ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

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Have you been wanting to make caramels but feel too intimidated by some of the instructions to try the process for the first time? Wipe down the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush frequently to avoid crystallized sugar to form. Take the caramel to the soft ball stage of candy making, and test it by dropping a ball of hot syrup into cold water. Most folks have already moved on to another recipe. You don’t have to do any of that. We’ve made it easy for you. Make caramels in the microwave instead. These caramels are the soft, slightly caramelized kind, with a creamy texture. These have a more complex flavor than grocery store caramels with the addition of honey and bourbon. Caramels have never been so simple to make. What are the essential steps for making caramels? You have to cook the sugar with enough heat to dissolve it and transform the sugar into a syrup. Cook them in a pan, on the stove, with a moment or two of inattention, and you have burnt caramel. (It is no fun to try to clean out that pan.) How can you raise the temperature of the cream and sugar without having to worry about errant sugar crystals on the sides of the pan? Cook the sugar with cream in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Since you can see the liquid ingredients coming together through the glass cup, it’s easier to avoid scorching the bottom of the caramels when cooking in a microwave. Take the caramels to the proper heat, stir in melted butter, and let them cool in a prepared pan. You’ve just made caramels. Since making caramels this way is so easy, you can start growing fancier every time you make them. We flavored the caramels here with bourbon, but you could try rum or cognac. (One day we flavored caramels with absinthe. Yum.) You can also flavor them with vanilla bean paste, fennel seeds, or even something unexpected like smoked paprika. These caramels remind you: once you feel confident in the kitchen—you conquered something that seems hard—you can do anything. Go forth and make caramels.