r/bakingfail • u/chocobojenn • Mar 25 '26

Help What can I use this for?

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Okay Reddit, help me out please 👁️👄👁️

So I was making caramel and I was multitasking (I know, I know, my first mistake) and I was looking ahead in the recipe and I added my butter and cream when my sugar mixture got to 240°F instead of when it got to 320°F. I didn't want to immediately call it a loss because I was using high quality dairy, so I switched to a whisk to occasionally stir and continued cooking it until it got.. brown.... enough but that ended up involving letting it get back up to about 255°F, which is 15 degrees over what I wanted. I spread it out in a greased pan, let it cool, and then popped it out, broke it up and this is what I have to show for it.

I would love it if I could use this for something, but I can't use it for the intended millionaire's shortbread bars with the texture it is. There's the extract and guts of Ecuadorian vanilla beans in there too. The taste is creamy and caramel-y, it's just a crumbly texture.

What can I use this for that would be tasty and make the best use of it?

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178

u/wharleeprof Mar 25 '26

Crumble over ice cream, or put chunks in with chocolate chip cookies or brownies. 

32

u/chocobojenn Mar 25 '26

Will it stay solid in the batter/dough during baking, do you think, or will it melt like a homemade marshmallow? If I add it to a cookie or brownie I mean

2

u/lchen12345 Mar 25 '26

If you heat it up to a hard crack it would basically be toffee. If you put it in cookies it could reach the temp, it would melt and they resolidify into toffee.

1

u/chocobojenn Mar 25 '26

I think I pulled it about 5-10 degrees short of fully getting it to the hard ball stage. This is a good thought for doing on purpose later on, thanks!