Easy Salted Caramels Made with Sweetened Condensed Milk

You’ll love making these homemade salted caramels that melt in your mouth. They are rich and creamy with a soft and chewy texture. With just a few simple ingredients, you can create these rich, buttery candies that are finished with a sprinkle of sea salt for the perfect touch.

 

Make Some Homemade Caramels to Share

Instead of using cream like you do when making caramel sauce, these soft and chewy caramels are made with sweetened condensed milk and a mixture of karo syrup and sugar, and of course butter! Sprinkled with flaky salt while still warm makes them even more amazing.

While Kraft caramels are delicious, there is no comparison to these homemade salted vanilla caramels. Their buttery creamy taste will have you making these over and over again. I always try to have a batch in the freezer around the holidays to give to friends or as a hostess gift.

Caramels might sound a bit intimidating, but this recipe is easy to follow and even easier if you have a candy thermometer. If you don’t have one, you can still make them, you’ll just need to go by the color instead of temperature.

You’ll love these Salted Caramels!

These taste divine. Creamy and smooth with a hint of salt. Along with butter, vanilla adds so much depth to a recipe. This recipe has two hefty tablespoons so you can really get the rich vanilla flavor.

You can also add some bourbon to make things interesting. While I like bourbon, it can easily overpower a dessert, so add just a little.

You only need pantry staples but check the recipe card below for the exact amounts.

You Can Make Caramels

To make caramels, you need a candy thermometer and a little patience. There are just two steps. The one I have is so old it isn’t available but Thermopro makes a fabulous candy thermometer.

Step 1: Cook until amber

This is my favorite saucepan, I use it for everything!

Step 2: Cook until it is 240º

Make sure you use line the pan with parchment paper so that you can remove them from the pan.

Once it’s cool you’ll want to refrigerate it for a little while so that it sets enough for you to cut it without making a sticky mess. Once they are cut and wrapped, you can store them at room temperature so that they will be soft and chewy.

Wrapping Caramel Candies

Wrapping caramel candies is not hard, but time consuming. I have found the best way is to wrap them when they are a little soft, not frozen. This will make sure that the plastic wrap clings to the candies.

The best way to wrap these is to purchase candy wrappers, they will make your life so much easier. They are inexpensive and will save so much time.

Or, you can cut plastic wrap into strips twice the width of the candies and long enough to wrap around two times, about 3 inches by 4 inches. ( I just eyeball it) Once wrapped, you can freeze and the plastic will stay in place.

Since they’re so small it feels like you are indulging without overdoing it.

This recipe for homemade caramels makes about 50 candies, enough to last a while. Try storing them in a cute airtight container on the counter for that 3 o’clock pick me up. If you’re like me and have a hard time eating just one, store them in the freezer and grab one when you need it. They only take a few minutes to thaw.

Try giving them to friends for the holidays, they make a great hostess gift, or end of the year teachers gift. I find that people prefer these little candies over getting cookies around the holidays. Once wrapped, place them in a clear decorated cellophane bag and tie the top with ribbon.

Try serving these on a dessert table along with other mini bite size pecan desserts and mini chocolate chip pies for a variety of textures and flavors.

If you loved this recipe, give it a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating! Also, snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #butterandbaggage and tagging me @butterandbaggage.