Multiple O Caramels

My father LOVES these and I make them for him on special occasions.  They are from the Web and are called Fannie Mae Caramels, after the candy chain I suppose.  They are divine. Sometimes you get that 'burn' from caramel in the back of your throat but these are wonderfully smooth and velvety.  They're also a pain in the rear to make but worth it.

2 cups light corn syrup

14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cup milk

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups chopped walnuts

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish. In a heavy 6 quart Dutch oven (heh heh, he said Dutch oven, heh heh), combine sugar, corn syrup, condensed milk, milk, cream and butter.  Place over medium heat and stir occasionally with wooden spoon (I use a silicone spatula) until comes to a boil.

Clip on candy thermometer and cook, stirring constantly until 240 degrees is reached.  Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla and walnuts, pour without scraping into pan (no, I have NO idea why, I guess it's so that you'll have a lot left in the pot to lick out).  Allow to stand overnight (eat what's out of the pot, that's what it's there for and leave the stuff in the pan alone until it sets up). Cut into small 1 inch squares.  Wrap in wax paper or dip in chocolate.

HINTS:

This recipe looks easy but candymaking is tricky to say the least.  You're talking about 20.00 worth of ingredients here, know what you're doing or get help from someone experienced.

I just found out that the Dutch oven makes a world of difference...I used an enameled Le Cruset 6 quart Dutch oven and had no trouble where in the past I have used just big aluminum and stainless pots with sometimes satisfactory results (sometimes it came out hard, sometimes it came out a wonderful ice cream topping).

Get a good candy thermometer...period.