Walnut Caramels

Walnut Caramels

This recipe comes from a tea magazine given to me by my neighbor, Jan.  She's a sweet older woman whom I only talk with about twice a year, but she likes giving me food-related things because she knows how much I love it.  I've always wanted to make a good caramel candy, and this recipe seems to work for me.  I think I got second or third place with these at the 2010 Iowa State Fair, but since it wasn't first place, I don't really remember.  I also like making these with almonds and then dipping the bottom half in Dove chocolate (milk or dark, both are fantastic--see pics at the end).  

These really aren't very hard to make, and they keep for quite a while in the fridge.  

Walnut Caramels

Ingredients

1 cup heavy whipping cream ½ cup light corn syrup ½ cup sugar ½ cup light brown sugar ½ cup butter

¼  cup honey ¼ tsp coarse salt 1 cup walnuts, toasted seeds scraped from a 1-inch segment of vanilla bean pod

Instructions

1. Line an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with non-stick aluminum foil.  Set aside.

2. In a large heavy saucepan, combine cream, corn syrup, sugar, brown sugar, butter, honey, and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often.  Cook without stirring until mixture reaches 240°F.  Remove pan from heat.  Add walnuts and vanilla seeds, stirring well to combine.  Pour into prepared dish, and cover with plastic wrap.

3. Refrigerate until set, 2 to 4 hours.

4. Using foil as handles, lift caramel from dish.  Remove foil, and place caramel on a cutting board.  Before cutting, let caramel return to room temperature.  Cut into 1-inch squares.  Wrap individually in wax paper or cello wrap if not serving immediately.

Caramels with almonds

Caramels with almonds and milk chocolate

Caramels with almonds and dark chocolate