How to Make the Best Caramel Sauce
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The most incredible caramel sauce you've ever tasted is right at your fingertips! Made with only 4 ingredients, this caramel sauce is unbelievably smooth and versatile for all of your favourite desserts!
It’s winter time and caramel is everywhere! While I normally love my chocolate goodies, I’ve been really loving all things caramel lately too!
If you’re looking for some inspiration to try new recipes in the kitchen, my motivational guide, Make Cooking Fun!, explains how using ingredients that are on hand can help you create a theme and not let those ingredients go to waste! Once you have your caramel on hand, you can explore a wide range of new creations, and I’ll present plenty of ideas for how to use your caramel at the bottom of this post! Whatever you decide to do, you can put your heart on a plate as part of your Live to Cook challenge! Get started for free by signing up to my free email newsletter, plus all of my recipes will be sent straight to your inbox!
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Why You’ll Love Making your own caramel sauce!
Simple: The procedure will seem a bit intimidating with the sugar melting on the pan and lots of crazy sounds going on when you add liquid, but fear not! The process really is simple to follow that you can make your caramel sauce whenever you want!
Fast: This process of making your own caramel sauce is also not too long to execute! Again, this makes making caramel sauce something that you can do pretty much whenever you feel like it! It’ll take just as long to make the caramel sauce from start to finish as it would to go to the store and buy some caramel sauce.
4 ingredients: You only need 4 simple ingredients that I’m sure you already have on hand!
Natural and tasty: I always say that homemade is best! No preservatives or chemicals, just the stuff you need to have a smooth and creamy caramel sauce that you can use in whatever you want! Check out tons of recipe ideas later on in this post!
WHAT Equipment DO I NEED TO Make The best Caramel SaucE?
It’s most likely you already have everything you need for caramel sauce! Let’s go over the equipment:
How to Use decadent homemade Caramel Sauce
Garnish your overnight oats or stovetop oats!
Dipping fruits or chocolate
Coffee: While you can add caramel sauce to any coffee recipe you’d like, some notable mentions where this would be perfect are in my Caramel Brûlée Latte or to top my Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino. However, a twist to your regulars would be to add a drizzle over your Eggnog Latte (Christmas is approaching, after all!) or perhaps even in your Iced Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso!
Hot drinks: It would be wonderful in hot chocolates, including Decadent White Hot Chocolate or S’mores Hot Chocolate, but you could even throw it into a Dirty Chai Latte!
Smoothies: Any smoothie benefits from some caramel, but I recommend throwing it into my Mocha Blueberry Protein Smoothie or my Mango Vanilla Protein Ice Cream.
Pies: Including Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie, No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie, or my Mini Puff Pastry Apple Pie recipe.
Brownies: Espresso Brownies or Gluten-Free Fudgy Brownies.
Cookies: Skillet Protein Chocolate Chip Cookie or add a new twist to your Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookies!
Other baked goods: Chocolate Chip Brioche Bread Pudding, Overnight French Toast Casserole, Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes.
Drizzle: Over yogurt and ice cream.
On its own: Eat it with a spoon or finger, I won’t judge!
A gift: Tie a nice ribbon on it and give it to a baker you know!
Ingredients for Homemade Caramel Sauce
All ingredient quantities are listed in the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD, which you can find by scrolling to the bottom of this post or by pressing the “Jump to Recipe” button. Based on how much caramel sauce you want to make, you can also use the recipe card to scale all of the individual ingredient quantities so that you don’t need to do any calculations!
Heavy cream: Room temperature is ideal as sugar will be very sensitive to immediate temperature changes. Cold cream could result in your caramel sauce hardening up, and you don’t want that!
Butter: I recommend you use unsalted butter. If you’re going for a salted caramel sauce, then I would add in the salt yourself so that you can control the amount. Make sure that your butter is molten or else your caramel sauce will solidify.
Vanilla extract: A splash will add a nice aroma which I always love when making sweets!
Table sugar: Nothing fancy, just your typical table sugar works well here.
How to Make Incredible homemade caramel sauce
Add the sugar to a sauce pan and turn the heat to medium heat.
Swirl the sauce pan now and then, or until the sugar is completely molten. Be careful not to let the sugar burn.
Once the molten sugar is a dark amber colour and is simmering, carefully add molten butter. If the mixture starts to bubble or foam up, then pause, let is settle and continue adding the rest of the butter.
Swirl to mix and then repeat the same with the heavy cream.
Stir well and then add the vanilla.
After 30 seconds or so, remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool slightly before transferring to a jar to store for later.
Tips for the best Homemade Caramel Sauce
Use the right pan: I’m using a medium-sized stainless steel pan. You need a durable pan so that your caramel sauce will cook evenly. Furthermore, you don’t want a pan that is too small, which can result in the mixture overflowing, or too big, where your caramel sauce could burn. In addition, I really recommend you use a pan with a lip so that you can easily pour it when ready to serve - otherwise, you could make a huge mess!
