Soft Caramels - cooking recipe

Ingredients

6 cups sugar
6 cups light corn syrup
2 quarts heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 quart chopped nuts (optional)
dipping chocolate (optional)

Preparation

Heat sugar, syrup, & salt to boil in a VERY large stew pot (non-stick pot with no flaking is best). Please note that if you plan on doubling this recipe, you need to use a commercial size stew pot because the ingredients double in size as the temperature rises. Add cream VERY slowly. Cook stirring almost constantly to 239\u00b0F (or until you get just to the point where a little drizzle of cooled caramel gently rubbed between 2 fingers forms into a ball). This takes approximately 3-5 hours. Let cool a few minutes to help prevent sticking to the cookie sheets. Add nuts now if desired. Pour onto 3-4 buttered cookie sheets (cookie sheets should be buttered lightly so as not to end up with greasy caramels). Once cooled completely, flip cookie sheets over to release sheets of caramel (you may have to use a metal spatula to pull the sheet of caramel out of the cookie sheet). Use pizza cutter (if you have cooked them perfectly) or scissors (if you have slightly overcooked them to a stick-to-your-teeth texture) to cut into bite-size pieces. Each piece can now be dipped in chocolate or wrapped \"as is\" in small squares of wax paper (or candy wrappers).
Note: This recipe also works great for caramel sauce -- just don't quite heat it to 239\u00b0F Hard toffee candies can be made if you heat it above 239\u00b0F Therefore, even if you mess up on your attempts to make SOFT caramels, you have SOMETHING left over for your efforts.