These caramels are my favorite candy to make. This year from October to the end of December the girls and I made at least ten batches. We gave them out for neighbor and teacher gifts and have had a lot of requests for the recipe. This year our secret ingredient -- vanilla imported from Mexico from Great-Grandma Borjas -- was missing so we got to experiment with some other flavors. One time we pretended we were on the Food Network and made two batches at once. Then we divided them into four and stirred in four different flavors. We had a taste test and critiqued each batch to determine which was our favorite. We had so much fun talking in our snooty Food Network accents. In fact, we're getting pretty good at critiquing our own food. We do it all the time now for dinner-- especially when it's a bad recipe. It makes us all laugh while we eat the overcooked pasta that tastes like glue. And Aubrey always comes up with some random comment that only she understands but stands by until the end. Too funny! But I digress. Back to the caramels, I loved the orange and vanilla flavors combined and Olivia liked peppermint. We also tried maple flavoring and cinnamon, cinnamon with nutmeg and cloves, and lemon flavoring. It was fun to make a variety of different caramels for the goody bags. Olivia and I seriously celebrated when the last one was wrapped. That's not our favorite part, but it actually goes fast if you are watching Christmas movies at the same time.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1 /2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
Directions:
Combine all ingredients except vanilla in a heavy saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Cook and stir (don't scrape the sides of the pan) until mixture reaches 242 degrees on a candy thermometer or is a firm ball when added to cold water. Stir in vanilla or other flavorings. Turn off heat and leave until caramel stops boiling. Pour in a 13 X 9 pan lined with parchment paper. Let set several hours or overnight until cool and solidified. Lift parchment paper and caramel out of pan and place on a cutting board. Cut caramel and wrap in wax paper. This caramel also works well as caramel coating for caramel apples or pretzel rods.
* The original recipe says to cook the caramel until it reaches 238 degrees. I have found that the caramel is too soft and sticky when I only cook it this long. It doesn't hold its shape when cut. So, I make sure that it reaches 242 degrees F. Put the thermometer in the middle of the boiling caramel, not on the bottom of the pan, to get the best results. This may vary depending on altitude and humidity. Also, if you find out you didn't cook the caramel long enough and it's too soft, you can pour it back in the pan and cook it again to a higher temperature and it will still turn out good.
