Homemade Caramel

I ended my previous post with an almost completely empty bowl of homemade caramel. I had a couple of requests for the recipe so I'm sharing it here. I've always wanted to make caramel, but that whole "boil the condensed milk in the can for an hour" thing just didn't appeal to me.

This recipe is very simple. It came from my kids' Kindercooks class. Here goes:

HOMEMADE CARAMEL

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar

1. Using a microwave-safe bowl, combine all ingredients.
2. Cook on HIGH power in the microwave for 3 minutes, then stir.
3. Reduce microwave to 50 percent power and cook for two 2-minute intervals, stirring between each interval.
4. Continue to microwave on half power at 1-minute intervals until caramel becomes a caramel color and reaches desired consistency.

NOTES:

1. All microwaves cook differently. Watch carefully to make sure the mixture doesn't boil over.
2. My total cook time was about 11 minutes. I stopped cooking when the caramel was a little lighter than I wanted it. It continues to darken and thicken as it cools. So don't overcook it.
3. After it's been refrigerated, the caramel gets really stiff. Just warm it up for a few seconds in the microwave to make it "stirrable" again.

Gifting the caramel...

The other night we had dinner with friends and I wanted to bring a little something for our hosts. I bought a pretty glass jar at Wal-Mart for $3.97. Everything else I had on hand at home.

I cut a strip of pretty fabric with pinking shears and hot-glued it to the outside of the jar. Then, I tied raffia around the outside of the fabric. I printed the words "Homemade Caramel" on a piece of scrapbook paper and cut it into a circle. Punched a hole in the tag and attached it with raffia. Voila!

I brought the jar of caramel with a few shiny, red apples. This is a great Fall gift. It is really inexpensive to make and so delicious! This caramel is great on apples, drizzled over popcorn, brownies, and ice cream. I think you could drizzle it over an old shoe and that would be good, too. Enjoy!