DO NOT TOUCH: The most important tip here is to allow the sugar to sit and change colour. Do NOT touch or shake the pan until this point, or else you won’t have the desired results.
Continue whisking: You need to be extra careful when you add the cream in with the sugar. There WILL be lots of bubbles, but don’t be afraid! Continue to whisk.
Take the pan off the heat: Make sure you take the pan off the heat once the cream is added and whisk confidently until the texture resembles a smooth sauce and stops bubbling.
Questions You May Have
How to Prevent crystallization in caramel sauce?
If you stir or over-mix the sugar while the colour is changing, then this can result in crystallization.
How Do I know if I need to remake my caramel sauce?
The texture of the final sauce should be smooth, pourable with little to no sugar crystals. Also, the color range should be between light amber to dark amber - the color here will directly affect the . If the sauce is any different, you might need to restart.
How do I prevent the caramel sauce from burning?
The best sign is to look for that amber colour and to keep a close eye until most of the mixture turns to this colour. Any darker, and you are risking the caramel to burn.
What if I want a caramel Sauce for coffee?
You’ll notice that this is a thick and dark caramel sauce that is significantly richer than a caramel syrup. This type of caramel sauce is more for garnishing and using it in desserts. A very thin caramel sauce would actually be more of a caramel syrup for coffee, and you can find that recipe here.
What texture to look for in the caramel sauce?
You want a thick and smooth caramel sauce that is a deep brown with red tones. You don’t want to have any graininess or crystallization.
How do I adjust the thickness of the Caramel Sauce?
The best way to adjust the thickness of your caramel sauce will be to adjust the amount of heavy cream. I find that 1 cup of heavy cream gives a nice, thick sauce. Remember that your caramel sauce will thicken up as it cools down.
Can I make caramel sauce with brown sugar?
Well, technically using brown sugar means that you’re actually making butterscotch sauce. I’ve not tried using brown sugar before, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! Just keep in mind that there will most likely be a difference in texture and taste.
Can I use Milk instead of Heavy cream?
If you’re looking for the thickest and richest caramel sauce, then I would advise you stick with the heavy cream! However, I wouldn’t recommend milk in any case or else it can be very runny. To find a middle ground, perhaps 10% milk fat (half and half) can to the job, but I’ve never tried it.
How Much Caramel Sauce Does this recipe make?
You’ll have about 2 Cups of caramel sauce (500 mL) with this recipe. For more or less, be sure to use the recipe card to scale it!
Does This Homemade Caramel Sauce Need To be Refrigerated?
Yes, you need to store this Homemade Caramel Sauce in the refrigerator. This is because we’ve added butter and heavy cream to the sauce, and the dairy will spoil if you leave it at room temperature.
How Long Should I Let The Caramel Cool Down?
Well, technically you can store your caramel sauce in the fridge immediately once it’s prepared. However, be sure not to cover the caramel until it has completely cooled down. If you cover food that is hot, the outside gets cold, but the centre stays warm. This can result in bacteria spreading faster in the food and your food spoiling quicker.
How to Store the best Caramel Sauce
I recommend storing your Caramel Sauce in an airtight container or in a mason jar. You can spoon out the desired portion when serving.
If you’re looking to have more control over your drizzles with the caramel sauce (and perhaps you want to feel like a barista!), then storing in a squeeze bottle may be ideal for you.
How Long Can I Keep Caramel Sauce?
I would keep your Homemade Caramel Sauce in the fridge for 2 weeks at most. I would not keep it for longer due to the dairy here. To test if your caramel sauce has spoiled, you will see mould spots in your jar or container. The caramel will also smell bad. I know this from first-hand experience, and I really wouldn’t want your caramel sauce to go bad! Use it up!
How to Reheat Caramel Sauce
All you need to do to reheat your Homemade Caramel Sauce is to place it in the microwave. I recommend that you transfer the desired amount in a microwave-safe bowl or container and heat at 15 second intervals, giving the sauce a stir. However, if you’ve got the caramel sauce in a squeeze bottle, you can simply reheat the entire bottle until the caramel is slightly runny and warm.
On the other hand, if you want to reheat a big batch of caramel, then your best option is to transfer the contents into a saucepan and heat on low until you’ve achieved the desired temperature and texture.
Other Dessert Topping Recipes!
Watch How to Make the best caramel Sauce Here:
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How to Make the Best Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Cup sugar
- 1 Cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add the sugar to a sauce pan and turn the heat to medium heat. Swirl the sauce pan now and then, or until the sugar is completely molten. Be careful not to let the sugar burn.
- Once the molten sugar is a dark amber colour and is simmering, carefully add molten butter. If the mixture starts to bubble or foam up, then pause, let is settle and continue adding the rest of the butter. Swirl to mix and then repeat the same with the heavy cream.
- Stir well and then add the vanilla. After 30 seconds or so, remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool slightly before transferring to a jar to store for later.
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