Oh, the buttery richness of that chewy confection. Who doesn't like caramel?

Once you learn how to make homemade caramel, you can create gourmet caramel apples, chocolate covered caramels, pecan logs, turtles and more.

Caramels consist of these few ingredients: sugar, corn syrup, milk/cream, and butter. Most recipes use a one-to-one ratio with the sugar and corn syrup. Corn syrup's primary function is to help the caramel from graining. You can use more corn syrup than sugar, but the more corn syrup you use the tougher your caramels will be.

Add all of your ingredients to your pot and cook on medium-low to medium. You may be tempted to turn your temperature up once everything is incorporated to help it cook faster – but don't! You could end up scorching the batch.

The key to having a really rich flavor is to cook your caramel slowly. Don't rush it. After the mixture comes to a boil, it should take about 30 minutes to reach proper temperature or cooking stage.

As soon as it starts to boil, make sure to wash down the sides of the pot so that stray sugar crystals don't get into the mixture and cause it to grain.

Unlike fudge, you need to stir your caramel while it's boiling. This will prevent scorching. When your caramel is at the desired softball candy stage (234º F), pour your caramel into a prepared pan but do not scrape the bottom of the pot. It could cause it to grain, or you could be adding undesired elements (harder bits because it's cooked longer, scorched bits, etc.) to your finished product.

(For more detail on candy stages, see our Cooking Stages page.)

Let the caramels cool. Then, using a sharp, heavy knife, cut your caramels to be either dipped in chocolate or wrapped individually.