Shelly's Recipe

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Category: Candy

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted (I use unsalted, use salted for saltier caramels)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup light corn syrup (light in color, not lite)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
coarse sea salted and/or melted chocolate for dipping, optional

This is a fast-moving recipe once it begins. Have everything in place including a large oven mitt because the bowl will be very hot. Also clear out a space in your refrigerator in advance for placing the hot pan to cool. Make sure your bowl is truly microwave-safe because it will get very hot. Do not use lite or reduced fat ingredients; use real butter, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk. Send small children out of the kitchen while making these and fully concentrate on the recipe because the mixture is incredibly hot.

Line an 8-by-8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside. In a very large microwave-safe bowl (nearly the largest your microwave can accommodate because you will need the room and depth for the bubbling-up), melt the butter, about 90 seconds on high power. To the melted butter add the granulated sugar, light brown sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and stir until smooth. Place bowl in the microwave and heat on high power for 3 minutes and 30 seconds (3 and 1/2 minutes).

Using a hot pad, remove bowl from the microwave, scrape down the sides incredibly well, and stir. Very important - it won’t appear that much of anything is on the sides but if there is sugar or sugar granules that are not dissolved and fully incorporated into the bubbling mixture and they remain uncooked, they can cause graininess or crystallization in the finished caramels. Uncooked sugar crystals have regrowth that spreads and can take over a whole pan, rendering it a grainy and gross mess over time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl very well making sure no sugar is clung to the sides.

Return bowl to microwave and heat on high power for 3 minutes and 30 seconds (3 and 1/2 minutes). During this time, the mixture will foam, bubble vigorously, and become very active. I recommend standing in front of the microwave and watching it the whole time so you could power off the microwave immediately if necessary. Using a hot pad, remove the bowl from the microwave, set it on the counter, and very, very carefully add the vanilla extract, standing at arm's length. The mixture will still be boiling and when you add it, it will bubble up even more. Use extreme caution and stir to incorporate the vanilla. The mixture will continue to bubble quite rapidly.

Pour the bubbling mixture into the prepared pan, cover it with another sheet of aluminum foil, and place it in the refrigerator to firm up for at least four hours, or overnight, before slicing caramels. Lift the caramels out using the foil overhang and flip them over, upside-down-cake style, onto a piece of parchment that’s waiting on a cutting board. You could slice them in the pan but I don’t want knife marks scratching. I slice them into 1-inch squares with a sharp knife or pasty-making bench scraper works well. Spray knife or scraper with cooking spray if it's sticking to the caramels and repeat as necessary until finished slicing.

Store caramels by wrapping them individually in parchment paper or by placing them side-by-side without touching on top of large pieces of parchment paper inside a large plastic airtight container. I store them in the refrigerator, but they keep at room temperature for many weeks, and will keep in the refrigerator or freezer for months. Optionally, sprinkle them with coarse sea salt, dip them in chocolate, sandwich a layer of peanut butter or marshmallow fluff in between two of them and dip the stack in chocolate.