Caramels

This one also comes from my friend Barb. This is one of my favorites, but it's a little more tricky than some of the other candy recipes I've posted. Don't worry, it will taste good no matter what. The only hard part is if you don't cook it long enough, it will stick to the waxed paper, and if you cook it too long it can become harder than you want. These are meant to be soft caramels, and when they're cooked just right, I love them. My husband's not a caramel person, so he never eats them, but his sister can't get enough! I make extras for her whenever she's in town for Christmas. She also helps me wrap them, which is great, because that's my least favorite (and the most time consuming) part about making caramels.

Caramels

2 c. sugar
1 1/3 c. light corn syrup
2 c. cream
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. pecans (optional)

Mix cream with milk in a bowl. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into a heavy large saucepan on med/high heat. Add corn syrup, sugar, and salt. Stir until sugar dissolve and mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to slow boil for about one minute. Increase heat and add another third of the cream/milk mixture. Bring to boil, reduce heat to slow boil for one minute. Repeat the process adding remaining cream/milk mixture. Cook and stir over medium/high heat until it reaches firm ball stage. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and nuts. Pour into greased 9-inch square pan. Cool. Cut into one inch (or smaller) squares and wrap in waxed paper.

By the way, I once read about a trick to line the pan with waxed paper before pouring in the hot caramel. Then, you could lift the paper out, peel it off, and make it easier to cut the caramels. This did NOT work for me. The waxed paper completely stuck to the hot caramel, and took forever to get off. I don't know if it was the brand of waxed paper or what, but from now on, I'll just stick to a greased pan.

*I recently purchased a silicone mold on Amazon that I now use instead of a 9-inch square pan for caramels. Once they set, they're pretty easy to pop out, and I find it quicker and easier than cutting. I have to be careful when I pour the hot caramel into the molds, and it requires moving quickly from square to square while pouring, but I overall prefer this method. The mold I bought has 80 cavities, and each cavity is 1.18" square. I bought two, and I seem to get 90-100 caramels per batch, depending on whether I fill each cavity completely to the top. I also now buy 5" cellophane wraps from either Amazon or Orson Gygi. It saves me the time it usually takes to cut the wax paper into squares, and looks a bit more polished.