Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Believe me, I was very skeptical about making caramels in the microwave. So skeptical that I tested this recipe for Ten Minute Microwave Caramels several times before posting it here.
Ten Minute Microwave Caramels
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Butter an 8-inch square pan, or for thicker caramels, a 9×5 inch loaf pan. If you like, you can then line the buttered pan with foil and butter the foil.
- Melt 1/2 cup butter in a large microwaveable bowl (microwave for about 1 minute).
- Stir in the 1/2 cup light corn syrup, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk. Continue stirring until most of the sugar is dissolved.
- Microwave on high for 3 minutes and 5 to 15 seconds. ( I recommend starting with the shorter time of 3 minutes 5 seconds, since I’d rather have my caramels too soft than too hard). Remove from microwave and stir and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Return to microwave and cook on high for another 3 minutes and 5 to 15 seconds. Stir in the 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour immediately into the buttered dish.
- Allow to sit for several hours until cooled and set. Cut into squares and wrap in waxed paper.
Notes
Nutrition
Just a few tips: first, it should be noted that this recipe is for making caramels in an 1100 watt microwave oven, but chances are, that’s what you’ve got. To prevent grainy caramels, take care to scrape the sides of the bowl well during the stirring process.
Let me tell you, the fact that it actually works, and you can make delicious chewy caramel in under 10 minutes, is very dangerous for a caramel lover like me.
Every microwave is a little different, so you may have to increase or decrease the cooking time by 15 seconds or so to get the caramels just the way you’d like them.
The original recipe called for 2 cooking times of 3 1/2 minutes each, but I found that my caramels were too hard after cooking that long. Three minutes 10 seconds each time gave me the perfect chewy consistency.
If you prefer a very soft caramel, you may want to decrease the cooking time to 3 minutes for each cooking period. But even if your first batch comes out a bit hard or a bit soft, the result will still be delicious!
Update: Since moving to a new home with a new microwave, I now do 2 cooking times of 3 minutes 5 seconds each.
If you’d like to add chopped nuts, stir those in along with the vanilla. You can also add a sprinkling of sea salt once you’ve poured the caramel mixture into the pan. For a really decadent treat, try dipping the finished caramels in chocolate.
The best thing of all though, is that you can have caramels in a matter of minutes, without spending 30 minutes stirring over a hot stove-top with one eye always on a candy thermometer!
Ingredients
Recipe Tips
- The trickiest thing about this recipe is getting the cooking time just right for your microwave. If your caramels are too soft or too hard, adjust the cooking time up or down by 10-15 seconds for the next batch. The good news is, all your experiments will still be delicious!
- Use a microwave safe bowl–something with a microwave safe lid that you can use to loosely cover the bowl. I use my large Pyrex measuring cup with the silicone lid. I just set the lid on top of the dish, but don’t put it on firmly.
Be sure to save this Ten Minute Microwave Caramels recipe to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
84 comments
Nancy Lee
I’ve made this numerous times and I still can’t believe how good they are and how simple to make. I make this on the softer side to fill my caramel thumbprint cookies and will never buy the Kraft squares again.
Joan
The caramels look great! I had no idea that you could freeze them . Wow! So I make them, cool them down , wrap them in wax paper then freeze them in a zip lock freezer bag? I think I will start making these ahead of time to put on my platters. Thank you.
Rainey Schuman
Wonderful! And no watching and taking temperature!