Tried And True Caramel Candy - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan and cook on medium-high flame.Stir consistently as the ingredients melt and combine.
Let mixture come to a rolling boil and continue stirring consistently.
Mixture will begin to thicken more and more the longer it is allowed to boil. Keep in mind that the caramel will firm up considerably when it is cooled.
Cook to medium ball stage. Do the drop test to see how firm your caramel is.
DROP TEST: Get a small bowl and fill it with ice water. Set it to the side of the stove and when you think your Caramel is firming up, take a spoonful and drop it in the ice water. Wait about thirty seconds so it has time to cool, then take the caramel out of the ice water and squish it between your fingers. If it isn't as firm as you want it, cook the caramel for a bit longer and then do another drop test. Keep doing this until it has reached the stage you want. See how easy and simple that was?.
Remove caramel from heat and let cool for a while in the pan.
When it is somewhat cooled, pour it out onto a greased counter, or onto parchment paper.Let cool to room temperature.
Use a pizza cutter to cut strip off the caramel, then cut the strip into small pieces and wrap in pieces of wax or parchment paper. The softer the caramel, the more likely it is to stick to the wrapping. So if you like it really soft, I would suggest you use parchment paper instead of the wax.
The best thing about this recipe is that it tastes good no matter how hard or soft you cook it. If you want a caramel syrup, then you boil it for a very short while. If you want a caramel toffee, the flavor will still be as wonderful. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have over the years.