Salted caramel cobbers

‘Cobber’ is an archaic Aussie term for a mate, or friend. It’s also the name of an old-fashioned chocolate-coated sweet, often with a firm, chewy, caramel core. True to its namesake, a cobber will never let you down.

Makes about 100 cobbers, 2 cm (¾ inch) in size

mild-flavoured cooking oil spray

440 g (15½ oz/2 cups) caster (superfine) sugar

170 ml (5½ fl oz/²/₃ cup) liquid glucose

1½ tablespoons golden syrup or light treacle

250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) thin (pouring) cream

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

40 g (1½ oz) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

400 g (14 oz) good-quality milk chocolate

sea salt flakes, to garnish (optional)

Lightly spray a 20 cm (8 inch) square cake tin with cooking oil spray. Line the tray with a long strip of baking paper, letting it overhang two sides, to make it easier to remove the caramel once it has set. Lightly spray the baking paper as well.

Put the sugar, glucose and golden syrup in a saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons water and stir, with a metal spoon, over high heat until the sugar has dissolved. Run a wet pastry brush around the inside edge of the pan to ensure there are no sugar crystals stuck to the side. Bring to the boil and cook until the temperature reaches 180°C (356°F) on a sugar thermometer.

Meanwhile, bring the cream to a simmer and add the vanilla. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

When the sugar mixture is at the right temperature, remove from the heat and use a metal spoon to stir in the warm cream mixture — this will arrest the cooking process and the temperature will drop.

Place the pan back over medium–high heat and stir regularly until the mixture reaches 127°C (260°F) on the sugar thermometer. Be very careful here as you don’t want the mixture to burn — if you leave it alone, without stirring for too long, it will! At the same time, it shouldn’t be constantly stirred. When it reaches the right temperature, immediately beat in the butter and salt until smooth.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin, tilting the tin slightly if it doesn’t flow straight out to the edges. Leave to cool slightly, then refrigerate, uncovered, for 1½–2 hours, or until the caramel is firm, but not so hard that you can’t cut through it. If you do end up leaving it longer, you’ll need to sit the caramel at room temperature until it is soft enough to cut through.

Use the paper overhang to help you lift the caramel out of the tin, onto a chopping board. Dip a heavy, sharp knife in boiling water, then quickly but carefully dry it off and cut the caramel into 2 cm (¾ inch) squares. Place in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper, neatly but not so they are touching. Refrigerate for another couple of hours, or until very firm.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, ensuring the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally with a metal spoon until almost completely melted, then remove from the heat and continue to stir until very smooth and liquid.

Using a candy-dipping fork, or just a regular fork, dip each caramel square into the melted chocolate, allowing any excess to drip back into the bowl. Place on a tray lined with baking paper, keeping them slightly separated. Sprinkle the top with a few sea salt flakes if using. Refrigerate for about 1 hour, until set.

Store in an airtight container in single layers, separated by baking paper. In warm climates, keep the cobbers in the fridge, bringing them out of the fridge a few minutes before you serve them so they are not too hard to chew. They will keep in the fridge for several months.

Photography © Brett Stevens