Caramel recipe

I am going to post this before I pitch the recipe. Seriously, these are the best caramels I have ever had. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart, so there you go. I made this recipe a few years ago and found it incredibly labor intensive. Two years ago I asked my friend Carrie to help, so we doubled the recipe and made them again. Have you heard women talk about how after a time, they forget about the pain of childbirth? Well, that must have been what happened here, because I asked Carrie to help with caramels this year and for some reason we both are still wondering about, she agreed. (Come to think of it, I think I drank heavily last time we made them. That could explain it....)

This year, we decided to triple the recipe which, while it gave us 3 times the caramels, it was more like 9 times the work and time. It took over 3 hours to make which was bad enough. But the cutting was just horrible! I am still sore today and literally have caramel all over my ass and socks and carpet and hair and chairs and....What a mess. By the last half of the last cookie sheet of caramel, Carrie asked for a hammer. And although the pieces weren't pretty PERFECT little rectangles, it did break up easily with much less man power. So if you should decide to make these - the wonderful, chewy, perfect caramels, just whack away. Your back will thank you.

This is the original recipe for a single batch. It makes one cookie sheet or about 90 caramels. We tried some with pecans the first year and both felt they did not hold up over time.

8 T butter (1 stick cut into pieces)
2 C heavy cream
1/2 C sweetened condensed milk
2 C light corn syrup
1/2 C water
2 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 T vanilla or bourbon
cooking spray

Spray cookie sheet that is at least 1" deep.
In small sauce pan, combine heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk. Set aside.

In heavy 3 or 4 quart sauce pan, combine corn syrup, water, sugar and salt. Cook on high heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Bring to boil. Use pastry brush dipped in water on sides to brush away sugar crystals.

Cook, without moving pan, until 260 about 20 minutes. Meanwhile warm cream mixture over low until warm - NOT boiling. When sugar mix. reaches 260, slowly add butter and warmed cream mixture boiling at all times. Stirring constantly, cook on medium heat until firm ball stage 248, about 15 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Immediately pour into prepared sheet. Let sit uncovered for 24 hours at room temp without moving pan.

Use hammer to break into pieces. Wrap in wax paper. Tell all Susan is a genius.

These really make a great gift. People we know BEG us for them. We are both very selective however on which people are actually "caramel worthy" particularly on this, the last year of the caramel.....