My mother received this carrot cake recipe with pecans and crushed pineapple in 1976. It requires a significant amount of preparation, but it is definitely worth it. Frost the ice with your preferred cream cheese icing.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 35 mins |
| Servings: | 45 |
| Yield: | 45 1-inch squares |
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely chopped cranberries
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup corn syrup (such as Karo®)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup butter
Instructions
- Butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Combine cranberries, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a heavy, large saucepan; bring to a boil. Heat to 245 degrees F (118 degrees C) or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Gradually stir cream and butter into cranberry mixture, keeping the boil steady. Cook until 245 degrees F (118 degrees C) is reached again, 5 to 10 minutes. Pour mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Cool caramel in pan on a wire rack, about 1 hour. Remove caramel from pan, cut, and wrap individually or serve from pan.
- For pineapple caramels, drain one 8-ounce can of crushed pineapple. Blend in a blender until pureed and use in place of cranberries.
- Recipe can be doubled and put in a 9×13-inch pan.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 57 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 6 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 0 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 26 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 2 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made the cranberry caramels. They are absolutely delicious! They are rather soft though, so I plan to use them as filling in dark chocolate squares.
I made the cranberry and the pineapple caramels for Christmas last year and my family loved them. Made the pineapple this summer. My grandson in the Navy has requested a care package of these caramels.
The cranberry caramels are a little softer than the pineapple ones. Roll the cooled cranberry caramels into balls and chocolate dip them. They make a wonderful soft center chocolate!