Community member Mike Nolan shared this great information on homemade caramel. Thanks a thousand, er, million Mike! I always use the full cream nut caramel recipe out of the Antoinette Pope School New Candy Cookbook, the degree of firmness can be controlled by the temperature to which you cook it. The book, which is out of print but available both on Ebay and through Amazon, is considered one of the classics by candymakers, and I use at least a half dozen recipes out of it. 2 cups sugar 1 cup light corn syrup 2 cups warm cream (22% butterfat, I blend 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream, which is usually 36% butterfat, with 1/2 cup of 1% milk) 1/3 cup unsalted butter 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional) Start with the sugar, corn syrup and half of the cream, add the 2nd half of the cream slowly after about 10 minutes, then add the butter a little at a time. Keep the heat fairly low, it can go from good to ruined quickly. The salt and vanilla go in at the end. If putting in the pecans, let it sit for about ten minutes, then stir them in. Cook to 236 degrees for a soft caramel, 238-240 for a firmer caramel (good for making turtles.) 242 will give you a firm caramel, which I have rolled into logs, cut into strips and wrapped to put in Christmas boxes. 244 will give you a rather hard caramel, which I find difficult to cut or shape. If I had candy molds, they'd probably work well if greased.

• Reply