15 Minute Holiday Caramels!
December 12, 2012 by alysha
We all love easy, tasty, and QUICK gift ideas, right? Well, my Christmas is never complete without holiday caramels. Lucky for me, I have a fantastic friend/neighbor who whips these up for me every year. When I asked her for the recipe, I couldn’t BELIEVE how easy they were to make, so I begged her to share the recipe with you gals. 
Trust us, it will make neighbor gifts a cinch this year. Take it from here, Jess!
Trust us, it will make neighbor gifts a cinch this year. Take it from here, Jess!–
One of my favorite things about the holidays is all the yummy treats. As much as I love to indulge my sweet tooth with all this goodness, I’d rather spend my time out on adventures. Enter my 15 minute caramels. They’re smooth, buttery, and sweet and most important a piece of cake to whip up in a flash.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Large microwave safe glass bowl (at least 10 cup capacity)
Wax paper
Melt the butter in a large glass bowl.
Add all ingredients except milk and stir well.
Add milk and stir.
Microwave on high for 13 minutes. To be safe, put a plate under your bowl in case it starts to boil over.
Remove from microwave and stir again.
Pour hot caramel into a buttered 9×13 pan and allow to cool.
Cut into 1″x1″ squares and wrap in wax paper.
Now you have some delicious treats with plenty of time left in the day. These make perfect gifts. You’ll be the talk of the neighborhood, and it will only take you 15 minutes! That’s my kind of recipe.
These caramels make perfect treats to take skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, or wherever winter takes you. Throw them in your backpack and let your adventures begin!
–
15 MINUTE HOLIDAY CARAMELS
Ingredients:
-1 cup butter
-1 cup brown sugar
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup corn syrup
-1 can sweetened condensed milk
-Large microwave safe glass bowl (at least 10 cup capacity)
-Wax paper
DIRECTIONS:
-Melt the butter in a large glass bowl.
-Add all ingredients except milk and stir well.
-Add milk and stir.
-Microwave on high for 13 minutes. To be safe, put a plate under your bowl in case it starts to boil over.
-Remove from microwave and stir again.
-Pour hot caramel into a buttered 9×13 pan and allow to cool.
-Cut into 1″x1″ squares and wrap in wax paper.
Jessica blogs over at Bring The Kids, where their motto is “proving your outdoor adventures don’t end when you have kids”. She works hard to maintain her passion for the outdoors by bringing her 3 little kids along on her adventures.
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Oh do these look good!! They are on my list of ideas for neighbor gifts FOR SURE : )
mmm. caramels. This is too easy NOT to try! Thanks for sharing!
Just made these can’t wait for them to cool! Thanks for the awesome, easy and quick recipe!
Love this! I think I might need to try it tonight.
Oh my heavens…these look amazing. I’m a sucker for homemade caramels. I’m definitely going to have to try these! Thanks Alysha and Jessica!
Yum! And a recipe easy enough for me to attempt. I can not WAIT to make these today!
I’ve been looking for a recipe like this! Thank you!
Easy!!! My type of recipe. ON my to do list this season
Thanks Jess.
Awesome! I’ve never tried caramels (even though they are my favorite to eat) but these sure look easy!
I’m about to go bust some of these out. I’ve been wanting to make some caramels, but felt like it was going to be too hard. Thanks for sharing the microwave way!
Love to try these but wot is corn syrup?
It’s usually sold near the maple syrup, and the big brand is KARO.
Awesome recipe….just checking before I make it though. It has 1 cup of butter instead of 1 cube, right?
Yep, it’s one cup, 2 cubes. Lots of butter, lots of sugar. That’s why they’re so yummy!
What size can of sweetened condensed milk do you use?
It’s an 8 oz can. I think it’s the standard size
They look fantastic! but I don’t have a microwave …is there any other way to make them? Thank you!
I’ve heard that you can do it on the stove top and just cook it until it reaches a soft ball stage. I’ve never tried it, but it should work.
This is the best holiday gift! I love it.
Made these last night and you weren’t kidding! These were SO EASY to make and we love, love, love them! I love that you don’t have to mess with a candy thermometer. Fantastic!
How long should it take them to harden and cool ? I’m getting worried that they won’t turn out right?
I did something wrong…they never hardened. Maybe it was just too humid today or something.
Is it light or dark corn syrup?
I use light
Thank you so much for this recipe!! It’s just what I’ve been looking for. I can’t wait to try it.
My 1st batch didn’t turn out smooth and pretty looking–think my micro was too hot, but the 2nd batch looks really pretty. Tastes 1st batch and still tastes wonderful–hubby said those are his and the other one can be for the gift tins.
I was wondering what did you do different to make the second batch smoother? My first batch is cooling right now and is not smooth at all. I had to come back here and check the picture, mine looks like the picture of it in the bowl all bubbly.
Make sure you stir it really well after you cook it. That should help a lot!
Years ago I took a candy making class. And for the caramel filling we put a can of Bordens Condensed unopened, put in a pot and covered it with water. Brought it to a boil and let it then simmer for a couple of hours. Being sure the can was always covered with water. After a couple hours take out let cool, open tin and you had the best Mac Toffee. Sad they took the bars off the market.
But this is way cheaper. Enjoy.
Hi. I made the Carmels and they came out very soft, almost like thick batter ..is that right?? Or what did I do wrong?? They taste yummy though.
Maybe you needed to cook longer? Not sure!
Just made these and they turned out great!! Perfect for gift giving!!! thanks for easy recipe! Will post pics soon on my blog!
So easy and yummy!!! Great for my wine and desert baskets I made for gifts. Thank you!
I made these today, sprinkled a little chopped pecans on top ~ very yummy and easy !
Alysha, I was just wondering….what is the wattage of your microwave? Maybe some are having a problem with this because of the varying strengths of microwaves out there and the cooking time would have to be adjusted according to each one’s microwave.
A higher wattage requires less cooking time, a lower wattage requires longer cooking time to get the desired result in texture or the caramels will not firm up after cooling. Please try to remember to include the wattage of your microwave in your microwave recipes in the future so that we can make the proper adjustment and not waste ingredients/failed batches/money when making the recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks,
Kelli
My microwave is 950 watts. Hope that helps!
I had to make these. They turned out great, and they were so easy! Thanks for the recipe!
salted or unsalted butter? I never know which one to use…
I use salted butter but I really like the salty caramel taste. If you want more salt, sprinkle some sea salt on the caramels before they harden…heaven!