Coconut Caramels

    What if I told you that you could make super delicious, somewhat healthy caramels with NO butter and NO cream?!? My sweet sister came to visit me this weekend and she was telling me about some caramels that she bought at GNC for 26.99! They are marketed as a dietary supplement because they have 500 mg of coconut oil in each chew. She loved them, loved the idea of them and wanted to know if we could make them ourselves and save her a whole lotta money. Now after looking up the ingredients for that product, not only are we saving her money we have managed to make them even healthier.

Here is the list of ingredients from the original product in the order listed on their pkg-

Corn Syrup
Sugar
Coconut
Evap. milk
Pineapple
Heavy Cream (cream with carageenan)
Coconut Oil Blend (coconut oil, organic extra virgin coconut oil)
Butter
Mono and Diglycerides
Natural flavor
Sea salt
Soy lecithin

Here is our ingredients list- 

Sugar, white and brown
Coconut milk, canned
Honey
Water
Coconut oil
Vanilla
Sea salt

Doesn't that sound better?  : )

 Here we are getting ready to see if our "concoction" will work-

My beautiful Sis stirring away-







Ta Dah!  The finished product-




     These are DELICIOUS!  And set beautifully. They are dairy, gluten and soy free. These have about 75% less fat and sodium than is in the GNC version. So here is the recipe for you, enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Coconut Caramels 

1/2c. Water
1-1/2c. White Sugar
1/2c. Brown Sugar
1t. Vanilla Extract
1- 14oz can full fat Coconut Milk
1c. Honey
6oz (12T.) Coconut Oil
1/2t. Sea Salt

        Lightly grease a 9x13 pan with coconut oil, set aside. In a 4 qt sauce pan mix together the water, sugars, coconut milk, coconut oil, and honey. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue stirring and cooking until it reaches 245 degrees F, or Firm ball stage. Remove from heat, stir in the salt and vanilla, Pour into greased pan. Let set until cooled- at least 2 hours. Turn out onto a cutting board cut into squares and wrap in wax paper.