Soft and Chewy Orange Marijuana Caramels Recipe 

These easy to make orange flavored caramels have a soft and chewy texture and an unforgettable flavor. I don’t care what anyone says, caramel is the most addictive substance on earth. The combination of the simple ingredients, butter and sugar with perhaps a little salt, is difficult to resist. Consider yourself warned and carefully monitor your intake of these delicious goodies lest you overdo it.

Ingredient Notes for Orange Marijuana Caramels

I used an all-natural organic orange essential oil from Rocky Mountain oils to flavor my caramels.  If you use essential oil be sure to only add a drop or two as these are HIGHLY concentrated.  You could also use a teaspoon or so of orange extract to flavor your caramels, but the flavor will not be anywhere as near as orangey as when using just a drop or two of essential oil.

You can use light or dark corn syrup in this recipe. Either way it will still taste great, but using dark corn syrup will give a slightly richer caramel flavor and deeper brown color.

When it comes to butter, the recipe will work with any type, but nothing beats a good quality grass-fed butter like Kerrygold, especially in a recipe like this that only takes a few simple ingredients.  Since salt and caramel mix beautifully, it doesn’t matter much if your butter is salted or unsalted.

Temperature and Other Marijuana Caramel Making Tips and Troubleshooting

While caramels are not difficult to make, accurate temperature monitoring is essential!  This is not so much about fear of burning off your THC, the temperatures we need to reach are under the danger zone.  But it is crucial in order to reach the right candy consistency.  For instance, in this recipe where I wanted a soft and chewy caramel, it is important that the boiling syrup reaches a temperature of 245 degrees F.  Anything less than that and my candy will likely be runny and not set.  Anything more than that it will be firmer and chewier.  I like to call caramels of this type "filling pullers" as they tending to really stick to teeth.  Let it go another degree or two and you will have a harder consistency, more like toffee.  All will be delicious, but if you want a certain consistency, you NEED a candy thermometer!

I had one friend who claimed she used a thermometer and still could not get her caramel's consistency right.  I said that's probably because the thermometer was off.  Temperature is crucial, so here's how to test your candy thermometer's accuracy before beginning:

• Bring some water to a boil.  The thermometer should read 212 degrees F. If your thermometer is off, adjust your recipe temperature up or down accordingly.

Keep Your Marijuana Caramels Smooth

The other problem that can occur with caramels is the sugar crystallizing.  Minimize this by stirring in ingredients carefully so as not to splash on the sides of the pot, where the sugar will be more apt to crystallize.  Once all the ingredients are in and incorporated, put a lid on the pot and cook for about a minute, this moisture buildup this will create will help minimize sugar crystallization as well.  After a minute, remove the lid and attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pot.

Once the ingredients are combined and boiling there is no need to stir again until the mixture comes to the proper temperature.  When pouring the caramel mixture into the prepared pan, pour it out but do not scrape the bottom of the pan (or put this on a separate plate as the "cook's reward").  This will also help keep the texture smooth as you can get burnt or crystallized bits on the bottom of the pan, still tasty, but they will interfere with texture.

Prepare with Parchment

Be sure to prepare the pan you will be pouring the hot caramel syrup into by lining it with parchment paper.  I saw some internet instructions for making caramels that advised using aluminum foil for this task.  Don't do it, it sticks! Trust me I learned the hard way.  Parchment paper, on the other hand, worked beautifully and peels right off the candy.  The other alternative is to use a silicone pan, which requires no special prep, just pour in the hot caramel mixture and allow to cool.

Humidity Matters

The more moisture in the air, the more difficult it will be to keep the caramels from getting runny with time.  Sometimes this can be a good thing, as in the case of caramels that I let too cook too long that were too chewy to eat.  After a few days in the moist seaside San Diego air, their texture was perfect.  But a softer caramel would have gone to mush.  If you live in a humid climate, keep your caramels under wrap.

A Note About the Dosage for THC Marijuana Caramels!

Caramels contain so much butter, it’s easy to make them stronger, for those who need it, by swapping in more cannabis butter for the unmedicated butter. Take my Free Dosing class to learn adjust the recipe to your individual needs, or better yet, get my dosage calculator tools (that you'll use over and over again) to do the math for you (see below).

As written, each of the 24 candies in this recipe will have about 12 mgs THC, IF you made your cannabis butter from “average” cannabis (10% THC), and used 1/2 ounce (or 14 grams) to make 1 cup butter. Follow this link for instructions on how to make cannabis butter.

Storing  and Wrapping Marijuana Caramels

I store my extra caramels, well wrapped, in the low humidity section of the fridge. They are stable at room temperature but if the temps are warm, they can get too soft. Also, be aware that humidity can affect caramels and make them watery, so the higher the humidity, keep them well under wraps in an airtight container.

These candies are very giftable.  I like to wrap the marijuana caramels individually.  You can cut small squares of waxed paper for this task, or there are a wide variety of precut waxed paper as well as cellophane candy wrappers available.  Some are even festively printed like the ones in the photo below.  This link will take you to Amazon's wide assortment of candy wrappers. I personally favor waxed paper over cellophane for caramels, but both types of candy wrappers will work.