Simple and easy caramels made in the microwave with just one bowl and no candy thermometer! Sprinkle them with salt, dip or drizzle them with chocolate or wrap them in waxed paper to give as gifts!
I’ve been making these for as long as I can remember!
These are delicious chewy little caramels that are very simple to make and no candy thermometer is required!! They can be used in any recipe that requires you to purchase and unwrap little caramels and are just perfect enjoyed on their own.
The smaller the dish you use, the thicker the caramels will be, I like to make them in an 8×8 pan. A larger dish will just mean a thinner caramel.
You can cut them into squares or into longer sticks. If you’re giving them as a gift, it’s nice to cut them into sticks and wrap each one in a small piece of waxed paper or pretty candy wrappers.
Once they are cut into squares, they are still quite pliable so we store them in the fridge until about an hour before serving! They are perfect dipped or drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with a little sea salt (or skip the chocolate for a salted caramel).
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup corn syrup (Karo Syrup)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
Optional Toppings
- Salt
- Chocolate
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a large microwave safe bowl (the mixture will bubble up so make sure there is lots of room in the bowl).
- Microwave on high for 6-7 minutes, stirring every 90 seconds.
- Pour into a small buttered dish and allow to cool completely. Cut into small squares.
- If desired, drizzle with chocolate and a sprinkle of sea salt.
Note: This mixture gets VERY hot. Ensure there are no children underfoot when you make this.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Candy, Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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These are so yummy and easy to make:)
Thank you for the receipie
I just made these using Glucose Syrup because you can’t buy corn syrup here. They taste incredible but I think the thickness of the glucose may Ave impacted the consistency of the caramel. It set hard without being refrigerated (just sitting on the bench) and the leftover in the mixing bowl was quite difficult to get out.
Still worth making although I’m a little nervous about how I will cut it up.
I followed the instructions, and ended up needing an extra minute and they were still really soft and gooey. Too soft to cut even after being in the fridge for a few hours.
I had the same problem. Now I have a large tub of carmel goop. I guess we can warm it up and put it in coffee or over icecream.
Microwaves can certainly vary. Did you try cooking it a little longer than suggested?
dip sliced apples in it?
I make filled chocolates and turtles at Christmas for my friends and family. I use a lot of caramel. I have two people on my list who are allergic to corn syrup. I found your easy recipe the other day and decided to try it substituting honey for the corn syrup. I am very happy to report that it came out perfect!!! I now have a new caramel recipe that is so much easier than standing in front of the stove and stirring and hoping that I get the right consistancy. I will be gearing up production in a few weeks and making several batches of this. Thank you so much!,
Marcia
So glad you enjoyed it Marcia!
Instead of making caramel for your chocolates, boil a can of condensed sweet milk, in the can, for three hours. The milk turns into a delicious caramel. Just make sure the can is submerged in hot water at all times and let the can cool off before opening it. If not it will go right to the ceiling lol.
Wow, wish I knew honey worked before I went & bought corn syrup today (making tomorrow)! Much healthier option, so I’ll try a batch of each & see which I like best!
Did you ever use this carmel for making candy such as pecan turtles or something similar? I’m thinking if you have the pecans on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet, pour this carmel over the pecans while the carmel is still warm??, cool so the carmel is somewhat set-up and then coat with melted chocolate and cool again. What do you think??
I think that would work perfectly… I definitely need to give it a try!
Because the Carmel is soft I just cut squares lined two pecan halves together and put one square of Carmel on the pecans press with my fingers or use the back side of a buttered spoon and gentley press down to shape around the pecans put some melted chocolate on top and use a cheap craft paint brush to smooth the chocolate on and around the turtle
Should the butter be melted, soft, or cold when you first stir it together?
I use softened butter.
Oops! I used butter out of the fridge, and salted (so I didnt add salt) so we Will see how that goes!
How did it turn out with salted butter? That’s all I generally use and was wondering if you could just leave out the salt and use it.
Any other substitute for the condensed milk….I have worked per cent and evaporated. Thanks
I haven’t tried this recipe with a substitute so I can’t say for sure.
Are these soft chewy caramels or hard
Soft and chewy.
I made these today with full fat unsweetened coconut milk in place of the condensed milk. It too 9 minutes but they came out great.
Great idea to sub the milk for coconut milk! Thanks for letting us know!
Substitute for Corn Syrup (From Taste of Home)
For each cup of light corn syrup in a recipe, substitute 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup water. For each cup of dark corn syrup, substitute 1 cup of packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup water.
Have you try this substitution in this recipr? Does it work ?
I just have one quick question, when you say white sugar, do I use granulated or powdered? Really looking forward to trying them out
Granulated! Enjoy!
