Small Batch Homemade Caramels

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It's that candy making time of year and everybody loves caramels but you don't always want a million pieces! This small batch recipe makes enough chewy homemade caramels for you to enjoy a little and share a little but not have more than you know what to do with.

Wrapped caramel squares. — Wrap these homemade caramel candy squares the old fashioned way with festive foil wrappers!

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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredient Notes
What You'll Need For This Recipe
How to Make Homemade Caramels
Recipe FAQs
Related Candy Recipes
Small Batch Homemade Caramels Recipe

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Makes only 60 homemade caramel candies instead of hundreds of pieces!
Chewy caramel that is still soft but holds it shape!
Makes the perfect gift this holiday season for family friends and neighbors!

Ingredient Notes

Light Corn Syrup - I know many people want to substitute something for corn syrup however, candy recipes are not the place to swap ingredients like that out. So, yes, you must use light corn syrup (not dark corn syrup) for this recipe.
Butter - It doesn't matter whether you use unsalted butter or salted butter but it does matter if you use butter. Please don't substitute anything for the butter.
Heavy Cream - Do not substitute milk, evaporated milk, or sweetened condensed milk for the cream.
Sugar - This recipe use white granulated sugar. Don't substitute brown sugar.
Chocolate - Feel free to dip the caramel squares or drizzle them with dark chocolate!
Salt - For a salted caramel variation sprinkle the hot caramel once it's poured in the baking pan with coarse sea salt or sea salt flakes.
⅛ Sheet Pan - For this recipe I highly recommend an ⅛ size (10 x 7 x 1 inches) baking sheet . It is half the size of a 9x13 pan. I use mine ALL the time. It's the perfect size to reheat stuff or cook small amounts of food. I totally recommend them! I use this little pan way more than I ever though I would but if you don't want to buy one you can use a bread loaf pan. It will just make the caramels thicker so when you cut them up you'll be cutting them into thinner strips and your caramels will be more rectangle shapes instead of cube shapes.

Everything you'll need to make my favorite caramel recipe!

What You'll Need For This Recipe

How to Make Homemade Caramels

Line an ⅛ size (10 x 7 x 1 inches with aluminum foil. (Make sure it's foil, not wax paper or parchment paper)
Grease it WELL with softened butter. Seriously, butter that foil well! It's the most important part when making these caramels because getting the caramels all the way done just to find out they're stuck to the foil is the worst!
Measure the sugar, corn syrup and cream in a non-stick medium pot.
Have your candy thermometer, cubed butter and vanilla extract right there ready to add when it's time. It's important to have the butter cubed so it doesn't cool the hot caramel so fast that it can't all melt.
Bring the contents of your pot to a boil over medium heat stirring here and there so the sugar incorporates and doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan.
Once boiling, attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pan. I will be measuring temperature by Fahrenheit.
Continue to cook the caramel until it reaches 250 degrees F. (firm ball stage) for a softer caramel or to 260 degrees f. (hard ball stage) for a firm caramel.
Continue to stir frequently especially as the caramel gets closer to the right temperature.
In the pictures, you can see the difference in color as the caramel cooks. It's at about 230 degrees or soft ball stage that it really starts to turn that nice golden color.
TIP If you don't have a candy thermometer, read about the cold water test here.
TIP If sugar crystals form around the sides of the pot you can wash sugar crystals from the side of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water.

What the caramel process looks like from measuring out the ingredients to cooking to soft-ball stage.

Once the desired temperature is reached remove the pot from the heat and immediately stir in the butter cubes and vanilla.
Whisk until all the butter is incorporated. This may take a minute or so of stirring.
Pour the caramel into the prepared pan and allow to cool to room temperature on the counter top for a few hours.
Lift the caramel out by the foil, place on a cutting board and cut into small squares using a sharp knife.
TIP - It may be helpful to chill your caramel in the fridge just until cold to make the cutting easier.
Wrap each caramel in a foil candy wrapper or pieces of wax paper.
If properly wrapped them is no need to keep them in an airtight container. A pretty candy dish is one of my favorite ways to display this homemade candy!

Pouring, cooling, and cutting the caramel.

Recipe FAQs

How long do homemade caramels last?

If wrapped up properly these caramels last a month or so at room temp or up to 6 months if stored in the fridge.

How do you wrap homemade caramels?

I always by candy wrapping foil from a kitchen store where I live because I've had terrible luck with wax paper and I don't want to take the time to cut up a bunch of foil. Here is an Amazon link to the exact wrappers you see in my picture. The description says that they aren't for caramels, but I've wrapped my caramels in them for 2 years in a row with no problems.

Should I refrigerate my caramels?

Caramels don't need to be refrigerated but it does extend the shelf life. I sometimes pop my caramels in the fridge to get cold before I cut them up because chilled caramel is easier to cut.

I don't have that size of pan! What can I use?

For this recipe I highly recommend an ⅛ size (10 x 7 x 1 inches) baking sheet . It is half the size of a 9x13 pan. I use mine ALL the time. It's the perfect size to reheat stuff or cook small amounts of food. I totally recommend them! I use this little pan way more than I ever though I would but if you don't want to buy one you can use a bread loaf pan. It will just make the caramels thicker so when you cut them up you'll be cutting them into thinner strips and your caramels will be more rectangle shapes instead of cube shapes.

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