Homemade caramel – a sweet and salty treat!

Happy weekend! I would say that sometimes it’s a big struggle trying to find good caramel not filled with… let’s say unknown ingredients and strange after-tastes. So I decided to make my own caramels, and they turned out sticky, sweet, a bit salty, and absolutely delicious! It’s hard to stop eating them, honestly, but I’m trying to manage my weight, so I’m ignoring them as best I can (hard when I have a large jar of them on my desk). But I recommend giving them a try if you love caramels or candy!

Ingredients:

·      ½ cup water

·      2 cups sugar

·      1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

·      1 can condensed milk

·      1 cup light corn syrup

·      12 tbsp (1.5 sticks) softened butter

·      1 tsp salt

·      Sea salt

Lightly butter a 9x13-baking pan. Combine all the ingredients except the salt in a heavy-bottomed 4-quart saucepan. Bring the mixture up to a boil while stirring constantly. Continue to stir until the mixture reaches 245ºF. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the salt. Remove the vanilla bean, and pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt over the top and allow the caramel to cool to room temperature (let it sit for at least 2 hours). Remove from the pan, slice into strips using a very sharp knife, and cut the strips into bite-sized pieces. Wrap the caramel candies in parchment or wax paper individually to keep fresh. You’re all set! ^_^