Making Caramels

Apparently, for some unknown reason, the month of February has been "let's make caramels" month at our house. We've made three different recipes and tried different methods of cooking and timing and temperature. Here's the best and easiest one. I'm not saying it's the BEST caramel recipe out there, but it has to be close.

Memorize this - impress the heck out of your friends!

Mix together in a saucepan:
1 cup sugar (white is best, but you can use brown,a mixture, whatever you have handy)
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream (evaporated milk, 1/2-n-1/2, sweetened condensed milk - they all work)
1/4 cup butter (that's 1/2 stick)
1 dash of salt (that's about a shake from the salt shaker)

Stir well over medium/low and bring to a boil. Watch the heat and keep cooking, stirring often and watching so it doesn't boil over. Cook to somewhere between 245 and 250 degrees - lower is more like apple dip, higher is pretty hard. I like about 248. My candy thermometer says that's "firm ball."

Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla (that's about a capfull from the bottle). Stir and pour into greased/buttered pan - 9x9 square or a pie pan will work great.

Let cool, cut, and eat (or just dip cut apples into it while it's still warm).

This takes about a minute to throw together and about 30-40 minutes to cook. If it's too soft you can throw it back into the saucepan and cook it again - just watch the temperature because it heats back up pretty quickly.

You could also get fancy - add pecans, make turtle candies, cook it to a higher temp and make toffee instead (note: I didn't actually try this, but it seems like it would work)... Be brave! Have fun! Enjoy -- that's what cooking is all about!