Note: This recipe has been updated on 10th July 2016. Changes include: new photos, text & clearer recipe instructions.
I’m not over exaggerating when I say that these are one of the most delicious candies I’ve ever tasted.
Sweet, comforting toffee caramels with an amazingly chewy but soft texture. Made out of purely coconut products!
This recipe came about when I was trying to create a “butter tablet” using coconut cream, instead of dairy cream, coconut oil, instead of butter and coconut sugar instead of ordinary sugar.
What I ended up with wasn’t a butter tablet but it was the most amazing toffee! I really don’t know what to call it. Is it toffee? Is it caramel? It’s got a natural treacle-y sweetness so I settled for “treacle toffee” but these could also work as salted caramels.
Whatever they are, they’re amazing.
These candies make the perfect gift, especially when you wrap them up individually. It’s so simple!
You just get some greaseproof paper and cut it into squares (roughly 4 x 4 inch) then place the candies in the centre, wrap either side and twist the two sides to create a classic sweet wrapper.
I got this idea from Zoe at Minor Goods. She made my toffee last year and posted this amazing photo on Twitter of them wrapped up. I loved the idea so I had to incorporate that into my new photos for this recipe!
Side note: If you’re looking for beautiful, rustic homewares or food props – you need to check out Minor Goods. So many gorgeous bowls, spoons and linens.
Anyway, onto the recipe. These toffee caramels are:
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
- Soy-free
- Nut-free
- Gluten-free
- Grain-free
- Paleo-friendly
- Refined sugar-free
Salted Caramels (Vegan + Paleo)
Indulgent, sweet toffee caramels made entirely from coconut products!
Ingredients
- 400 g / 2¼ cups coconut sugar
- 750 ml / 3 cups coconut cream, you can also use coconut milk that has been refrigerated. Simply scoop the "fat" from the top of the tin
- 6 tbsp coconut oil
- A generous pinch of sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, optional
Instructions
- Line an 8×8 baking tray with greaseproof paper and put to one side.
- Tip all ingredients into a large pot on the stove and bring to a boil.
- Stir the ingredients as it reaches boiling point, then turn down to a medium heat. Keep stirring!
- Maintain the medium boil and stir every so often, for about 20 minutes or until it's reduced and thickened. To test if it’s ready, using a spoon, drop a piece of the mixture onto a tray and it should turn solid within a minute. If it remains liquid, then it’s not ready.
- Carefully pour the contents into the baking tray and leave to cool and set.
- If the mixture has separated slightly, don't panic. This happened to me on one occasion but it still turned out perfectly!
- Let it set in the fridge for about an hour before cutting into small caramel pieces.
- (Optional) wrap in small squares of greaseproof paper for easy storage or to give as gifts!
- Keep at room temperature and store for up to 1 month (if you can last that long without eating them all...)
A few reader remakes:
[color-box color=”green”]If you’ve tried one of my recipes, I would love to see and hear about it! Leave a comment below and tag your social media posts with #WallflowerKitchen :-) [/color-box]
I made 1/3 of this recipe because I was almost out of coconut sugar, but it turned out perfect! This is such a great recipe!
I substituted a few things like the coconut milk for milk and heavy whipping cream, and the coconut oil for butter, because I’m not a huge coconut fan, but they were delicious!
I’m definitely going to get more coconut sugar and make the full batch
I can’t wait to give these to my mom for Easter… if I don’t eat them all
Thank you!
Great to know it works with substitutions and I’m so pleased you enjoyed it. Thanks for the comment, Hannah!
I used white sugar to replace the coconut sugar and it got a completely new delish flavor that I had not tasted before in any other candy. I recommend trying it!
Glad to hear that it works with white sugar too! Thanks Katie
Has anyone tried using maple syrup or powdered agave as the sweetner and using caramel extract for the flavoring. Im not a lover of coconut and have never liked the taste so are there any other substitutions that will work? I will maybe try and post if it works!!! Thanks
Hi Lea! If you’re not a fan of coconut, I wouldn’t recommend this recipe. Although the coconut flavour is not overwhelming, it’s still going to taste a bit coconutty (as it’s made from all coconut products). I’m not sure what the result of using a different sweetener would be but the coconut sugar is the least coconutty ingredient in this recipe, if you know what i mean! I would swap the coconut oil (for vegan butter maybe) and milk (maybe cashew milk/cream) instead.
These look great! I’m excited to try this recipe out. Would it be a 1:1 swap for both the milk (using cashew milk instead) and the oil (using vegan butter)? Thanks!
Hi Sarah, I’ve not experimented with those swaps but I think it could work, seeing as cashew milk has some fat. Just make sure it’s not too watery and that you melt the butter first before measuring. I imagine it might be more chalky and less chewy though. Let me know how it turns out!
Stevia worked for me!! They are delicious..
COULD I USE A NATURAL SUGAR FREE SWEETENER INSTEAD OF COCONUT SUGAR?.
Hi Kelly, I’ve not tried any other sweetener with this recipe so not sure how it would turn out. Coconut sugar has a strong caramel taste which is important in this recipe.
Absolutely delicious! I made these for my family and we can all agree that they are amazing, my mum even tried to convince my dad that they weren’t good just so that she could have more for herself. The only minus is that the amount of salt is far too small if you want it to be a salted caramel, so I’d suggest using 4 pinches of salt instead of one (I used 3 pinches and we all agreed that it needed more salt); sprinkling some salt on top doesn’t hurt either. It also takes about 1 hour rather than 20 min, but it is well worth the time. Can’t wait to make these again
I made this and coated it in chocolate taste like fantales amzingg just a question would you happen to know how many calories per piece please?
