Remember when you used to get those square caramel chews in your Halloween candy and you would desperately try to trade them for something else. Well guess what? Caramel chews are actually delicious!! All you need is a candy thermometer (or really any food safe thermometer, I used a digital one) but other than that, it's pretty easy to make and no fancy equipment required.

What you need:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light corn syrup
2 cups granulated sugar
1 can (300 ml) sweetened condensed milk
Course sea salt (optional)

What to do:
In a large pot (caramel doubles in volume while it cooks so get a pot that seems larger than you need, preferably three times the size of the ingredients you're putting into it) add the butter, sugar, and corn syrup. Turn the heat to medium and stir continuously until the butter is melted and everything is well mixed. Let the mixture come to a boil, stirring periodically until it does. 

Once it boils allow it to continue boiling without stirring it for any additional 4 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the condensed milk, stir until well incorporated. Turn the heat to medium-low and return the pot to the stove. Allow the mixture to boil (stirring very infrequently, maybe once or twice) until the thermometer reads 245 F, approximately 15-20 minutes. The colour will have really deepened by this point. The higher the temperature the harder the caramel will become once it cools. 245 F gives you a nice soft chew. 

In the mean time line a cake pan or pyrex dish with parchment paper. Make sure the paper extends up the sides of the dish as well or else the caramel will stick to the dish. Once the caramel reaches the proper temperature, carefully pour it into the dish. I made my caramels about 1/2 inch in height, you might have to use two dishes depending how big your dish is. 

Allow the caramel to sit at room temperature untouched for at least 2 hours and up to 12 hours. Place a piece of parchment paper over a cutting board and place the lined cutting board over your dish with the caramel and invert it so that the caramel is on the lined board. Sprinkle the top of your caramel with some course see salt (optional) to give it that nice balance of salty and sweet. 

Using a sharp knife, cut your caramels into desired size. You can wrap each caramel in tin foil or parchment paper and place in a air tight container. Do not refrigerate them at any point.