Caramels, Two Ways!

I found this recipe about 10 years ago but put it in a box and never made it, until tonight.  Wow, these are amazing! They did take about an hour to make and bring to temperature but they are worth it!

My Mom used to make caramels every Christmas and wrap them in waxed paper and then serve them on Christmas Eve.  Her caramels were delicious. But I saw how much time it took her to make those and thought, not me.  Not worth the work. 

Until I found this recipe. The work put in was well worth the result.  I got a wild hair and to use up some dark chocolate chips I had a partial bag of I melted them and coated about half of the caramels with chocolate.  Mind blowing goodness.  

Here is a tip, my 4 quart non-stick pot was just barely big enough for this, so if you have a 5 or 6 quart pot use that.  I always, when boiling anything, rub butter around the inside rim of the pots and the pots never boil over.  It is a very good trick.

I love caramels but rarely make them.  I found this recipe about 10 years ago and just tried it.  I can tell you these are hands down the best caramels I have ever made.  They are very time consuming to make but worth it.

Ingredients

2 Cups White Sugar

1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar

1 Cup Light Corn Syrup

1 Cup Evaporated Milk

2 Cups Whipping Cream

1 Cup Salted Butter

1 ¼ teaspoons Vanilla Extract

(Optional) 1 bar dark chocolate (see Note 2)

Directions

1. Line a 12X15 pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In a 4 quart or larger saucepan, preferably non-stick, combine the sugar, brown sugar, light corn syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream and butter.  Over medium heat, slowly bring this mixture to 250 degrees F. Remove pot from heat.

3. Stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer this mixture to the prepared pan and let it cool completely.  When cooled, cut these Caramels into small squares and wrap them in wax paper for storage.

Notes

1. I cut these with scissors as that is the easiest way.

2. I cut these into squares and then dip them in melted dark chocolate, shaking off any excess chocolate and then let them set up.