Chewy, homemade caramel covered in chocolate to soften the caramel flavor and a sprinkle of sea salt to give it a pop!
Look. I actually don’t like caramel. Caramel cupcakes? Ehh. Caramel sauce on ice cream? Ehh. Caramel corn? Ehh. I made these more for the skill and understanding of the caramel making processing. But these are seriously addicting. They are so easy to pop and who doesn’t love anything covered in chocolate? If you are the rare exception to that question, you could skip the chocolate. The pinch of sea salt really makes these pop too, but you could skip that too if you don’t like sweet and salty.
I actually made and photographed these back in January, but there is nothing remotely healthy about these. Sugar, corn syrup, butter, cream. Not exactly the stuff of New Year’s Resolutions. Now that doesn’t bother me… I’m not really one for resolutions, but I wasn’t sure if anyone else would care about my dear caramels in January… and EVERYONE should care because they are delicious and beautiful and all around wonderful!
The caramel is actually quite simple to make. Just throw everything in a pot. Cook until it reaches 250ºF which means you’ll need a candy thermometer. Add some more ingredients and then let it set in a pan. The worst part is probably the dishes. The caramel will stick to the sides of your pot, but fill the pot with water and bring it to a boil and the excess caramel will dissolve. 
The point of tempering the chocolate is so the chocolate will set without the help of refrigeration but sometimes that means it dries too quickly! So when you dip the caramels in the tempered chocolate, be sure to sprinkle the salt on top immediately before the chocolate dries. If the chocolate starts to harden in the dish you have it in, just zap it in the microwave. I like to put the chocolate in a dish with shallow sides, so I can dip it without getting my fingers all chocolatey. 
Happy caramel eatin’!
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup light corn syrup
- 1 Tablespoon salted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped **see tempering options below
- sea salt (about 1 Tablespoon)
- Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil with butter.
- Measure out the butter, vanilla, and salt so that they are ready to go in step #6.
- In a 3 qt saucepan on medium heat, combine the heavy cream, sugars, and corn syrup with a wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved. It will be cloudy with the cream still.
- Stop stirring once the sugars are dissolved and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Once the mixture is boiling, attach a candy thermometer* and cook, stirring every 1½ minutes, until it reaches 250°F.
- Remove the pan from heat and quickly stir in the pre-measured butter, vanilla, and salt.
- Pour the caramel into the prepared pan. Resist scraping the sides of the saucepan because there will be slightly burned areas where it splashed while boiling.
- Let the caramel sit at room temperature for about 3 hours or until set.
- Remove from the pan and peel the aluminum foil off.
- Cut into squares.
- You can stop here or continue on for the topping.
- Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
- Heat about 1 in. of water in saucepan over medium-low heat until boiling.
- Put half of the semisweet chocolate in a double boiler pot or in a heatproof bowl that sits on top of your saucepan.
- Place the chocolate over the boiling water and stir until about ⅓ of the chocolate is melted.
- Remove the chocolate from the heat and stir in the other half of the semisweet chocolate.
- Stir until all of the chocolate is melted, returning the chocolate to the boiling water for 5-10 seconds at a time to help it melt.
- Once all of the chocolate is melted, pour the chocolate into a dish with shallow sides (that will make it easier to dip the caramel in).
- Dip caramel halfway into the chocolate, gripping the sides with your fingers. Scrape any excess chocolate off on the side of the chocolate dish and sort of shake it to get the chocolate to smooth out. ***
- Place on the baking sheet and immediately sprinkle the tops with a pinch of sea salt. Because you have tempered the chocolate, the chocolate will harden quickly so don't wait to top it.
- If the chocolate hardens in your dish, microwave it for 15 seconds to melt it again.
- Let the chocolate set up.
** If you don't want to go through the process of tempering, use Candy Melts (which is pre-tempered chocolate) or just don't temper your chocolate (but realize that it will melt easily and take a lot longer to set up). If you choose one of these options, skip steps # 2-6 under the "Chocolate Sea-Salt Topping" header.
***If you want to completely cover the caramels with chocolate, double the quantity of chocolate and use a fork to lift the caramels out of the chocolate.
To clean your pots and bowls: For the pot you made the caramel in, boil water in it and then immediately dump the hot water down the drain. All the glued on syrup should come off. For anything else, get the hottest water going in your sink and run the gooped areas directly under the steaming hot water.
Adapted from Sally’s Candy Addiction