Buttery, silky smooth and easy to make! These Homemade Soft Caramels are my favorite thing to make for Christmas!
Friends and Neighbor Christmas Gifts
THIS is what I make my neighbors every year. I give them a tin of these homemade caramels and my white chocolate cinnamon pretzels. The pretzels are addictive and can be made in just a few minutes. These caramels take some time but are super easy to make as well. And WOW are they delicious! I can’t tell you how many compliments I get about them every year because they taste like I bought them from a fancy candy store. The batch makes around 80 caramels! So they will go a long way! I have tried so many caramel recipes but this one is my favorite. It calls for evaporated milk and no heavy cream so that’s always a plus when it’s pantry items! I don’t always have cream on hand.
The BEST Soft Homemade Caramels
Caramels can seem daunting but all you need to make them perfect is a little patience and a candy thermometer! You drizzle in the evaporated milk a little at a time, that’s to help it absorb evenly and makes the silky smooth texture. Remember, be patient! Once you try these caramels you will be obsessed and being making them every year like me. One big tip is to not stir the mixture too intensely. You don’t want it to come up too high on the sides of the pan because then you might get some crystallization, which is what you don’t want!
Stirring. Homemade soft caramel candies mean a lot of stirring. My best advice is to hop on the phone with a friend or your mama to pass the time. Make sure when you stir you really focus on hitting all the spots on the bottom of the pan. You don’t want your caramel cooking unevenly! I prefer to use a whisk over a spatula only because I’m pouring in that evaporated milk at the same time.
How to Make Homemade Caramels
Use your candy thermometer and pay close attention to the temperature! If you overheat the mixture your caramels won’t be soft. Have your dish that you’ll pour your caramel into already prepped and ready so as soon as you reach the right temperature, you can pour them into the dish to set. If you’re old school or at a high altitude you can always do the cold water test to find the exact soft ball stage for your town. But I have made some recipe notes for higher altitudes! It’s what I personally bake/cook at so I always list adjustments for us high-living folks. But if you’re at sea level, the traditional candy temperatures will work perfectly for you!
Part of the fun of making your own caramels is that you can cut them into any shape you want! Long pieces, squares, big pieces, small pieces, it’s up to you! I usually end up with a variety of sizes. I use pieces of wax paper to wrap my caramels to give them a polished look when I deliver them.
Salted Caramels
You can add other things to your caramels to suit your specific taste! We sprinkled a little sea salt on ours to make them salted caramels. I sprinkled it on about 5 or so minutes into the cooling process. I’m going to make another batch next week and pour the caramel over nuts to make them caramel and nut chews! You can also dip the pieces in chocolate!
How to Cut Caramels
Cutting homemade caramels is always a struggle! I have tried buttering the knife, oiling the knife, using an insanely sharp knife… it still sticks to the knife and makes a mess. But chilling your caramel slab is the trick! Let the caramel set at room temperature, I like to leave it overnight. And then pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes or so. They’ll cut into beautiful pieces using a sharp knife!
I have a microwave caramel corn recipe I’m in love with, so if you are a big caramel lover, check it out!
The BEST Soft Homemade Caramels
THIS is what I bring to my neighbors and family every year for Christmas. These homemade caramels are buttery soft! It's not Christmas without them!
Ingredients
- 4 Cups sugar
- 1 Cup butter unsalted
- 2 Cups white corn syrup one 16 oz. bottle
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Two 12 oz. cans evaporated milk
Instructions
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Line a 13X9 inch casserole dish with parchment paper and set aside.
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Place sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or pot over medium heat to melt. (The caramel will bubble up so make sure it's a large pan, I like to use my enamel cast iron)
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Bring the mixture to a boil, then slowly add evaporated milk a little at a time. Take about 10-12 minutes per can. Stir constantly.
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After the evaporated milk is added, continue to stir until the mixture has reached 238 F, no hotter! Use your candy thermometer. (See recipe notes for high altitude adjustments)
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Pour into your prepared dish and let cool completely. Cut (see my tips above in the post) and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Temperature adjustments for high altitude:
When I’m in Utah I cook the caramel to 234 degrees
When I’m in Colorado I cook the caramel to 232 degrees
You can always use the soft ball test (drop a little bit of caramel into a glass of cold water and see if it gets firm) to check before you take your caramel off the heat!
Note:
You can add 1 tsp of vanilla extract if desired
I hope you love these homemade caramel candies and share them will all your friends!
Is it possible to add nuts to the caramel before pouring into the prepared pan?
(instead of pouring on top of the nuts)
They look yummy.
Thanks
I LOVE homemade caramels! Does the temp need to be adjusted for higher altitudes?
