Without having read the recipe, it's just after 5am here and I've just taken out the last batch for today's (Sunday's) Farmers' and Growers' Markets.

Have you thought about adding the oj to the caramel from the start and having the oranges at room temp?

Just a thought. I am not a "dessert" person. Dessert for us equals fresh fruit, creme au caramel, creme brulee, crepes or bread and butter pudding. Depends on the season.

Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestions.  The oj and oranges were at room temp....hmm.  Maybe adding the oj from the beginning would work, but would you still get caramel?  I wonder if you wouldn't then need to adjust amounts.  Maybe using the oj at the beginning instead of water?

As for the acidity of the oj, what would I need to do to account for that?

Thanks!

KIM

I'm also not much of a desert master, but I think I know whats going on here.

It sounds  to me like you have made a full caramel, which means that all the water originally in the pan has boiled out.  Thus when you  add the OJ it puts just enough liquid back into the equation to allow the sugar to 'seize' or go all  hard  as you have said it does.

To combat this you can add enough water to loosen the syrup slightly before adding the OJ (I forget how much sugar is in the recipe, something like 1/6th the volume  of the sugar (for the H20) will work).

I'd try to avoid cooking the caramel with the OJ as your liquid from the beginning.  Though it will work, as  the acidity will denature the sucrose preventing it from setting up once the cooler liquid  is added, cooked OJ can go tremendously bitter, and as the sugar is ~300 degrees F when it becomes a caramel I would worry about that side effect.  A splash of white vinegar or corn syrup at the beginning would have the same effect without the  risk of bitterness.

I hope this  works out for you, the desert really is great once it comes out properly.