Salted Caramel Squares

  I've never made caramel before. It's always seemed too daunting. But really, caramel is easy! It's only four ingredients. The trick to caramel is knowing when to take it off the heat. And luckily, that's not all that hard either.

 You can achieve perfect caramel on the first try. Just make sure have all your ingredients measured out and ready, and read the directions before you start cooking. You do this, and you're on the road to confection perfection.

 This is the creamiest, most delicious caramel candy I've ever eaten. It melted in your mouth, easy to chew, and it smells like heaven. The salt on the top gives it the nicest texture and flavor.

2 sticks salted Butter
2 Cups lightly packed Brown Sugar
1 Cup Corn Syrup
1 14 oz. Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Sea Salt (To garnish)

• Prepare a heavily greased, 8 by 8 square pan, set aside 
• In a large sauce pan melt butter on low heat
• When butter is melted add brown sugar. Use a wooden spoon to mix until sugar is dissolved 
• Stirring constantly, add corn syrup
• Slowly pour in sweetened condensed milk while continuing to stir
• Now it's time to insert the end of your cooking thermometer into the caramel. Turn heat to medium-low and continue stirring constantly. You'll be able to watch the temperature slowly rising
• When the starts to boil, watch the temperature carefully. If it reaches 240 degrees your caramel will be too hard. What you're looking for is for the caramel to reach the "Soft ball stage". It will take about 10-20 minutes to reach this stage. There's an easy way to test the caramel to see when it's at this stage. It needs to be at least 220 degrees to start testing.

 How to test for the soft ball stage:
Fill a small bowl with cold water. Once the caramel reaches 220 degrees drop a little caramel into the bowl. Fish it out with your fingers and form the caramel into a ball. If it is too soft, it won't be able to hold it's shape at all. You can repeat this test until the caramel reaches the right texture.
 The caramel, at the correct stage, should feel soft still, but somewhat firm. It should be able to hold onto it's shape somewhat. If you roll it in a ball and it immediately droops down and sags, it's not ready. If it holds it's shape, but molds very easily, it's ready.

• When the caramel is at the soft ball stage, pour into prepared 8 by 8 pan. Allow caramel to cool 1 hour (Or more), dust with sea salt. Remove from pan with a spatula place on parchment paper and cut into squares. Enjoy!!