I just made these and theyre setting as we speak! Do these need to be refrigerated? How long will they keep?
Refrigerating is a good idea, I would allow them to soften a few minutes before eating them. I kept mine about a week.. and we had eaten them all by then! :)
Hi, i live in the Netherlands, Europe and we don’t have corn or Karo syrup! What can i use in place? Honey or Ahorn syrup? Thanks in advance! I adore Caramels! I find them heavenly! So PLEASE tell me what to use! :-) :-) :-)
After some searching, I see that you can’t get corn syrup in the Netherlands! I did find a recipe for some. :)
http://homecookingwithsonya.blogspot.ca/2009/09/homemade-corn-syrup.html
Hi,
In Australia corn syrup is sold as Glucose syrup. They are the same thing in every way except thickness. From what I can tell from my online readings you can mix a little water in Glucose syrup to thin it out but you don’t really need to for most recipes.
In Australia, it’s called Treacle so if you have that, it is very similar to corn syrup.
Hi! Recipe sounds awesome! One question…dark or light karo? I have dark in my cabinet. Hoping it will work! Lol
I used light but dark will work just as well.
According to Karo FAQ the dark and light coloured can be used interchangeably (as long as it’s not the lite as in low calorie) in recipes!
Great! Just made with dark karo and light brown sugar. Licking the cooled spoon, tastes fab and is setting up. I cant wait for them to be cooled. Going to try putting sea salt on top of half the batch when cooled a little more. Yum!! Thanks so muchfor sharing this! :)
Yummy! Sea salt would be an awesome addition!
You are right about using light corn syrup… just ruined the whole batch BC I only had light corn syrup on hand… doesn’t work … too hard to eat and not chewey.
i also would like a substitute for sweetened condensed milk
Wow, these look so great and I’m so excited to make these! But I’m wondering if you can give a few details on the size of dish that you used and how many it makes? So for example, if I have a recipe that requires 32 of those store-bought plastic wrapped caramels, would a single batch make enough? Thanks, I guess I’m just hoping to avoid the guesswork!
Initially I put them in a 9″x9″ glass dish but I found them to be way too thin. The size I like best was 8″x5″, just a small casserole dish I had (about the size of a DVD case) because it gave a thicker caramel. I cut them into 1″ squares so I got about 40. I think a single batch would be about right.
Thanks for the tip! Im going to try to make these soon.
Do you know what I can substitute the sweetened condensed milk with to make it suitable for my family of lactose intolerants?
I have substituted coconut milk in my regular caramel sauce and it worked well.. so you might like to give that a try. I would recommend using full fat coconut milk (and not the light version). If you do try it, please let us know how it works for you!
Hi Holly, I don’t want to sound ignorant – but what is corn syrup? Also what would the measurements be in grams/ounces? Thanks, Helen
Hi Helen! Great question… corn syrup is commonly known as Karo Syrup… Karo is the brand name. I will add this into the recipe for others!
We don’t have anything called corn syrup or Karl in England. Is it a thickening syrup (I’m thinking corn flour) or a sweet syrup (thinking golden syrup)?
You could try golden syrup in place of corn syrup. I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure how it would work (you may need to adjust cooking time slightly).
I use golden syrup as an alternative to Corn syrup it works fine but makes things a little bit softer.
In Australia i havent seen corn syrup either, but we do have the ones i listed below which are similar,
Rice Malt Syrup
Coconut Syrup
Glucose syrup
I’m wondering/hoping one of these could all work in place of corn syrup
Wish me goodluck
glucose syrup (also known as confectioner’s glucose) or golden syrup can be used in place of corn syrup.
Yes, you can get Karo syrup in Australia if you look hard. Try health food stores, sometimes a good supermarket will have it in the speciality sections. I have substituted rice malt for corn syrup successfully. BUT beware, treacle is not the same. It is too strong tasting.
Easiest answer is white syrup…next to the pancake syrup…I use it in no bake cereal bars too
Irs a thick white clear syrup
I certainly going to try this! looks awesome!!! It would be so cool if you could join my Link Party on Sundays (it’s live now, until tomorrow midnight) and the Pin Hop on Thursdays if you would like to make some new friends =D.
Hope you are having a lovely day
Hugs
Cami
I love making and eating homemade caramels. My great-grandma’s recipe’s been my go-to for ages, but it involves so much stirring over the hot stove that I’d be so SO happy to try yours. I don’t have a microwave, but am pretty sure my co-workers at school would be more than happy to see caramels on the lunch table and thus let me use the microwave there. Thanks so much for sharing. Already pinned this!
Oh man! The joy of caramel without the trouble of stirring and stirring and stirring!
Thanks!
kelly
Very good recipe!
Thanks for sharing!