Homemade Caramel & Caramel Apples

I shared this post a while back about caramel apples.  It calls for the use of store caramel (you know the little squares that are individually wrapped).  Well, I have always hated how easily the caramel runs off the apples!!!  And, I love caramel but have never really enjoyed the caramel squares you buy in the store...  So, I found a few recipes on how to make homemade caramel.  This is by far my favorite!!  I will NEVER buy store caramel again!!!  Well, unless it is for school which will not allow homemade food items...

This is easy to make and so YUMMY!!!

Ingredients:

12 whole apples (if making caramel apples - I prefer Granny Smith for these)

1/4 cup butter

1 cup Karo light corn syrup

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (set aside until end)

Optional toppings:  chopped nuts, melted chocolate, mini candies like M&M's, gummy bears, ...

Directions:

Assemble all ingredients: wash and dry apples, insert sticks, and butter a cookie sheet.   Buttering the cookie sheet will make your life so much easier when it comes to working with caramel!!!

Heat all ingredients except vanilla in a heavy 2-quart saucepan (I used a coated pan to prevent sticking and it worked perfectly) over medium/low heat. Stir constantly to prevent burning! 

It looks pretty light for a while.  The color changed after adding the vanilla (last step).

When caramel reaches soft ball stage (235°F–240°F) remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir well.  Let cool a few minutes.

Now that looks like caramel!

Using the stick inserted in the apples, dunk apples in the hot caramel and twirl slowly away from the heat for a couple of minutes.

I continued to spin my apples for a while to let the caramel cover the apple.
If I would have sat it on the pan right away the caramel would have mostly slid off the apple. 

Place caramel-covered apples on a buttered cookie sheet. If you want to dress-it up with toppings now would be the time.

Please excuse my well used pan ;-)

Extra caramel (or all the caramel if you are not making apples):

1. Can be scraped out with a spatula into a buttered plate or dish to be cut into individual pieces when cool.  You can wrap the pieces in wax paper (Caramel on wax side).  I still have to perfect the "packaging" but so far I have found that storing the caramel in a cool area (refrigerator) makes it easy to peel it apart from the wrapper.

2. Can be thinned in the pan with half-and-half and eaten warm, as a dip for apple wedges.