teaspoon butter, and set it aside on a heatproof surface.
Combine the cream, sugar, malt syrup, fine sea salt, and the 7 tablespoons butter in a large (6- to 8-quart) stockpot. Stir a couple of times with the heatproof spatula just to make sure there aren’t any big clumps of dry sugar, and then bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium and insert the candy thermometer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 252 degrees F (hard ball stage), about 20 minutes. (Watch it closely: once it reaches 240 degrees F(soft ball stage), after about 15 minutes, you’ll want to stay nearby and stir it more frequently as it tends to scorch on the bottom of the pot.) Remove the pot from the heat.
Stir in the Beer Reduction, then the pretzels and coarse sea salt. Mix thoroughly, scraping the bottom of the pot several times to incorporated everything.
Put on your oven mitts and carefully (seriously—please be careful!) pour the caramel onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out with the spatula, distributing the pretzel pieces as evenly as possible. Allow it to cool until it’s firm to the touch, 1 to 2 hours.
Run the tip of a sharp chef’s knife around the edges of the baking sheet to loosen the caramel. Turn it out onto the lined cutting board, cut it into 1- by 1 1/2-inch pieces, and wrap them in the wax twisting papers.
Store the caramels in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks (let them come to room temperature before you eat them!).
Beer Reduction: Pour the contents of 3 of the bottles into a large (6 to 8 quart) pot, and place it over high heat. Stir frequently to dissipate the carbonation and prevent the liquid from boiling over. Once the beer is at a rolling boil, slowly add another bottle and, stirring constantly, bring to a boil again. Repeat until all the beer is in the pot.
Cook the beer over high heat, stirring constantly, until all the carbonation has dissipated and it's no longer in danger of boiling over, about 20 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the volume of the liquid is dramatically reduce (to about 1/2 cup) and the reduction has the consistency of real maple syrup (it will thicken to the consistency of fakey pancake syrup as it cools). Remove from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.
Store the reduction in an airtight container. It will keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.