Ashlee Marie - real fun with real food

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Buttery Homemade Caramel

By 25 Comments

I love caramel, but not all caramels are created equal. My sister made these for me a few years ago (she makes them for neighbor gifts every year) and I about died. Seriously the best, most buttery caramels I’ve ever eaten in my life. So after a few years of just enjoying her’s I decided to ask for the recipe and make them myself.

these soft caramels are perfect for neighbor gifts or just to eat at home! recipe and video tutorial

I wish a picture really captured how soft and smooth these caramels are. I will say, you HAVE to make sure your candy thermometer is working, that you know how to adjust the temp for your elevation AND that you don’t just use a candy thermometer – do the ice water test as well!

a video tutorial for making homamde caramels - this recipe is super soft and buttery, always a huge hit

Back in the day before I knew what I was doing I cooked caramel and other candies all the way to 240 at the high elevation in Utah and my batches would come out rock hard, Took me awhile to figure it out! Now I’m a candy making crazy person!

you can cook these a little less or a little more to go from super soft to firm - perfect to get just right with amazing flavor - recipe and video tutorial

these are soft and sticky so I toss them in the fridge for 30 mins or freezer for 10 to harden them up so they are less messy to cut. I switched to the water bottle trays after my sister recommended them – SO EASY! Just make sure you spray them well – the first time I went to light and they were a pain to get out. Or if you use a pan then use very sharp knife and coat it with baking spray, then cut them into long caramel tubes and wrap them in wax paper!

easy to make caramels with a video tutorial! buttery, rich and oh so soft

3.8 from 10 votes
a video tutorial for making homamde caramels - this recipe is super soft and buttery, always a huge hit
Print
homemade buttery caramels
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
cool time
30 mins
Total Time
1 hr
 

these buttery caramels are easy to make and taste amazing, the best soft caramel recipe you'll ever try

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: buttery caramel recipe, caramel recipe, homemade caramels
Servings: 96 caramels
Calories: 80 kcal
Author: Ashlee Marie
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 C butter
  • 1 1/2 lbs packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 C light corn syrup
  • 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
  1. In a large saucepan dissolve the brown sugar and salt in the butter over medium heat.
  2. Add the Karo syrup and mix
  3. Pour the sweetened condensed milk in and stir.
  4. Boil the mixture over medium heat until it hits 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer (remember candy temperatures are listed as sea level degree's so adjust according to your altitude - for example I lower all temperatures by 20 degrees F because I live so high up)
  5. Add the vanilla and stir
  6. Pour into a prepared large jelly roll pan (sprayed with baking spray) and let it set
  7. Cut with a knife also sprayed with baking spray

Recipe Video

What’s your favorite Christmas treats or goodies to make every year? One of my favorites for neighbor gifts is caramel popcorn balls! Everyone loves them and they are super easy to make!

Neighbor gifts and goodie plate recipes

these soft butter caramels are made with brown sugar for a rich flavor and are super simple to make - full video tutorial

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Just found this helpful site filled with wonderful stuff! Making fleece hats and now onto caramels! Yum an all around great day! Thanks!

    Reply

  2. Guess what…rock hard caramels are actually yummy! They just last longer. They could be made into caramel suckers, too! Maybe put them in a cute silicone mold and tie with a cute ribbon for a homemade stocking stuffer. 🙂

    Reply

  5. Wanted to try a new caramels recipe, make them all the time and was excited to try this one with sweetened condensed milk since have never put it in before. But your recipe is listed wrong. You write 1 1/2 cups of butter – that is three whole sticks. I usually use 1 stick – 1 1/2 sticks so thought that was quite a lot and just went with 2 1/2 sticks instead to give it a try. In the picture you have 1 1/2 sticks. You also have have 1 1/2 lbs of brown sugar – it is 1 1/2 cups, correct? That’s what I used. In the end, they came out very bad – way too much butter haha. I’m sure they are good if the correct recipe was followed. Will try again with correct measurements probably.

    Reply

    • actually my recipe isn’t listed wrong. the picture shows 3 cubes (we have cubes in the west coast they are the same amount of butter but different shape than the sticks in the east coast) and it’s 1 1/2 POUNDS of brown sugar not cups. if you try it again following the recipe let me know what you think.

      Reply

  9. Howdy!
    Thank you so much for this amazing recipe, my first batch was on new year’s day and just poured my second this evening.
    Wonderful caramels! These are “make you some friends” caramels!
    I have never had so many happily swear-word-ladden compliments as I have with co-workers through a mouthful of one of these 🙂
    I intend to use this recipe in homemade candy bars once I get the hang on tempering chocolate.

    Thank you Ashlee, I’m a new a fan!

    Reply

  10. Thank you for the wonderful caramel recipe me and my wife infused the butter with marijuana it was very tasty all our friends loved it thank you so much and we also made your homemade peanut butter cups with infused butter containing marijuana

    Reply

  11. I managed to make this recipe yesterday and it turned out better than expected! (I have made caramel before but I’ve set fires while making it…) This recipe was easy to follow and the texture was about what I expected, HOWEVER, I do have a question. My final product was a bit gritty. I wondered if I made a mistake and didn’t dissolve the brown sugar in the butter long enough. Other than that, this is going to be my go-to caramel recipe for the fall and winter holidays!! Thanks for sharing!! -B

    Reply

    • with candy making it can be so many things, scrapping the sides can deposit sugar crystals back into the caramel and start a chain reaction of crystallization, so keep the sides clean by brushing the sides with a wet pastry brush. under cooking or over cooking can cause it as well. stirring to much can also cause grittiness, you want to stir as little as possible but don’t let it burn, this is one of the times I don’t suggest using a stainless steel pan – it burns if you don’t stir it constantly. Make sure not to skip the corn syrup as it helps prevent crystallization.

      Reply

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