If you've never made candy at home before - this recipe for easy homemade caramels is the perfect place to start. These caramels are soft and chewy, and finished with the perfect amount of salt. Use them to stuff into a cookie or a brownie, or wrap to give as homemade gifts. This post is packed full of tips and tricks to walk you through making your own homemade caramel candies.
Hi hi! I am just popping in to share this easy homemade caramel recipe with you! If you haven't made homemade candy before, these easy caramels are a great place to start.
These caramels are soft and chewy, and are perfect as-is, or you can use them in baking - I use them to stuff inside my caramel stuffed chocolate cookies, or to dot over brownie batter for the most amazing caramel brownies.
Homemade caramel lasts super well, so they are great to make ahead and keep in the fridge, or to wrap in wax paper for a more traditional caramel candy and give as gifts.
Homemade Caramels
These caramels are super soft and chewy. I have used this base recipe a ton of times but never actually made it into a stand alone recipe.
This recipe makes a soft caramel as opposed to a hard caramel like the one that I use in my salted caramel cookies which is made from using melted sugar. The softness comes from the ratios of ingredients - condensed milk and butter help to soften the mix to give perfectly chewy, delicious caramels.
Ingredients in homemade caramels
The ingredients list for these caramels is super simple, and likely things that you already have at home:
- Butter. You can use either salted or unsalted here depending on what you have on hand. If you use salted, you can either drop back the salt quantity in the recipe slightly or leave as is - salty caramel is delicious.
- Condensed milk. Condensed milk gives texture to the caramel - it helps to make it super smooth and keep the chew when it reaches a high temperature.
- Brown sugar. We are going for as many toasty flavours as we can here, which is why I use brown sugar instead of white for my homemade caramels.
- Golden Syrup. This is one of my favourite ingredients because of how delicious it is and the amazing flavour it gives to things. It's very easy to get in New Zealand and some other countries, when I lived in the US I used to get it online. It helps to stop crystallisation in the caramel.
- Salt. Essential to offset all the sugary components of the caramel. Make sure you salt well and if you find the caramels are not as salty as you like you can sprinkle them with a little flaky sea salt after cutting.
- Vanilla. I like to use vanilla bean paste but vanilla extract works well too. It adds the most amazing flavour to the caramels.
What is golden syrup?
Golden syrup is an invert sugar syrup that is a by-product of the sugar making process. It is thick and smooth, and has a delicious toasty flavour. I highly recommend getting some to use if you haven't before, but if you can't get hold of some, you can use corn syrup or liquid glucose in the place of it.
If you do get golden syrup and you are looking for ways to use it up, I have a whole lot of golden syrup recipes for you to browse!
Do I need to use a Thermometer?
Yes - a thermometer is essential when you are making homemade caramel candies. I use a digital thermometer (I have a thermapen but there are loads of others available online!) which I find works best as it gives a super quick result. Cooking the caramel either under or over the correct temperature will result in it either not setting enough, or being too hard, so using a thermometer to ensure that you get the right result is necessary.
If you don't have a thermometer, I haven't tested any other alternatives sorry. They are a great thing to own!
Important - when you are measuring the temperature of your cooking caramel - make sure that the probe of the thermometer is in the middle of the caramel. If it is accidentally touching the bottom of the pot, it will give a falsely high reading and your caramel may not set.
How do you store caramels?
The great thing about making homemade caramel is that it stores super well for a long time. Keep it in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to a month. If I am not wrapping it in wax paper I store it with pieces of wax paper between each layer to prevent sticking.
What is the best way to wrap caramels?
If you want to wrap your homemade caramels in the traditional candy style, you can use squares of wax paper. I purchased mine pre-cut, but you can also just cut squares of paper if you like. Mine are 6" squares, but play around with sizing depending on what you think looks best.
How to get clean cuts on caramel
I cut my caramel into little pieces - I did an 8x4 grid in the pan. You can cut them into any shape that you like - I use squares for my caramel stuffed cookies, or smaller pieces for my caramel brownies.
