Homemade caramel candy recipe for buttery, soft, and sweet caramels. Best food gift ever! Share a taste of old-fashioned caramels with friends & family.
Homemade caramel candy recipes should never be made when you are home alone.
These may possibly be the most dangerous thing that has ever been cooked in my kitchen.
Not because it will hurt, although it could if you aren’t careful, playing with molten lava temperature melted sugar, but because you need to get them wrapped and out of the house as quickly as possible.
Do not send more than a few of these at a time to friends, as these will also be dangerous at their house.
Do bring them to work for brownie points and potlucks!
You and everyone else who eats these will not be able to stop eating homemade caramel candy until either your teeth hurt, your stomach hurts, or you have eaten all of them.
Once all of the homemade caramel candies are all eaten, you will be thinking of them for days to come.
After reading several caramel recipes, I settled on starting with this one from Land O’Lakes and tweaking it ever so slightly.
CANDY THERMOMETER AND CALIBRATION FOR HOMEMADE CARAMELS
Calibrating your candy thermometer before starting will help ensure the proper temperature is reached.
Testing your candy thermometer occasionally is also a good idea. A 2-degree difference can make or break for most candy recipes.
To test my thermometer, I boil some water and put my thermometer in the water and let it sit for a few minutes and then read it.
Mine reads 212 degrees F. Water boils at 212 Degrees F. My target temperature is 244 Degrees F.
This recipe is written for the seal level of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is 722 feet above sea level. There is no need to adjust for altitude in my situation.
Every sea level has a different boiling point for water. If you are in a higher altitude, your water may boil at a different temperature and that is the temperature you are aiming for on your thermometer.
If you find your thermometer is off, make the appropriate adjustments to your target candy temperature. In other words, if your thermometer is reading 210 degrees F for boiling water, your target for this recipe will be 242 degrees F. You need to SUBTRACT the same degrees from the cooking temperature that your thermometer is reading BELOW 212 Degrees F.
If it reads 215 degrees F in boiling after your target for this caramel recipe will be 247 degrees F. You need to ADD the same degrees to the recipe that your thermometer reads OVER 212 Degrees F.
If all of this has left you confused or you want more information about why altitude affects thermometers just do a quick Google or Bing search. There are some really great articles on calibrating a thermometer.
Soft Homemade Caramels
TEMPERATURE FOR CARAMELS
Making homemade candy requires cooking sugar to certain stages depending on what type of candy your making.
I cook my caramel candy mix to 244 Degrees F. That’s the upper end of the softball stage and just shy of the firmball stage. At this temperature, the caramels will be a tad softer than other caramels.
For firmer caramels, cook the mixture until you reach 245 Degrees F. Do not cook any higher than 250 Degrees F though or you will have a bit of trouble cutting the caramels. They will be hard and tough to chew. Ask me how I know…….
COOKING TIME FOR HOMEMADE CARAMELS
It will take much longer to reach the last 5 to 10 degrees than it did to reach the first 230 Degrees F or so.
Do not get impatient during the cooking process. It will be worth the wait. Trust me on this!
Do not start making this homemade caramel candy recipe if you have something else to do or are pressed for time.
Even though they are easy to make, they take a long time to cook. Mine took almost 45 minutes once the mixture started boiling.
Next time, I might wait until someone else is in the house with me to give me a stirring break every now and again.
MAKING A DOUBLE BATCH OF HOMEMADE CARAMELS
Ron and I made a double batch of these on my last visit.
Do not try a double batch in a standard size soup pot that comes with standard pot and pan set, it will bubble over. We can attest to this.
You also do not need to stir continuously when making a double batch, just stay near it and give a good stir every couple of minutes.
There may have even been a period of up to 10 minutes that neither of us checked the pot.
They turned out fine, even with changing pans and turning our backs for a few minutes.
With that being said, I probably would not turn my back on this caramel candy recipe for more than 5 minutes.
Prepare 2 pans for pouring the finished caramel mix in. There will be too much for one.
WEATHER AND HOMEMADE CARAMELS
Weather will affect the time it takes to make this recipe. The more humid the air is, the longer it will take to cook caramels.
Barometric pressure also plays a role in candy making.
I usually have the best luck on sunny days. Not to say the caramels can’t be made during rainy or snowy days, it can. You just might find yourself with super soft caramels. If the caramels can be cut and hold a bit of shape, they can be wrapped.
I also calibrate my thermometer every time before I make caramels.
MORE HOMEMADE CANDY RECIPES
Caramel Candy
Equipment
- Candy Thermometer
- Parchment Paper
- Caramel Wrappers
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1 cup corn syrup light
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla optional
Instructions
- In a large pot, add butter and heavy cream.
- Add the corn syrup to the middle of the pot and allow it to settle in a bit.
- To the center of the pot, add the sugars, being careful to avoid getting sugar on the sides of the pan. If this happens, use a pastry brush moistened with melted butter or water and gently brush the sides of the pan to get the sugar off the sides.
- Allow this to sit in the pan for a few minutes to allow the cream to start working its way into the sugars.
- During this time, prepare a 9 X 13 baking dish by spraying it with baking spray. Cover the pan with non-stick foil or parchment paper and spray that with baking spray as well.
- I use 2 sheets of parchment paper, one cut as wide as the long side, and one cut as wide as the short side. I place those in the pan leaving an overhang on all four sides.
- Once the pan is prepared, add vanilla, if using, to a small bowl set near the stove.
- Gently start pushing the sugar mound down into the moistened sugar on the bottom, again being careful not to get sugar on the sides of the pan, use the above method if it does happen.
- Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally until mixture begins to boil. This will take 15 to 25 minutes depending on your idea of medium heat and the weather. I find it takes a little longer in humid weather and even longer on rainy days.
- Once it begins to boil, clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pot.
- Begins stirring constantly until candy thermometer reads firm ball stage or 244°F. This can take 25 to 45 minutes, again this is dependent on exact heat and weather.
- Once the candy is ready, turn off the heat and add vanilla if using. Up to ½ cup of chopped nuts can also be added if desired.
- Immediately pour into prepared pan, being very careful, this mixture is very hot.
- Allow caramel to cool completely in pan.
- Once cool, remove from pan and cut into the desired size. I usually get 90 to 100 two to three bite caramels.
- Wrap each caramel in wax paper or candy wrapper.
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