Line an 8″ square baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper. Set aside, so it’s ready as soon as the caramel mixture is done.
Make sure the bowl you will be making the caramels in is microwave safe and clean and dry. Place butter (chopped into tablespoon-size pieces) in the bowl and microwave for 1 minute. It will be almost all melted. Add white and brown sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk and salt and stir well.
Place mixture in a bowl into the microwave and cook for 2 minutes. Stir well. Set timer to cook for 4 minutes, but stop it every 1 minute and 30 seconds to stir the mixture. It will bubble up and rise up in the bowl, so stir it until it calms down.
Once done, carefully remove the bowl with caramel from the microwave, stir in vanilla extract and pour mixture into prepared pan. Let cool completely in room temperature.
Once the caramel is cooled, lift up the parchment paper and set on a cutting board. Slice caramel into squares and wrap each one individually.
Notes
No need to pull out the bowl out of the microwave, just hold it with one hand (in a kitchen mitten since the bowl will be hot!) so it won’t be turning around and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until the bubbling stops and the mixture falls a little bit. Be careful while handling the mixture. The bowl and the caramel will be very hot!
To wrap caramels in wax paper: This recipe makes 100 pieces if you cut the cooled caramel into 1″ x ½″ pieces. Cut wax paper into 4″ x 3″ pieces and wrap each piece of caramel, rolling it into a 2″ x ¼″ candy.
Please note, that the nutrition value can vary depending on what product you use. The information below is an estimate. Always use calorie counter you are familiar with.