The best way to cut the caramels is when they are cold from the fridge. Use a super sharp knife, and mark out your cuts before you make them. I find it easiest to cut the whole pan into strips first with vertical cuts, then make the four horizontal cuts.
Homemade Caramels Troubleshooting
Your caramel is too hard
It is likely that you took the mixture past the 240° / 120°c stage, which is called the firm ball stage in candy making. You want to make sure that you very carefully measure the temperature of your caramel when you are cooking it. This is still usable although it will be more like a toffee texture than a caramel - cut it into tiny bits and add to cookies or ice cream.
Your caramel is too soft
The opposite happened here and you didn't bring it to temperature. Read the notes on the recipe to make sure you are using your thermometer correctly.
You are starting to get little brown bits in the caramel as it cooks
This is ok - it is just little bits of the caramel that are cooking faster than the rest. Turn the heat down and take it slow if you need to - slide the pan off the heat and stir well and make sure you're scraping the bottom well. I like to use a rubber spatula for this reason.
My Caramel is taking FOREVER to reach temperature
This happens. The caramel will get to a certain point, then it feels like it takes forever to get to temperature. Just be patient here - it is really important that you take it up to the correct temperature in order for it to set.
Frequently Asked Questions
What tools and equipment do you use?
You can find a full list of the tools and equipment I use on my products page
Which pan did you use?
I set these in an 8" square pan, with parchment extending over the sides to make sure that I could easily remove the caramel once set.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Yes, but make sure that you watch it carefully. As the caramel is cooking if you feel like it is going too fast, move it off the heat for a bit. Make sure you use a thermometer and watch carefully. You can either set the mixture in two 8" pans or use the pan size of your choice - just be aware that if you use a different pan your caramels may be a different thickness.
For more recipes using homemade caramel, check out:
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Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Soft and Chewy Foolproof Caramel Candy
- Author: Erin Clarkson
-
Prep Time: 15 minutes -
Cook Time: 20 minutes
-
Total Time: 2 hours
-
Yield: 32 caramels -
Category: candy -
Method: no bake -
Cuisine: american
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
If you've never made candy at home before - this recipe for easy homemade caramels is the perfect place to start. These caramels are soft and chewy, and finished with the perfect amount of salt. Use them to stuff into a cookie or a brownie, or wrap to give as homemade gifts.
Ingredients
- 90g butter, cold from the fridge is fine
- One 395g tin sweetened condensed milk
- 185g brown sugar
- 50g golden syrup
- 2g (¾ tsp) salt
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- Flaky sea salt to finish (optional)
Instructions
- Grease and line an 8" (20cm) square pan with parchment paper, leaving the parchment extending over the sides of the pan to form a sling to remove the caramel with later. Secure with binder clips if desired.
- In a medium sized heavy bottom saucepan, combine the butter, condensed milk, brown sugar, and golden syrup.
- Place over medium high heat, stir until melted together, and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly (I like to use a whisk then switch to a rubber spatula) until the caramel registers 240°f / 120°c on a thermometer. Watch the bottom carefully to avoid the mixture catching, turning down the heat if needed or removing the caramel from the heat, stirring well, then returning to the heat.
- Once the caramel has reached the correct temperature, remove from the heat, and add the salt and vanilla. Mix well to combine, then transfer to the prepared pan. Shake to evenly distribute the caramel.
- Chill the caramel for at least two hours, until completely set and you can no longer feel the heat in it.
- Remove the caramel slab from the pan using the parchment overhang. Cut into pieces using a very sharp knife.
- Either wrap in wax paper and store in an airtight container in the fridge, or place into an airtight container with wax paper between the layers and store in an airtight container in the fridge. Keeps in the fridge for up to a month.
Notes
If you do not have golden syrup, corn syrup or liquid glucose will also work.
Important - when you are measuring the temperature of your cooking caramel - make sure that the probe of the thermometer is in the middle of the caramel. If it is accidentally touching the bottom of the pot, it will give a falsely high reading and your caramel may not set.
Keywords: caramel, salted caramel, caramel candy
The post Soft and Chewy Foolproof Caramel Candy appeared first on Cloudy Kitchen.
