Homemade caramel sauce
Silky salted caramel sauce made with sugar, butter and cream in 15 minutes. Drizzle it over iced lattes and macchiatos or stir it into hot coffee.
- Prep
- 3 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Serves
- 16
- Per serve
- 100 kcal
Ingredients
Method
Warm the cream in the microwave until hot, about 30 seconds, and keep it next to the stove with the butter, salt and vanilla. Cold cream makes hot sugar spit and seize.
Put the sugar and water in a heavy, deep saucepan (it needs room to bubble up) and stir over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves. Then stop stirring.
Let it boil without stirring, gently swirling the pan now and then, until it turns a deep amber, like a copper penny. Watch closely near the end; it can go from golden to burnt in seconds.
Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the butter. It will bubble hard and release hot steam, so use a long-handled whisk and keep your face and hands back.
Slowly pour in the warm cream while whisking, then add the salt and vanilla. Return to low heat and whisk until completely smooth.
Pour into a heatproof glass jar. It's thin while hot and thickens as it cools; use it warm as a drizzle, or stir 1 tbsp into a hot latte.
Tips
- Hot sugar gets well above 300°F and sticks to skin, so don't touch or taste it until the sauce has cooled, keep kids away from the stove, and don't put the hot pan in the sink to soak.
- Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. It sets firm when cold; microwave in 15-second bursts and stir until pourable.
- If sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan, brush them down with a wet pastry brush instead of stirring.
