Homemade Caramel

I have an addiction.  

I mean, besides my peanut butter addiction.

I am totally addicted to my homemade caramels!!! 

{don't worry, I'm giving you the recipe!}

I can seriously sit and eat piece after piece after piece . . .

And because of that, you are going to hate me if you ever make these!

Michelle's Homemade Caramels

1 cup butter

2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat (the lower the better - if it heats up too fast, you will have hard caramel).  Stir in sugar.  Add sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt.  Using a candy thermometer, heat to 234 degrees (around 15 minutes), stirring constantly (will be boiling).  When it reaches 234 degrees, cook for two more minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

{NOTE - for higher altitudes, you may need to reduce the heat.  For every 1,000 feet above sea level, reduce heat 2 degrees.  If you're not sure, just make sure caramel is in soft ball stage}

{This is what it will look like when it's just about done}

Pour into buttered 9x13 baking dish.  Cool completely.  Cut into squares or rectangles and wrap individual pieces in wax paper.

Caramel Apples

If you want to try caramel apples, get some Granny Smith apples and some popsicle sticks (I didn't have popsicle sticks so I used skewers).  Stick the popsicle stick right in the center of the apple.  When the caramel is done, just after you add the vanilla, roll the apple in the caramel, twisting it so the caramel coats the whole apple.  

Here's the fun part.  Next, I rolled it in crushed pretzels - I LOVE sweet and salty things!  You can roll it in nuts, toffee bits, sprinkles, anything that sounds good or that you or your kids would love.  Then place it upright on wax paper sprayed with cooking spray so it doesn't stick to the paper.  Let the caramel cool completely and it is ready to eat!  {I pour the left over caramel into the buttered baking dish - if you've done lots of apples, you could pour it into a buttered 8x8 dish instead of a 9x13 - let it cool and then cut it up}

I made the apple for a friend and wrapped it up with some of the regular caramels:

This caramel is SO YUMMY!

 {See the darker color?  Probably cooked a little too long at this point}

Now, the last time I made these, I cooked it a little too long.  I thought it was totally ruined, but I decided it was really, really yummy that way.  My husband cut it up with a knife (it was kind of hard to cut since the caramel was a little hard) and we had our own little Werther's candies.  But WAY better than Werther's!  I had him cut them small and they were perfect that way!  They almost melt in your mouth, and they get soft enough to chew.  And when it's hard, you don't have to wrap each piece in wax paper, which means less work for you!

Oh. My.

Try them.

But don't say I didn't warn you . . .