• With the holidays right around the corner it is about time to start thinking about your Christmas, Hanukkah,  Kwanzaa, Boxing Day (celebrated in England) and other holiday gifts. I do my best to give out as many homemade treats as I can muster. And nothing seems as impressive as a homemade candy. Toffee, taffy, and caramels. Some of my favorite things! Nothing beats a good soft and chewy salted caramel.

    Here are the ingredients that you will need:
    1 can sweetened condensed milk
    2 cups of granulated sugar
    1 cup unsalted butter
    1 teaspoon kosher salt
    1 1/2 cups light corn syrup

    It also helps to have a candy thermometer, but it is certainly possible to make these without one.

    Grab a nine by thirteen pan and heavily butter the bottom, sides, and corners. Then set aside.

    Put all your ingredients into a heavy bottomed pan. Turn your heat to medium. Continuously stir the mixture while it comes to a boil. It’s will take what feels like a long time, but keep stirring! Be sure to not scrape any crystals from the side of the pan back into the boiling sugar mixture. Just keep stirring, and stirring, until the molten sugar turns the color of a light caramel. You can also check the texture by placing a small amount into a glass of ice water. The candy will stay in a ball as it sinks, but flatten into a disk like shape when it hits the bottom. Or you can check your candy thermometer for 240 degrees.

    Carefully pour your burning hot goodness into your buttered 9×13 dish. Allow it to cool for ten minutes and then sprinkle with kosher salt.

    Continue to cool completely to room temperature.

    Grab a knife and run it along the edges of your fully cooled caramel. Just get it loosened. Then you should be able to turn the giant sheet out onto a cutting board. I prefer to use a pizza cutter to slice my caramels into bite sized morsels. Wrap with parchment paper and place it into pretty tins for a fantastic homemade gift.