Chocolate Pecan Caramels

I get the feeling that you guys are just like me. I may actually need the meal recipes more, but all of the wonderful treat recipes I stumble upon are just so hard to resist. And hey, it is Christmas time after all. After a day fighting the crowds at the mall, searching for the hard to find gift for your in-laws/cousin Ed/ Aunt Myrtle, licking all those nasty Christmas card envelopes, and wrapping a kazillion presents, don't we all deserve a little reward? I know chocolate always makes me feel better.

However, like some of you, after sampling all those wonderful treats, a healthy/ hot/ not sweet at all, meal is what I crave. So I will balance out the sweet recipes with a few main dishes thrown in for good measure.

Several of you requested the caramel recipe, so I am posting it first. This was my first time making caramels, and it was really quite easy. My dang candy thermometer malfunctioned, so I had to use the old fashioned method of dipping a small amount of caramel into a glass of cold water. They still turned out though, so if you are a beginner like me, you should have no problems. Especially if you have a functional candy thermometer.

Chocolate Pecan Caramels

1 cup butter
1-1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, (toasted if desired)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
2 tsp vanilla

Line a 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan with foil; butter the foil with about 1 Tbsp butter. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate chips; set aside. In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar, corn syrup and water. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, to firm ball stage (248 degrees). Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into prepared pan (do not scrape saucepan). Cool completely before cutting. Makes about 2-1/2 pounds (about 6 dozen).

Notes:

-We forgot to toast the pecans, but I think that would have made these even better.

-You're not supposed to scrape the saucepan, because grains of sugar on the side can cause your caramels to crystallize. But I couldn't just let all that caramel go to waste, so I scraped it into a small buttered custard cup. We ate it in like 5 seconds flat. Mmmm.

-Make sure you used sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. There is a huge difference!

-Oh mama, these are sinfully delicious!