Millionaire Candy Is a Southern Favorite You Can Make at Home

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.

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.