Fleur de sel caramels with lavender, honey, and vanilla bean

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp dried lavender buds
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped OR 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2-3 tsp fleur de sel (or other sea salt)
• reserve 2 tsp+ for sprinkling onto caramel after it has been poured into pan

• Butter a 9x9" pan (or 9x13" if doubling recipe) then line the bottom with parchment paper.
• Pour milk, heavy cream, lavender buds, and vanilla into a medium saucepan and bring to a poil. Keep an eye on the pot-- milk boils over very quickly and will make a mess if you don't watch it.
• Once the liquid comes to a boil, turn off and remove from heat, letting the lavender steep for 30 minutes.
• Strain through a fine mesh sieve, reserving the liquid and discarding the lavender. Measure out 2 cups of this liquid.
• Combine the cream and lavender mixture with butter, honey and sugar in a deep pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture comes to a full boil.
• Allow the caramel to continue boiling, stirring occassionally. Using a spatula, gently push down any sugar that has crept up the sides of the pan.
• When the mixture reads 240 degrees F on the candy thermometer, begin stirring constantly until it registers 248 degrees F.
• The total time for reaching the final temperature is about 25 minutes-- you want to take your time so the caramel has time to "burn" and get a nice tan color. The final temperature rise will happen very quickly, about a couple of minutes.
• Immediately remove from heat, stir in the vanilla extract (if using) and 1 tsp of the salt, and pour into the prepared baking pan. Be VERY careful when pouring hot caramel-- it can burn you! As tempting as it might be to stick a finger into the mixture, resist, as it is EXTREMELY hot.
• Immediately sprinkle the rest of the fleur de sel on the pan of caramel before it sets.
• Cool the mixture completely until it is firm, at least 3 hours.
• Invert the caramel onto a cutting board and cut into desired size pieces, wrapping them individually with parchment paper. Wrapping the caramels can take some time, especially when doubling the recipe, so get help from a friend or family member if you can.
• Store caramels in an airtight container and they will last about a week. Keep this in mind if making them for the holidays or as a gift.