Caramel Pecan Roll

Talk about amazing. This caramel pecan roll is candy. Literally candy and it is so good, but it takes forever to make. So...my recommendation is this: When you have a family get-together or you don't have a whole lot going on but are getting together with a close friend for a few days, make this recipe. It's a good one to make and talk and it makes a lot, lot, lot of candy. Great to giveaway, but also great to eat--yummers!

You have to make the cream fondant first and then you make the caramel the next day, so that's how I'll split up this recipe. Oh and by the way, we always double the recipe, so I'm writing this as a DOUBLED recipe (don't double the one I put on here--you can just undouble it if you don't want to make as much--but if you're taking this much time, you might as well use the recipe I wrote down here because it's totally worth it).

Cream Fondant

Ingredients
4 cups white sugar
4 Tbsp. white Karo syrup
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla (add this after cooking)

Directions
Mix sugar, cream, syrup and salt together in a mixing bowl. Grease a heavy kettle with butter or margarine on the sides. Add sugar/cream mixture. Cook and stir on high heat until it comes to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and cook to a soft ball stage* (230-232 F). Pour out onto a buttered platter (baking sheet) and add vanilla. Don't stir. Cool for about 22 minutes. Put mixture into a greased bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until it loses its gloss and it sets up (about 20 minutes). Put into a plastic bag and get all the air out of the bag. Refrigerate it and let it sit overnight.

Caramel

Ingredients
4 cups sugar
4 cups light Karo syrup
1 lb. buter
4 large cans of evaporated milk
4 tsp. vanilla
1 bag of pecans (you might need more or less)

Directions
Mix sugar, syrup, butter and two cans of milk. Bring to boil and cook until slightly thick and brown, stirring constantly. Add the other cans of milk about 1/4 at a time so the mixture never stops boiling (this helps to prevent curdling). Cook until mixture forms a hard ball in cold water** (about 235 F) and it should take about an hour. While this is happening, cover one and a half large buttered baking sheets with pecans. Then add vanilla into the caramel mixture and pour onto the baking sheets. Let them cool completely (this could take awhile). Once the caramel is cooled put the cream fondant on strips of caramel. Using a pancake turner, roll the caramel around the fondant strips. Then roll in more pecans. Cover with foil, saran wrap or baking paper and refrigerate. Then enjoy :)

Cold Water Test
The cold water test goes like this: Use a fresh cupful of cold water each time you test. Pour about a tsp of candy into the water. Try to roll it into a ball.

*Soft Ball Stage--The candy will roll into a soft ball which quickly loses its shape when removed from the water.

**Firm Ball Stage--the candy will roll into a firm, but not hard ball. It will flatten out a few minutes after removal from water.

FYI: In case this is kind of hard to understand, it looks like a roll. The center of the roll is the fondant. Then you have a roll of caramel around the fondant and then pecans around the caramel. It's YUMMY. So, when you have lots of time and someone to chat with, make this yummy caramel pecan roll. It's fabulous :)