Caramels

I have spent the week making caramels and peanut brittle and one pan of rocky road fudge. Caramels were one of my favorite traditions because it was so much fun to sit around the table with the kids while they wrapped the caramels. They could wrap them faster than I could cut them, and it was fun to sit and visit and watch them sneak one into their mouth once in a while. I miss the kids being home. It is a lot more work to make caramels now. I have to wrap them all myself!

CARAMELS
2 cups sugar
1 square (1/2 cup) butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
Mix together and place over medium heat. The mixture expands while cooking so make sure you have plenty of room in your pan--it helps if it has a thick bottom also. Stir constantly with wooden spoon until soft ball--use a thermometer. Remove from heat and add nuts if desired. Pour into buttered 9X13 pan. Cool completely. Cut into pieces and wrap in wax paper.

If the caramel isn't firm enough after it has cooled, you can put it back in the pan and cook it again to a higher temperature. Every time we move I need to adjust the temperatures on my candy recipes so I always make caramels first to see if I need to move up or down a few degrees. Altitude must make a difference, but if you know how to get to soft ball stage they will work every time. Some people can tell by dropping a little candy from a spoon into a cup of cold water.
The mixture expands and then shrinks back down as it cooks, and it gets darker as the temperature gets higher.