The mission was to try and make a vegan salted caramel which was as creamy as the traditional caramel which uses butter, cream and sugar. With a little research across the internet and with a little thought on the usual method, we thought we'd try a version with coconut oil and coconut cream plus of course some golden unrefined caster sugar.
But why add miso?
Miso is fermented soy beans which add an amazing unami savoury moreish flavour to traditional Japenese dishes, the most well know of which is it's name sake Miso Soup/Broth which is a very light broth. There are different types of miso, the mildest of which is the cream/white coloured one which we have used in this recipe. Miso is said to be incredibly good for the gut, however we're not sure it will be added to a tonne load of sugar.
It's a pretty simple recipe, although we made a mess of the first attempt as we added the coconut cream too quickly to the hot sugar and it caused it to clump, but we rescued it by draining the mixture off into another sauce pan and melting the sugar again adding a little of the other pan liquid at a time back to the sugar as it melted. The trick is not to burn the sugar as this can happen easily.
Ingredients
250ml Coconut Cream
200g Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
50g Coconut Oil Can be Virgin or Odourless (around 2 heaped tablespoons)
2 tsp White Miso Paste
Flakes of Sea Salt such as Malden or Cornish Sea Salt
Equipment: Wooden Spoon, Medium thick bottomed saucepan.
1. First over a medium heat add the sugar to a medium size heavy bottomed sauce pan.
2. Constantly stir the sugar, it will start to melt and eventually change colour when it has all completely melted and the colour is amber it is ready to add the oil.
3. Add the oil drop by drop constantly stirring the sugar mixture, it will split slightly but do not worry.
4. Once the oil is added add a drop of the coconut cream stirring constantly, then add a further drop until the the sugar take all the liquid, mixing constantly with.
5. Take the pan off the heat still stirring constantly and whisk in the miso until completely dissolved.
You could replace the miso with vanilla beans/extract or add it to the mix also, and you can flavour with the flaked sea salt when serving as we have done with the vegan brownies.
Try it for yourself it really is as delicious as the traditional version if not better!!
The Miso Salted Caramel Brownie