Sorghum Caramels

These are so easy to make it's positively indecent. I modified a recipe from an old cookbook I love by Susan Hermann Loomis titled Farmhouse Cookbook (you can imagine why I love it), which is just a basic caramel recipe. However I substituted Bourbon Barrel Foods Sorghum for the usual dark corn syrup, and while the caramels are still cooling, if the scrapings from the pan are any indication, the result is going to be spectacularly good.

(Edited later to add: And oh my yes, they are redonkelously good. Splendiferously good. So good I almost didn't want to pack them up and send them off to the people I was mailing them to, good. But I did. Pat me on the head someone, please.)

Caramels in the pan, waiting to be cut and wrapped.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Sorghum (replacing dark corn syrup, which I will never buy again.)
1/2 Cup whole milk
4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 Cup heavy whipping cream
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Butter a 7 x 12" baking dish.

Place all the ingredients except the vanilla in a large heavy saucepan (at least 3.5 quart), stir, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium, and cook at a slow boil until the mixture turns golden and reaches 246 degrees on a candy thermometer, some 20 to 30 minutes. Stir gently but regularly in the center of the pan. Stir, stir, stir. This is important. Boring, but important.

Once the temp reaches 246 degrees, quickly whisk in the vanilla, remove the saucepan from the heat, and pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

When the mixture has cooled, cut it into 1/2" squares with a lightly buttered sharp knife (easier to cut that way) and wrap them individually, either in waxed paper or aluminum foil. The caramels will keep about two weeks if stored in an airtight container in a cool place. Makes approximately 36 pieces.

The finished product,
looking less glossy than they should
because I left waxed paper on them overnight.