So it is boiling for over an hour now. The volume has reduced, but it is still liquid and no sign of that nice caramel color. So much of such good products down the drain. Waste of time and money…
These are to die for. Took me about 50 min to get it as thick as I wanted. I mixed in peanuts and put it between the base a chases cake layer. Should look great.
This recipe worked out perfectly for me! Idk if it was my pot or stove though because it took me 1 1/2 hours for me to get to the right consistensy. But they still turned out delicious :)
Can I make these using any kind of sugar? I”m out of Coconut and wondering if Raw Cane sugar will work as well?
Caramel consistency is really good- they have a strong coconut flavor at first taste which mellows out and then you get a hit of roasted coconut at the end. For folks who can’t eat dairy they were pleased, but straight up if you don’t care for coconut you likely won’t like these. I’m really curious though to do some experimenting of my own based off this recipe to see if I can get the coconut aftertaste down.
These look so good! Could they be melted down and used to make caramel apples?
That is an amazing idea, Josie! I would just use the boiled mixture to coat the apples and let them set. You probably could melt down the set ones too though. Let me know if you try that – I might give it a go too!
Hi, I just tried this recipe. I was hesitant after reading comments that it didn’t come together so well and seeing no comments on success but I decided to give it a shot anyway. So far the result is fantastic…the toffee is in the refrigerator right now so we’ll see what happens when I try to cut them but so far, so good. I do have a couple tips… first, make sure to use coconut cream or as Aimee suggests, scoop the cream off the top of cans of full-fat coconut milk that has been chilled so the cream is solid. That’s what I did and it took three cans to get the three cups of coconut cream. You have to be super careful not to include the leftover coconut water. Second, I chose to use a candy thermometer and cook the mixture, stirring constantly until boiling, then about every five minutes until it reached the “firm ball” stage, about 245-248 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, this took nearly and hour for me, so if it’s coming together after 20 minutes as the recipe suggests, my guess is that it’s being heated at a relatively high temp. Third thing, when I poured it into the pan after it had reached the ‘firm ball” stage, there was a lot of toffee that clung to the pot, I scraped all of that into my lined pan and stirred it really well. The mixture cooled and set quickly with no separating although it did separate a lot during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. I just kept whisking every five minutes, though and it did reduce and thicken as the recipe indicates. These are going to make such a yummy addition to the treat boxes we’re putting together for teacher gifts. Between my two children, we have 15 teachers to get Christmas gifts to. Starbucks cards were out of the question this year as I am not independently wealthy! Thanks for creating such a delicious vegan toffee recipe! I rated it at four stars, only due to the differences in cooking times for me but the taste is a total five stars:)
Mine set nicely but separated drastically near the end, and is just sitting on the top of my tray – I’ll have to pour it off… It’s such a shame I did try whisking it in but it just wouldn’t… Any way to avoid this? Hear it slower or faster or something .. Tastes and smells amazing but I really want that cold coconut fat in the end result!!
These look SO good! I’m just starting to get more experimental with vegan baking, so these are going on my list to try! How fun!
Thanks Lauren! I will definitely be making some again for Christmas :-)
I tried the recipe too and it hasn’t hardened at all, I stirred and boiled it down to a semi paste and refrigerated but still not hard like toffee.
Hi Susan, I’m really sorry to hear that. I can’t think what could be the problem. I’ve made this so many times without this happening so it’s hard to know what could be causing it not to harden. I will try and make a video of the recipe soon. Apologies it didn’t work out for you.
I tried this recipe and it never hardened. I boiled it for more than 20 minutes and the oil just kept separating. What does tip all the ingredients in the pan mean. I would love to try it again. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks
Oh I’m sorry to hear that Denise! I’ve made this a few times now and never had it not harden… You just put all the ingredients together in a pan. Did the mixture thicken? Did you do the drop test to see if it hardened at room temperature? It never hardens completely, it just becomes thick and toffee-like. The oil does tend to separate but I find as long as you keep stirring/whisking every so often, it turns out fine. Let me know if you need any further advice and hope it works out next time!
I will be trying it again because it looks delicious. Thank you for your response. It is 6 tablespoons of coconut oil not 6 teaspoons, correct?
Denise
Yes, tablespoons. Hope it works out well!
I think one possible reason some folks may not be getting the right texture is the difference between weight and volume measurements. The coconut sugar in particular was a good bit short when measured by volume and indeed this is typical of granulated sugar products. I too had it not seeming to firm up for quite a while. When I added the missing amount of sugar by weight it started thickening pretty quickly. So I’d recommend *only* using the weight measurement there. Of course this means you need a scale, not just a measuring cup. But it’s a good thing to have for baking anyway, and only about $20 on Amazon.
Wow, these look amazing! I really want to try this with ginger.
I LOVE that suggestion. Totally trying that next time <3
YUM, these toffees look amazing! and i can’t believe how you managed to make them so good for you too. love it Xx
Well, as good for you as possible ;-) I need to find a way to make a smaller batch though because I end up eating SO MANY of them. x
Raaaaa these look amazing!! I’ve been wanting to try and make caramels or toffees for ages now and this recipe look so wonderfully simple! my go to caramel sauce is similar to this recipe, just coconut milk and sugar boiled down :) x
http://www.thelittlecountrygirl.blogspot.co.uk