Earlier this fall I was at Starbucks, eagerly anticipating a Pumpkin Spice Latte.  However, when I got to the counter to make my order, they were all out of the pumpkin spice syrup.  I panicked, I didn’t know what to do and the line up was growing exponentially behind me.  I looked up at their specialty drink board and a new drink caught my eye – Salted Caramel Mocha.  Hmmmm, I like all of these flavours, but how would they taste together?  The answer, delicious!

Salted Chocolate Caramel, whoever invented this combination of flavours deserves a medal of some sort (maybe a golden spoon?).

As Christmas is almost here, I wanted to create the essence of this drink into a candy treat for sharing.  I figured it could be done and I thought it could be done with ease (I mean, Christmas is only 2 days away).  As I searched on-line for a recipe, I stumbled across this one from Smitten Kitchen.  She made her own caramel, but I really didn’t have time to do that (and I don’t have a candy thermometer – hint, hint, stocking stuffer 🙂 ).  I have bookmarked this page and will make my own caramel in the new year – I promise!

Something easier had to be out there.  Then I found it, the easiest recipe ever for Salted Chocolate Caramels.  Thank you Kraft!  Anyone can make these to bring to a holiday party.  People will be impressed and they will ask you to make them each time you are invited over.  It may become your signature treat.

I thought with the holidays almost here, this would be the perfect recipe to share, as it really only takes a few minutes to whip up a batch.  I used Dark Belgium Chocolate melting wafers and although the recipe calls for Sea Salt, I found that Kosher Salt had a better texture.  If you want to add more saltiness to these candies, just put some salt on your waxed paper, so the bottom of the candy gets salted as well as the top.

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You will notice that there are only two pictures, because they really are that easy (and I got so into dipping the caramels in chocolate that I forgot to stop and take a picture – oops)

Adapted from Kraft Canda

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. (269 g) Kraft Caramels (unwrapped)
• 1 cup melted Dark Chocolate
• 1 tbsp Kosher Salt

Directions:

1. Insert a toothpick into a caramel; dip in chocolate. Shake gently to remove excess chocolate.
2. Place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Remove toothpick. Repeat with remaining caramels.
3. Sprinkle immediately with salt. Let stand until chocolate is firm.