Chocolate caramel is the perfect holiday recipe for a holly jolly holiday. Soft, chewy, sweet homemade caramel bites are covered in a chocolate candy coating and decorated with festive sprinkles for a beautiful, delicious holiday treat.
If you asked us to make a list of the top dessert recipe flavors, you’d always find caramel at or near the top.
From caramel pratzel cookies with walnuts for a weeknight dessert to puff pastry caramel apple slices for brunch or this mini apple bundt cake recipe for a holiday party or potluck, caramel is always a welcome flavor.
Our latest addition to our caramel rotation is this chocolate caramel recipe. It combines classic homemade caramels with a chocolate candy coating and holiday sprinkles to create a festive treat perfect for the season.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Limited Ingredients: All you need are six simple ingredients to make this recipe!
- Easy: Making caramel is actually easier than you think! All you need is a candy thermometer.
- Classic Flavor: These little bites are full of classic caramel flavor and a nice chocolaty note, thanks to the coating.
- Versatile: You can easily change up the decorations to suit any holiday or special occasion.
- Great for Prep: These are freezer-friendly, so feel free to make extra for future use.
Key Ingredients
You’ll find the complete list of ingredients, along with their exact amounts, in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Light Brown Sugar and Light Corn Syrup: A blend of light brown sugar and light corn syrup creates a caramel with the perfect texture that’s not too hard or too soft.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: Sweetened condensed milk adds rich creaminess to the caramel while helping give it a more luxurious texture.
- Chocolate Melting Candy: Chocolate melting candy gives the caramels a wonderful chocolaty flavor and crackly texture on the outside without the need for tempering.
Variations
- Chocolate Melting Candy: You can use any brand of melting candy you prefer. Chocolate almond bark also works well.
- Chocolate: Use dark, semi-sweet, milk, or even white chocolate melting candies for different but equally tasty caramel combinations.
- Sprinkles: Use different sprinkle colors and styles to make caramels suitable for any holiday or special occasion.
How to Make Chocolate Caramel
Step 1: Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. Then, add the brown sugar and salt and stir.
Step 2: Add the corn syrup, followed by the condensed milk, stirring continuously.
Step 3: Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly, and cook until the caramel reaches 230°F. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and stir.
Step 4: Pour the caramel into a 13×9 glass baking dish lined with parchment paper, and let it cool completely. Then, slice it into 1-inch pieces.
Step 5: Dip each caramel into the melted chocolate candy, placing them on wax or parchment paper as you go.
Step 6: Add the holiday sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet. Wrap individually in plastic wrap or store in single layers separated by wax paper in an airtight container.
Expert Tips
- Stir continuously throughout the cooking process to ensure even cooking and no scorching.
- Caramel generally takes between 16 and 18 minutes to reach the “soft ball” stage, which is the 230°F mark.
- Start checking your caramel at about 220°F for the “soft ball” stage. Drop a bit of caramel into a glass of cold water. If it feels soft but somewhat firm between your fingers, it’s ready. Repeat this test until you reach the correct texture.
- You must not let your caramel exceed 240°F. At this point, the caramel will be too hard when it cools.
Chocolate Caramel FAQs
Chocolate caramel is a combination that takes several forms. For our purposes, however, it’s homemade caramel squares covered in chocolate candy coating and decorated with sprinkles.
You can use regular chocolate in place of candy melts or almond bark; however, it requires extra ingredients and steps. We recommend candy melts to keep things simple.
These chocolate caramels will last for about 2 weeks at room temperature or up to 2 months in the refrigerator. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
More Tasty Holiday Snacks
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Chocolate Caramel
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 16 ounce light brown sugar
- Dash of salt
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 14 ounce sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 16 ounce H‑E‑B Chocolate Candy Coating, or melting chocolate of your choice
- Festive holiday sprinkles
Instructions
- In a heavy bottom pan, melt butter over low heat.
- Once butter is melted, add brown sugar and a dash of salt. Stir thoroughly.
- Next, add corn syrup and continue to stir.
- Slowly add condensed milk, stirring constantly.
- Cook over low heat and continue stirring constantly.
- Once the caramel starts to boil, continue cooking until the caramel reaches 230° and then start to test for "soft ball stage." This takes approximately 16-18 minutes on low heat to get to this point, all the while stirring constantly.
- If you are unsure what “soft ball stage” means, get a small bowl of cold water and once the temperature reaches 220° drop a little caramel into the cold water and see if it feels soft, but somewhat firm between your fingers. This might need to be done a few times to get to the right temperature for the caramel. If it is too soft and doesn’t form somewhat of a ball, continue cooking a little bit longer, stirring constantly. Keep testing for the firmness with the “soft ball stage” method. Once the caramel reaches the desired texture and temperature, remove from heat. Make sure the caramel’s temperature does not reach beyond 240° because then your caramel will be too hard.
- Once removed from heat, add vanilla and stir.
- Pour caramel into a 9 x 13 glass baking dish lined with parchment paper.
- Once cooled, remove the caramel from the baking dish and place caramel on the counter with the parchment paper. Cut into 1-inch pieces.
- Heat the chocolate candy coating according to package directions.
- Drip each piece of caramel into the melted chocolate and place on wax paper or parchment paper. While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with holiday sprinkles, and let cool.
- Wrap the caramel individually in candy wrappers or wax paper and twist up the ends, or place caramel in a container with wax paper between the layers.
Notes
- Stir continuously throughout the cooking process to ensure even cooking and no scorching, and make sure to cook over LOW heat.
- Caramel generally takes between 16 and 18 minutes to reach the “soft ball” stage, which is the 230°F mark.
- Start checking your caramel at about 220°F for the “soft ball” stage. Drop a bit of caramel into a glass of cold water. If it feels soft but somewhat firm between your fingers, it’s ready. Repeat this test until you reach the correct texture.
- You must not let your caramel exceed 240°F. At this point, the caramel will be too hard when it cools.
