How to Make Homemade Caramel

Last Updated on December 12, 2019 by Diane Hoffmaster

If you learn how to make homemade caramel, you will never again wonder what to give people as a gift.  Homemade caramel is incredibly easy to make and takes only 4 ingredients that you can easily find at your local grocery store.  You will be amazed at how awesome your homemade caramel tastes compared to the ‘blech’ flavor of the stuff you buy at the grocery store.  Once you get a taste of this sweet, chewy and buttery goodness you will never again buy it in the candy aisle!

Is Making Caramel Hard?

Making homemade caramel is not hard.  However, you HAVE to keep your eye on it from start to finish.  Do not wander off to watch TV or answer the phone and forget about it.  Just stir, watch the thermometer, and be patient!

Do not try to speed up the process.  Heat that is too high will just burn your sugar mixture and that is not good at all!  Medium high heat, stir constantly, watch it like a hawk.  This is a good time to put a really long movie on for the kids!

Caramel Ingredients

The ingredients for this caramel recipe are pretty simple.  Real butter, heavy cream, pure white sugar, and corn syrup.  I have no idea why it uses corn syrup but it is vital to the smooth texture of the final caramel.  I buy Karo light corn syrup but I don’t think the brand really matters.  

More Homemade Candy Recipes

• White Chocolate Lemon Truffle Recipe
• Easy Mint Truffle Recipe For Serious Chocolate Lovers!
• Easy Bourbon Ball Recipe Full of Rich, Smooth Bourbon!

How to Make Homemade Caramel

The one thing you definitely need before you can make homemade caramel is a candy thermometer!  This is a must-have if you want to learn how to make homemade caramel!  Get a candy thermometer on Amazon before you tackle this caramel recipe.  If you don’t get the temperature just right, you may end up with caramel sauce rather than caramel candies.  Tasty, but not quite what you were aiming for.

Other than a candy thermometer,  you don’t really need any ‘special’ kitchen tools.  You WILL need something to wrap your homemade caramel in after they are done.  I buy pretty foil candy wrappers but you can use plain old aluminum foil and it will work fine.  So, here are the basic directions on how to make homemade caramel (see the actual recipe for full directions to print out):

1.  Put all the caramel ingredients in the pan.  Start with half the cream.
2. Heat over medium to medium high heat, stirring constantly.
3. Once the mixture is boiling, brush down the sides of the pan with a small pastry brush dipped in water.  This just dissolves any lingering sugar granules from the side of the pan that could start a crystallization problem.
4. Cook to approximately 235 degrees.  This may take some playing with year after year…. Make sure your candy thermometer is accurate.
5. Pour the mixture into a buttered glass pan and let cool overnight.
6. Cut with a buttered knife and wrap.

Yield: 100 caramels

How to Make Homemade Caramel

Print

Easy homemade caramel recipe that is sweet, chewy and buttery!

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Additional Time 12 hours

Total Time 13 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
• 4 cups heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. Butter a 13 x 9 inch glass pan and set aside
2. Place sugar, butter, corn syrup and 2 cups whipping cream into a 6 quart pot
3. Bring to a rolling boil over medium high heat stirring frequently.
4. Using a pastry brush dipped in a little bit of cold water, wash down the sides of the pot to make sure there is no undissolved sugar left in the pan.
5. Attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pot
6. While the mixture is boiling, slowly add in the remaining 2 cups of heavy cream WITHOUT BREAKING THE BOIL! Stir constantly. This is very important for a smooth caramel! Just add the cream as a trickle while the mixture continues to boil.
7. Continue boiling and stirring the mixture until it reaches 244 degrees Fahrenheit. 2 degrees hotter will yield a firmer caramel but I prefer softer. Watch the thermometer!!! The temperature is very important to your final result!
8. Pour the caramel into the buttered pan and let cool overnight.
9. Lightly butter a sharp knife and cut the caramel into small squares and wrap in individual foil wrappers.
10. These homemade caramels will stay good at room temperature for several weeks

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

36

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 216Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 16mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 0gSugar: 34gProtein: 1g

Nutrition information not always accurate

 Want to make homemade caramel?  Pin for later!

Love making homemade candy?

 Try this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffle Recipe

Diane Hoffmaster

Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician with two teens, one husband and more pets than she will admit to. She has a BS in Microbiology and is a Nationally Certified Pharmacy Technician but left her career in science to become a stay at home mom. Years of playing with LEGO and coloring with crayons had her craving a more grown up purpose to her life and she began blogging full time. She currently deals with emotional teens, suburban politics, and middle aged metabolism while sharing her opinions in an honest and down to earth fashion on her blog. You can learn more about her HERE.