I love a good caramel apple, but I’ve never tried to make one myself. I like caramel candies, but I don’t make them. I enjoy caramel sauce on ice cream, but I’ve never put the sauce together. But recently, I figured, it can’t be THAT hard. I’ve been watching Bake Off and they throw together caramel all the time without blinking. Sure, they mess it up sometimes, but who wouldn’t when you’re doing 50 things under time pressure?
I also like to make the occasional post for this blog of an ingredient, something I can come back and link to over and over in other posts.
Today’s post is another of those: a simple caramel sauce that stays soft in the fridge and is great to put on top of other recipes (like the one I’ll publish next week. Stay tuned!)
I will say this: caramel intimidated me for a long time. Not just caramel; really, any sugar work. The last thing I need is a horrible sugar burn! Fortunately, it’s not nearly as tricky as you might think, it’s as safe as any cooking, and it’s easy to get it more or less correct.
Now, what kind of caramel are we talking about here? After all, there are a bunch of different types. Mostly, those differences have to do with the temperature the sugar is cooked to.
- 340-350ºF: A light-colored caramel that hardens like sugar glass.
- 355-360ºF: A darker caramel that cools hard but not super brittle, like hard candy.
- 365-380ºF: A darker brown caramel that cools into a softer candy.
- 400ºF+: A very dark, bitter kind of caramel used as much for color (that “caramel color added” ingredient) as for flavor.
The key here is that third one, from 365-380 degrees F. At that temperature, the caramel is receptive to additional ingredients, int his case butter and heavy cream, to turn it into a soft sauce. I liken it to something like hot fudge; mostly solid in the fridge, but runny when it’s warmed up for a few seconds in the microwave. Perfect for topping treats and ice cream.
The recipe I wrote doesn’t require to you fiddle with all of the exact temperatures, though you can if you have a sugar thermometer (Amazon affiliate link there; I’d earn a few cents if you buy one). If you aren’t confident in playing it by sight, go ahead and use the measurements.
The end result is about half a pint (one cup) of caramel sauce, which will last quite a while in the fridge as long as you keep it sealed. I have a feeling I’m going to be using this on a lot more in the future, including next week’s recipe, so it’s definitely a recipe worth getting familiar with!
Salted Caramel Sauce
Equipment
- Sauce Pan
- Whisk
- Pint Jar
Ingredients
- 1 Cup White Sugar
- 6 Tbsp Butter Cubed and at room temperature.
- ½ Cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Tsp Salt More or less as desired.
Instructions
- Pour the sugar into your sauce pan and put it over medium heat. Whisk gently for a few seconds every 30 seconds or so, to avoid letting it burn. The sugar will slowly melt and clump up; keep going until it's all melted. This will probably take around five minutes, but don't go by time, go by the look of the sugar.
- Immediately upon the sugar fully melting, remove it from the heat. It can go from melted to burned very quickly if you aren't careful.
- Add the room temp butter. The hot sugar and comparatively cool butter will bubble and sizzle, but don't freak out! Stir it in and it will settle down.
- Once the butter is fully mixed in, add the heavy cream and salt, adjusting the salt for how salty you want the caramel to be. 1 tsp is enough for a light saltiness, but not an overriding flavor. You can also use kosher salt for the occasional bit of salt crystal, if you prefer.
- Stir the mixture until it's well combined, then pour it into a jar for storage. Let it cool on the counter for a bit, and store in the fridge. To use, just take a spoonful as it is, or heat it in the microwave for about 7 seconds to thin it back out.