Absolutely love caramel. We’re going to try to make some white chocolate caramel fudge one day soon and this recipe may be next on our list. Hope you have a great Holiday season and thanks for the recipe ideas.
Hello, Excellent writing! Thanks for delicious recipe. This dish looks yummy and healthy.
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HOMEMADE CARAMELS are also my favorite. And thanks for sharing these kind of important recipes. I really like your posts, mostly I just saw some good writing stuff at edbirdie but now I can see in your posts. Both are important for me and I never wanna replace anything.
I was just wondering, How big do you cut your wax paper to wrap the caramels in?
Personally I only had enough ingredients to do half of the amount listed here. Will that change things? It’s been going for a long time and still will not harden in cold water!
They eventually did harden in the cold water. I put them in the fridge to cool, as I wasn’t sure if they were supposed to sit on the counter or go in the fridge. I hope this doesn’t ruin them!
I made this recipe and got my temp to the 238 like it says. For some reason I had to reheat it 3 times because I couldn’t get it to set, it was way to soft to even cut and finally the 3rd time I brought the temp up to 250 and it turned out perfect
I absolutely love caramel! If you leave them on heat for a little longer will they get harder? I like the caramels that are less chewy.
Mine is really sticky what Did I do ?
Hello! Can you half this recipe? Thanks!
This will now be my go to Carmel recipe, very easy n quick, I love how they stay soft. I took some to work and everyone loved them.
I tried this recipe a couple of days ago, and it’s amazing! I halved it and it worked wonderfully. I only left it to set for a couple (2-3) hours then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes, and they ended up being somewhat sticky and hard to cut but it wasn’t an issue. They taste buttery and delicious, and all my friends and family love them! AMAZING recipe, I’m so happy to have found it!
Hi! I will be making these later today. I just wanted to thank you for the high altitude adjustments (even state specific, as I am in CO). Have a great rest of your life!
I made these caramels and they are amazing. I did add toasted pecan and chocolate chips to the bottom of the pan before the caramel. Absolutely delicious. Thank you for the awesome recipe
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yummy recipe
What is the shelf life of these (if they have made it long enough to have one)?!
Great, everyone loved them!
Use a plastic knife to cut your caramel after it has cooled a litle.
Can I do this with butterscotch morsels?
I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I don’t know if I’m in low altitude or high. Do you know what altitude I live in.?
My Caramels turned out very light in color. Not the deep golden color of your pictures. Any suggestions of what to do differently?
These didn’t work out for me at all. I followed the recipe completely and I couldn’t get the temperature past 220°F without it wanting to boil over the edge of the pot and I used the biggest stock pot I had. What went wrong?
This recipe is Soo good!! I just did a cold water test until it was between a soft ball and a medium firm ball and the texture was perfect!
Yes, these were soft caramels. The trick is DO NOT COOK PAST 238 DEGREES. Also , your tip, before cutting them, put in the refrigerator as they cute much better. You won’t be disappointed.!
I followed the directions to a T, even used an enameled cast iron Dutch oven pot and I could not get my mixture to get above 205 F. I mean I stirred for like 20 mins and all I got was burns on my hands. It’s cooling now. I guess we will see what it tastes like later. They also aren’t a brownish color but more of a khaki/light tan.
I have made these twice now – both times I stirred at least 40 minutes to get it to the correct temperature. Maybe closer to 60. It seems like it takes an eternity, I know, but it is 100% worth it (to me at least).
Hubby said better than that big caramel company that starts with a W. Have wanted to try and make caramel for years, always been afraid it wouldn’t turn out. Decided to take the plunge and so glad I did. Didn’t have trouble cutting it. Took your advice and put in the fridge for 15 minutes. Removed and started cutting with a large sharp knife. If it started getting too soft just put back in for 5 minutes. Ran out of wax paper to cut into squares, paper muffin cups worked as a good substitute. Will definitely make these again.
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Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I lost the recipe I’d used for years (I think the paper turned to dust!) This recipe is identical except mine used cream so that was easily substituted. But what I REALLY appreciated was the high altitude adjustment. I live in Utah soi seem to have problems with some of the candy recipes and have called the USU Extension Service for pointers. I wish more Pinterest authors could provide this kind of help. Again, THANK YOU.
These are soooo good!!
The best recipe I’ve found!!!!!!
recipe looks like a big batch. 12 min per can so 24 mins just for the milk…
What Utah and Colorado elevation do you cook at? is your 234f for sea level? so if you take off 2 f for every 1000′ elevation it would be -10 f for Denver and SLC.. that seems so low at 224f.