Eggnog Caramels

This was such a perfect recipe - for about 24 hours. Unfortunately I stored it wrong, or left it out too long before cutting and storing, because mine went from beautifully soft, buttery, and chewy, to grainy. I used a cookie sheet for mine, but recommend something a little smaller so your caramels will be a little thicker.

This is my first time trying my hand at caramels, so I'm still not sure if I did something wrong or why they turned grainy after a day - but from everything I read it sounds like they weren't stored properly. I will definitely have to try them again and see if I can figure out the storage, because these are such delicious little treats to have on hand! I really wanted to take some in and share them at work - so I will try try again another day.

My son loved these and was drooling over the sheet before they were cut into bite sized pieces. He still says they're really good, even if they got a little crumbly and grainy. I am trying to decide if I should melt them down again and maybe drizzle them over some popcorn to salvage the batch - we'll see what I end up opting to do.

These do not taste like eggnog, they have a very lightly spiced taste, mostly they just taste buttery and caramelly. Yumm!

Eggnog Caramels from Culinary Adventures with Cam

Ingredients
2 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup honey
2 cups eggnog
dash ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Line a 9x13 baking dish with Reynolds nonstick foil (if you don't have the nonstick foil line with parchment paper and coat well with melted butter).
2. Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy saucepan. Attach a candy thermometer to the side (make sure it's not touching the bottom). 
3. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
4. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 247 - 248 degrees F. 
5. As soon as mixture reaches the correct temperature, pour into the preparing pan and move to the refrigerator to cool and set up, allow to cool for at least 3 hours prior to removing from the pan, trimming, and cutting into desired sized caramels.
6. Wrap each individual piece in parchment paper to prevent sticking.