A super easy foolproof recipe for homemade caramels! They’re soft and chewy and perfectly buttery with a rich caramel flavor. These make one of the best homemade gifts and no one will know how easy it was for your to make them!
Servings: 40 caramels
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter,* cut into 4 pieces
- 1/2 cup (120ml) light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light-brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) sweetened condensed milk
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
- Maldon sea salt or fleur de sel (optional)
Instructions
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Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish. Place butter in a large microwave safe bowl (that is microwave safe to high temps such as heavy duty glass**), heat in microwave until melted.
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To bowl with butter, add corn syrup, granulated sugar, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk and salt and whisk mixture very well.
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Return to microwave and cook mixture on HIGH power for 6 to 7 minutes.***
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Using hot pads, carefully remove bowl from microwave. Add in vanilla extract and mix well.
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Pour mixture into prepared baking dish, sprinkle top lightly with Maldon sea salt or fleur de sel if using.
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Place in refrigerator until set, about 20 – 30 minutes. Cut into rectangular pieces (I cut into rows slightly less than 1/2-inch then cut each row into three) and wrap in cut rectangles of wax paper.
Notes
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- *Don’t use salted butter or it will splatter a lot.
- **For safety I recommend referring to the bowls manufacturer to ensure the bowl is microwave safe to high temperatures. For safety avoid setting on a cold surface after removing from the microwave and be sure that you don’t begin with a cold bowl or it could shatter.
- ***I recommend taking it out around 6 and testing either with a candy thermometer which should register between 238 – 242 degrees or placing a small spoon of the caramel in a bowl of ice water then remove it from the water and it should have formed a small pliable ball – nothing too soft or too hard.
- ***If it needs a little more time return to microwave and heat in 20 second increments. Mine was done at 6 minutes 20 seconds but will will vary slightly based on the wattage of your microwave and the size of the bowl you use.
- Recipe from my mother-in-law, thanks Jill!
