I saw a post in which she melts candy canes into simple syrup to make a candy cane syrup. Maybe you can use the idea and melt the caramel first in water then boil off the water. Or you could crush it and make a lot of brittle things with it (mix-ins for ice cream, topping for a cake...) Good luck!

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I don't see why you couldn't ----the from the bag recipe for caramel apples just adds a couple of tablespoons of milk to the premade caramels and they reset in a slightly softer version on the outside of the apples.

you could cook it down the only dilemma you would have is that the sugar will continue to caramelize so it will get darker and darker thus making it more bitter. If you have someone that would enjoy caramels with that dark a flavor I don't see there being a problem.
I vote turning it into a brittle, chopping it up and finding a different Christmas use for it.
Also sometimes when you add the milk it will harden up at first but if you keep it at low heat stirring it, it will come right back add a little more cream and you are good to go. However i have never done this after letting it set.

Last year I made a ton of caramels in a cheap pot that took me a couple of batches to get the hang of, so I had one or two batches that were partially or entirely hard. They taste just like toffee--in fact, they were tastier than the actual toffee recipe I tried. I vote break them up and eat them like toffee; you know you have something delicious (just the wrong texture) now, and if you reheat you risk making them unpalatably bitter.

that there is already cream involved is an issue. I've never had any luck trying to "fix" anything carmelized sugar once the cream was added because it cooks, too, and eventually just gets curdly or broken.

I think the toffee idea is great..maybe you can whack them into bits with something and then add nuts and coat with chocolate?

and sorry, but premade caramels have absolutely NOTHING in common with homemade caramels other than being brown, so just adding milk isn't going to do anything besides give you cooked milk coated rock hard caramels.

Your sugar had already either gone or almost gone to hard crack stage, you can't go back, but you could try going a little further and trying to get more of a toffee consistancy (along the lines of Truculence's suggestion).

Okay, I'm resigned to the fact that they won't become caramels, but I love the idea of brittles. Any suggestions on add-ins that will complement the thyme flavor?

Thanks for your thoughts!

To compliment the thyme flavor....

The first thing that came to mind is toasted pine nuts. They also have that savory/sweet thing going on.

I did this last year and made toffee instead. I added nuts and called it a day!

Ooh, I love the idea of pine nuts. Thanks.

i make caramel for a living and from experience have to agree with the other posters. trying to melt it back to the proper texture won't work and will just result in a burnt mess.
but there are two things you can try:
1) make a caramel sauce/spread from what you have by gently heating up some heavy cream. for a small batch i'd start with 1/2 cup and add more later if needed. chop up you caramel batch into small pieces and melt these over low heat in the cream, stirring constantly. once the mix is emulsified you can add more warm cream to make it smoother.
2) refrigerate your caramel and chop it up into small chips (easier when it's cold & hardened). use these in cookies and cakes.

I did this as well and I like the idea of making it into a toffee. What would be the best way to reheat my caramel brick? I feel like just putting the thing back in a pot will burn it before it loosens it up enough to cook evenly.

YES, I did it last night. I simmered my rock hard caramel with a bunch of cream in a double boiler. It turned into caramel sauce with a decently delicious flavor.

First you have to look at the situation. How much overcooked is it? If it is already brittle do not waste your time. If it is just too hard to chew and not brittle go ahead as follows.

Check the ingredients you used. The more glucose to sugar, the more forgiving.

You can very slowly warm it up. ( I wrote warm, not heat ) You add a mixture of evaporated milk and 35% whipping cream. For 50 lbs of caramel you need about 1 Liter of cream and 4 cans of evaporated milk. You warm it very slowly (2 Hours). make sure that it does not bubble before everything is liquid again. Then heat slowly to about 5 degree Fahrenheit below the original cooking Temperature. Also preheat the table before you pour it on. If you poor it in a cold form or a cold table it gets harder than if it has been warmed up before.

Your caramel will be darker than before. The taste is not much different.