Monday, January 26, 2009

Vanilla Caramels

Another of my Grandma Matthews recipes.

2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup of butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 cup chopped nuts
Mix the sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, cream, milk, and butter together in a deep, heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat throughout the cooking time. Stir occasionally until the mixture comes to a boil. Then stir only once or twice during the rest of the cooking time. Cook to 248 degrees. If you haven't a candy thermometer, cook until it forms a firm ball when a little is dropped in cold water. It should be just slightly workable with the fingers. Remove from the heat, and add vanilla and salt. Let stand about fifteen minutes and add the nuts. Stir only enough to mix in the nuts. Pour into a square shallow pan that has been buttered very lightly. Pour in the mixture. Let stand until firm. Loosen around edges and turn out upside down on a wooden board. Choose a long, thin-bladed knife for cutting; mark into one-inch strips and cut by moving back and forth in a sort of sawing motion. A paring knife just won't do the trick. If you were to cut straight down the shape would be spoiled. Cut the strips into squares. Let stand in cool place two hours. Wrap in wax paper, if desired.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I tried this recipe;have never made caramels before. The flavor was fabulous however I had a gooey mess and threw it away. I put some of the mixture in molds; could not remove them and the remainder in a pan which I could not remove. I let the mixture sit for 3½ hours. Was this not long enough? Should I have cooked the mixture at 248° for a longer period of time? Should I have let the mixture sit for 6hrs or overnight? Thank you