Troy Sandal

I recently learned how to make caramels, my favorite candy. My skills are raw, having only made them twice, once in Seattle and once in Mexico. They definitely tasted different when made with Mexican ingredients. Here’s my current recipe:

8 Tbsp (1 Stick) Butter
1lb Brown Sugar
14oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
8oz Corn Syrup (see baby food section in Mexico)

Grease a cake pan or pie dish (square is best but round will do) with butter. I used an 8″ round cake pan. You could also use two pans for shallower caramels. You’re going to pour the hot caramel and cut it out using a serated knife. Don’t use your nice teflon coated pans.

Melt butter over medium-low heat, then add brown sugar and stir until coated. Add condensed milk and corn syrup, bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and cook until mixture comes back to a boil, stirring constantly, until you reach 240F on a candy thermometer. Continue cooking to desired color and flavor. It will get darker the longer you cook it and will taste more of burnt sugar.

If you don’t have a candy thermometer you can tell when it’s done if hot caramel balls up when dropped in cold water.

Pour the caramel into the greased pans and let chill overnight in your refer. Or, if you’re jonesing like me, put the pan(s) into the freezer and eat within an hour. I like to cut the caramels into chunks, wrap them in waxed paper and leave them in the fridge.

Next I’m going to try this with fresh cream, I hear they’re fantastic.