3 c. white sugar
2 c. light Karo syrup
3 c. heavy cream, divided
1 tsp salt
1/2 c. butter
1 tsp vanilla
Put sugar, Karo syrup, 1 1/2 cups cream, and salt in a large HEAVY pot. Cook over medium/low heat until brown and thickened, stirring occasionally. Add butter and the rest of the cream. Cook until hard ball stage, or 248-249 degrees on a candy thermometer. If you overcook it gets too hard.
While cooking grease a 9x13" glass pan with butter. Cover the bottom with 2 cups chopped nuts if desired.
When the candy reaches 248 degrees, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Stir it a bit to cool and once it stops boiling pour carefully into the pan. Let it cool for a long, long time.
Caramels are a little tricky. You have to learn when to watch carefully, at the end of the cooking. It takes several hours to cook them on low heat. You can make it go faster by turning up the heat, but you have to stir more and watch carefully so you don't burn them or overcook them.
ReplyDeleteDo NOT attempt to make caramel without a nice HEAVY pot or a candy thermometer, it's just not worth it. The lighter pans don't heat evenly so it is so hard to get the right temperature.
I have ruined many batches of caramel!
Great! When can you come over and help me? I have a big heavy pot and a candy thermometer. My schedule is pretty open...
ReplyDelete