Chocolate Covered Salted Caramels

I will start by saying that for the most part, I love everything about baking (minus the clean up - boy do I make a mess!) However, one of the few things I absolutely cannot stand is covering things in chocolate, candy melts, etc.. I find it incredibly frustrating and each time vow to never do it again.

Having said that, I had to find a way to re-create the salted caramels from Costco that I tried recently. As usual, Costco broke my heart because I fell in love with one their products just to find out they no longer carry it. What's a girl to do? ( besides pout, which I may or may not have done the rest of the day after the trip to Costco)  I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I started with a basic caramel recipe and let those firm up overnight. The following night, I started the dreaded dipping process, finishing with a touch of flaked sea salt on top. As you can see by my picture below, I only made it half way through the batch before deciding to leave the rest plain. Oh well, at least I dipped enough to satisfy my craving!

Chocolate Covered Salted Caramels

Printable Recipe

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8oz chocolate (I used callebaut)

Flaked sea salt to sprinkle on top

Melt butter in a large saucepan, then add brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and condensed milk. Bring mixture to 145 degrees on your candy thermometer, over med-high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add your vanilla, it will bubble up so be careful. Pour into a parchment lined 8x8 or 9x9 square pan, let cool overnight until firm.

Cut your caramels into desired size, mine were about 1x1. Melt your chocolate in a double boiler over very low heat. Once thoroughly melted, begin dipping each of your caramels. (Unfortunately, I don't have any advice or tips for you on this one, I used a fork but it was a mess) Sprinkle each caramel with sea salt after dipping, once complete I found it best to let them harden in the fridge. Enjoy!