Sharing two of my favorite floral-infused caramels: lavender and rose. The lavender is made by steeping dried buds directly into the cream, giving it a softly perfumed, herbal note. The rose is finished with a touch of extract at the end, keeping the flavor delicate and clean. Both are dreamy in their own way—perfect for filling cookies and cakes, or drizzled over ice cream.
How to Enjoy
Cookies. Thumbprint and Linzer Cookies. For the photos, I used my go-to sourdough linzer cookie recipe adding the seeds from 1-2 vanilla beans + 1 tsp vanilla extract. You can also add a few tablespoons to chocolate chip cookie dough.
Cakes and Cupcakes. I especially love these caramels paired with chocolate cake.
Drizzle over ice cream, brownies, or apple pie. Fresh apples with lavender caramel is a dreamy combo.
Stir into lattes. I adore lavender paired with coffee.
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Floral Caramel
Ingredients
Lavender Infused Cream
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
1-2 tablespoon culinary lavender
Lavender Caramel
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon (160 grams) lavender infused heavy cream
½ teaspoon flaky salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract (optional)
Rose Caramel
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon (160 grams)
3/4 teaspoon flaky salt
Seeds from 1/2 scraped out vanilla bean pod or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1-2 tsp rosewater
Instructions
Lavender Caramel
- Add the heavy cream and the lavender to a small saucepan, on medium-high heat; allow this to come to a low boil, then remove from the heat. Let this cool for one hour. To cold infuse place the lavender into a jar, gently heat the cream and pour over the lavender, refrigerate overnight. Strain the cream giving it a good press or squeeze, to extract as much of the floral flavor as you can.
- To a medium-sized saucepan, add the cup of sugar. Heat, swirling the pan occasionally but not stirring, until the sugar has evenly turned a golden amber color, about 8 to 10 minutes
- Lower the heat, and add the butter, tablespoon by tablespoon, stirring until melted and combined. If it starts to seize or get greasy and clumpy, take the pan off the heat for a moment and whisk vigorously until it’s combined, and put back onto the heat.
- Slowly pour in the lavender infused heavy cream, stirring continuously until it is well combined. Let it sit and cook (without stirring) until the caramel reaches 220 for a drizzling caramel and 234-238F for a thicker caramel for filling cakes and cookies. Remove from the heat and stir in the salt and vanilla if using. Transfer to a container and allow to cool before storing it in the fridge. It will be quite thin but will thicken up as it cools.
Rose Caramel
Follow the method above, starting with step 2. Add the rosewater at the end with vanilla and salt.
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