Melt in Your Mouth Caramels.

I've always been a little intimidated to put sugar and cream into a pot and let it steep up to a whopping 245 degrees. But recently I decided to be a little daring. And this was the wonderful product...

These caramels were actually a breeze. The hardest part is waiting patiently for your boiling mixture to actually reach the desired temperature. It took awhile, but is well worth it in the end. I also decided that I would add a little salt on my almost-hardened caramels for a nice sweet and salty taste. It was tasty and I suggest you try it as well!

Also a time consuming task, is wrapping the caramels. You might not think it is, but cutting them each into little rectangles, cutting out shapes of parchment, and individually wrapping them up takes quite awhile. I would say it took me about an hour to wrap the entire pan of caramels. But again, so worth it.

And since they're individually wrapped, these puppies would make a great gift for a friend with a sweet tooth. I like to wrap them up even if I'm just keeping them for myself. Something about a pile full of empty wrappers in front of me makes me decide that I don't need to eat that 20th caramel. It's all about mind-trickery.

So go ahead and let your inner caramel maker out. You'll be glad you did.

Chewy Caramels-recipe from The New York Times

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, more for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Pinch salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Lightly grease a 9-inch-square baking pan. Combine all ingredients except vanilla in a broad saucepan or deep skillet and turn heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves.

Attach a candy thermometer and keep cooking and stirring until mixture is dark, nearly brown, and measures 245 degrees F.

Stir in the vanilla and pour into prepared pan. Cool, then remove from the pan in a block and refrigerate, but not for too long. What you want is a mixture cool enough so that it's not too sticky, but not so cold that it's solid: this is the easiest state in which to cut and wrap.

Use a sharp knife to cut caramel into pieces, then wrap each square in parchment. These keeps for weeks (psshh...like they'll last that long) but are best eaten fresh at room temperature.

Makes at least 50 caramels.