Creamy Dark Chocolate Caramels or Salted Vanilla Bean Caramels-- Two recipes to pick from (or make both!) Recipe

I am really excited to share two recipe variations from the "Black Licorice Caramels" that I posted a few days ago. I'm excited for several reasons. The biggest reason is that these are delicious, and exceeded my wildest expectations.

Seriously!

If you were to ask me if I prefer Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate, I would give an enthusiastic nod to Milk. Hands down. These dark chocolate caramels have converted me. I adapted the recipe for "Black Licorice Caramels" by omitting the Anise extract.

Instead, I used Trader Joe's Brand of excellent Dark Chocolate $4.99 a pound), that cooked along with water, sugar, butter and sweetened condensed milk. The aroma of chocolate filled every nook and cranny of our kitchen/dining…