Aunt Bev's New Carmels as of 2009.

4 cups of sugar 1 3/4 cup of light Karo Syrup
2 cubes of butter (no substitute) (old recipe called for 4 cubes of butter)
1 quart of cream.


put all the ingredients in a heavy pan and cook over low to medium heat. (just until it reaches a high simmer) First: put all ingredients in the pan and stir them together - this requires cutting up the butter some - with a WOODEN spoon. (i'm serious - no joke) The reason you need a wooden spoon (or a new heat resistant spatula might work -)is because you can't take the spoon out of the carmel until it is simmering and you don't need to stir it any longer. A metal spoon heats up too much and also makes the handle too hot to hold. Second: Let the ingredients sit 10 minutes without any heat.

This gives the sugar time to dissolve before the heat has a chance to heat the sugar before being dissolved. (Did you learn that rule in your physics class?) 3. Stir constantly until the heat has completely dissolved all the ingredients and there is no need to be stirring. Take the spoon out. Let this cook while you take a long nap-about 2 hours. Check occassionally to make sure it isn't scorching. Wash the spoon in hot water and dry it if you need to put it back in the carmel. The temp. of the spoon needs to be the same temp as the carmel - but don't get OCD on this recipe - it is just a candy making rule that you don't take your spoon out if you need to be stirring at any time. Also, back to the sugar rule - your spoon you just took out of the pan now has some sugar particles that have not cooked as long as the sugar in the pan, if you put those less cooked particles back in the pan with the more cooked particles - the more cooked particles will not coagulate with the the less cooked and will turn to sugar; thus ruining the whole batch. Unless you know how to save it. Add about 1/2 cup to one cup of cool cream to this batch slowly while stirring. This carmel cooks very well on its own - however, that was when we used all 4 cubes of butter - so you may need to watch it closer if you use less butter. The carmel will turn from a very light cream to carmel color to a darker carmel but not the dark carmel that says, "I'm burned." Get a glass of ice and pour a spoonful of carmel over the ice. If it forms a soft ball - cook a little longer. When the carmel forms a hard ball or sets up like it could crack and doesn't - it is done. If you cook it any longer at this stage it goes from perfect to burned in a few seconds. But some that are brave go for the carmel to crack over the ice. To each his own. Pour into a buttered 9x 13 glass pan. (Tin will work but make sure it is a pan you don't care about because when you cut the carmel it cuts up your pan and adds teflon to your candy. ) Add nuts if you like, walnuts are best for carmels. - but normally the holiday drives us all nuts anyway so - the decision is yours if you feel you might need to be more nutty. Cool until set - you may need to refridgerate. Cut the carmel into squares and wrap with wax paper. Store in a container with lid in the refridgerator until gone or Valentine's Day if you made them in November- whichever comes first. Hint: Never serve the carmel warm just in case it didn't get cooked long enough. Take it fresh out of the fridge for that nice set-up carmel look. Happy Holidays!