Cooking Thursday

Todays recipe is another one I made at Christmas.  You might not make this now, but you need to save it because this is so easy and so good!  You know those soft, gooey, salted caramels you can buy?  Well, these are as good, if not better! The hardest part of making these is cutting and wrapping them. 

10  Minute Microwave Caramels

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
sea salt

Butter an 8-inch square pan, or for thicker caramels, a 9x5 inch loaf pan. If you like, you can then line the buttered pan with foil and butter the foil.
Melt butter in a large microwaveable bowl (microwave for about 1 minute).
Stir in the corn syrup, both sugars and sweetened condensed milk. Continue stirring until most of the sugar is dissolved.
Microwave on high for 3 minutes and 5 to 15 seconds. ( I recommend starting with the shorter time of 3 minutes 5 seconds, since I'd rather have my caramels too soft than too hard). Remove from microwave and stir and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Return to microwave and cook on high for another 3 minutes and 5 to 15 seconds. Stir in the vanilla. Pour immediately into the buttered dish.
After about 15 -30 minutes, sprinkle sea salt crystals over the caramels.
Allow to sit for several hours until cooled and set. Cut into squares and wrap in waxed paper.

I found it was easier to cut the caramels with kitchen shears than a knife.  Also - I used these wrappers I found on Amazon for $6.99, so much easier than cutting all those squares of wax paper.