Cayenne Caramels with a Pretzel Bacon Crust

• Meat

  • 1/2 lb Bacon, cooked

• Condiments

  • 1 cup Corn syrup, light
  • 1 cup Margarine

• Baking & Spices

  • 4 tbsp Brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla

• Snacks

  • 1 1/2 cups Pretzels, mini

• Dairy

  • 4 tbsp Butter
  • 1 can Condensed milk, sweetened

Found on heygrillhey.com

Description

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large food processor, pour in the pretzels, bacon, brown sugar, and butter. Pulse 10-15 times until the pretzels have broken down to very small pieces. Press the crust into an even layer on the bottom of a 9x13 inch glass pan that has been coated in non-stick spray. Bake for 15 minutes and then remove from the oven to cool.
• While the crust is baking, begin making your caramel. In a large 3-5 quart mixing bowl combine the margarine, sugar, and corn syrup. Microwave for 5 minutes.
• Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon and slowly add in the can of sweetened condensed milk. Continue stirring until the milk is well combined.
• Microwave for and additional 15-18 minutes, stopping the microwave to stir the caramels every 3 minutes. Stir the mixture each time until no more bubbles appear and the color of the caramel closely resembles a brown paper sack.
• Drizzle some of the caramel in a glass of cold water to test for doneness. You want the caramel to tighten up quickly, but still have a very soft chew. If your caramel sinks to the bottom of your glass and mostly dissolves instead of tightening, return to the microwave for an additional 3 minutes until the desired texture is achieved.
• When the caramel is done cooking, stir in the vanilla and cayenne pepper. Carefully pour the hot caramel over the pretzel bacon crust and allow to cool for about 6 hours before slicing into 1 inch squares and wrapping in wax paper. You can let them cool in the fridge to speed up the process and have a firmer caramel, but cold caramels are harder to slice than room temperature.