Recipes & Cooking Desserts & Baking Candy Chocolate Candy Millionaire Candy Is a Southern Favorite You Can Make at Home 5.0 (6) 6 Reviews It tastes like a million bucks! By Sarah Martens Sarah Martens Sarah Martens is the Senior Editor overseeing food at Better Homes & Gardens digital. She has been with the BHG brand for more than 10 years. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Published on March 25, 2024 Recipe tested by Sarah Brekke, MS Recipe tested by Sarah Brekke, MS Sarah Brekke, a culinary expert with The Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen, is passionate about food and cooking. Her unique background as both a food scientist and a culinary contributor allows her to blend her passions for both educating readers and creating tasty content. Learn more about the Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen Rate PRINT Share Close Photo: Rachel Marek Prep Time: 30 mins Stand Time: 30 mins Chill Time: 10 mins Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Servings: 30 Jump to Nutrition Facts The perfect combination of salty and sweet, millionaire candy has been a favorite in the South for decades. A filling made with caramel and pecans is dunked in chocolate and sprinkled with flaky salt for an easy homemade candy recipe that earned rave reviews from our recipe testers. Our millionaire candy recipe is a shortcut take on the classic. Millionaire Shortbread Is Like a Homemade Candy Bar But Better What Is Millionaire Candy? If you grew up in the South, you may have seen boxes of millionaires in the chocolate candy aisle of your local grocery store. The candies are made with layers of caramel, pecans, and chocolate. Hugh T. Pangburn created the recipe and served it at his drugstore located in Fort Worth, Texas. The treat was so popular, he expanded his enterprise to include a candy factory. The business was sold to Russell Stover in 1999 and you can still buy Pangburn's Millionaires in stores today. The sweet is often called Texas millionaires candy. Millionaire Candy Ingredients Here's a quick look at what you'll need to make our take on the original millionaire candy recipe at home. Butter: This helps keep the candies from sticking to the pan as you assemble them. Be sure the butter is soften for easy spreading. Caramels: You'll need 55 unwrapped caramel candies. This is about two 11-ounce packages. We'll melt these to create one layer of the candy. Cream: Heavy cream helps the caramels melt until smooth. Pecans: For the richest candies, toast the pecans before adding them to the caramel mixture. Roasting the nuts helps intensify the flavor. Chocolate: You can use either milk or dark chocolate in this homemade candy recipe. Our recipe testers were split on which they liked best—both were great! Choose a high-quality melting chocolate like Ghirardelli brand. Salt: A pinch of flaky salt on top helps balances the sweetness. How to Store Millionaire Candy Store the chocolate candies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. How to Store Homemade Candy So It Stays Fresh Longer Ingredients 1 tablespoon butter, softened 55 soft vanilla caramels (such as Kraft), unwrapped 3 tablespoons heavy cream 2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted 15 ounces milk or dark chocolate melting wafers (such as Ghirardelli) Flaky sea salt (optional) Directions Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper; butter parchment. In a medium heavy saucepan cook and stir caramels and cream over medium heat until smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Let stand until set, about 30 minutes. In the top of a double boiler melt chocolate over medium, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Using a fork, dip caramel mounds into chocolate, allowing excess to drip back into the bowl. Return mounds to prepared baking sheet. If desired, sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt. Chill candies 10 to 15 minutes or until chocolate is set. Rate It Print Nutrition Facts (per serving) 163 Calories 11g Fat 11g Carbs 2g Protein Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label Nutrition Facts Servings Per Recipe 30 Calories 162.6 % Daily Value * Total Fat 10.6g 14% Saturated Fat 3.7g 19% Cholesterol 6mg 2% Sodium 20.2mg 1% Total Carbohydrate 11.4g 4% Dietary Fiber 1.2g 4% Total Sugars 9.1g Protein 1.9g 4% Vitamin D 0mcg 0% Vitamin C 0.1mg 0% Calcium 34.3mg 3% Iron 0.5mg 3% Potassium 97mg 2% Fatty acids, total trans 0g Vitamin D 0.9IU Alanine 0g Arginine 0.1g Ash 0.4g Aspartic acid 0.1g Caffeine 2.8mg Carotene, alpha 0mcg Choline, total 9.8mg Copper, Cu 0.2mg Cystine 0g Energy 680.2kJ Fluoride, F 1.6mcg Folate, total 4.3mcg Glutamic acid 0.1g Glycine 0g Histidine 0g Isoleucine 0g Leucine 0g Lysine 0g Methionine 0g Magnesium, Mg 18.8mg Manganese, Mn 0.4mg Niacin 0.2mg Phosphorus, P 51.9mg Pantothenic acid 0.1mg Phenylalanine 0g Proline 0g Retinol 17.6mcg Selenium, Se 1mcg Serine 0g Starch 0g Theobromine 29.1mg Threonine 0g Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) 0.2mg Tryptophan 0g Tyrosine 0g Valine 0g Vitamin A, IU 65.6IU Vitamin A, RAE 18mcg Vitamin B-12 0.1mcg Vitamin B-6 0mg Vitamin K (phylloquinone) 1.1mcg Water 5.5g Zinc, Zn 0.7mg *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.