For my first post- a happy accident

People often say that baking (or in this case, candy making) is a science.  I usually ignore those people, and you should too.  Here's just one example of why:

 Disclaimer: When I made these last night, I was not planning a blog. In the future, there will be pictures of all important steps for easier following
With the holidays coming up, I was looking for some things to make that could be given out as presents.  I decided to start out with salted caramels, the most recent candy craze.  Never having made caramel before, I decided to play it on the safe side and actually use the candy thermometer that's been sitting, unopened, in my kitchen drawer since I bought it. The recipe  (which was actually cobbled together from several) called for cooking the sugar to 310 degrees.  Well, it turns out, the thermometer was faulty, and when it read 310 degrees the sugar didn't look nearly brown enough.  I made the mistake of trusting it over my instincts, and the result was a runny (but tasty!) mess.  Not one to be easily deterred (that's a lie-I was crushed and called my mother, who told me not to be an idiot), I threw it in an empty jam jar for future use as ice cream topping and settled back in for round 2, going by sight this time.  This time the results looked good, but when I took the tray from the refrigerator to cut them, they were still a bit too soft.  The solution? Chocolate dipping! That would make them hold their shape, I was sure!
...Or it would cause them to melt on contact with the warm chocolate. Whichever.  But. That is when the magic happened.  Deciding just to say screw it and toss the whole thing, I licked the spoon I had dropped the caramel in with.  And stopped dead in my tracks.  I scraped the whole tray into the bowl of chocolate, whisked it up, and waited.  The result? The most perfectly textured, well-balanced confection I have ever had the joy of putting in my mouth.  Salted caramel fudge! Here is what you have to do:
1)Prepare an 8x8 (or 9x9) baking dish
line it with parchment paper or tinfoil. Spray it with cooking spray
2)In a small pan, mix together:
6 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of heavy cream
some vanilla (I didn't measure, probably about 2 teaspoons)
a sprinkle of kosher salt or fine sea salt
Cook it over low heat until it starts to bubble a bit around the edges, then turn the burner off. Leave it there while you
3)In a large, heavy saucepan (glass is best-trust me-its much easier to clean) mix:
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup of light corn syrup
1/4 cup of water
Stir them up really well.  Then turn the heat up to medium-high.  Watch it, but don't touch it until it turns a nice, even, golden color (think of a jar of light-colored honey).
4)VERY carefully and slowly, pour the cream mixture into the sugar
Now you can stir (and should, quickly!), but be warned, it's going to bubble up like crazy and you may think it is trying to kill you.  It will be fine.  Let it cook another minute or two, until the whole mix looks like the color you generally associate with soft caramels
5)Pour the caramel into the pan. Sprinkle it lightly with sea salt. Let it sit in the fridge until fully cool
6)In a double-boiler (personally, I use a bowl on top of a pot of water) melt about 2/3 of a bag of mini dark chocolate chips
7)Scrape the caramels into the bowl of chocolate. Stir it until it's completely mixed together. It should have the texture of a soft dough and form into a ball while you stir it
8) Spray the pan you used for the caramels with cooking spray. Pour the mixture into it and spread it around
9)Put it back into the fridge to set.  When it's nice and cold, invert it onto a cutting board and cut it into 1-inch pieces with a greased knife.
You can put the pieces in candy cups or wrap them in bits of parchment paper.  Store them in a tupperware container in the fridge.  They'll stay fresh for around 10 days.  But don't worry, they won't last that long.