5 ingredients and 20 minutes is all it takes to make the best Salted Caramel Sauce you’ve ever had. This is a great sauce to keep on hand to top all of your autumn baking.
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I absolutely love this Salted Caramel Sauce, but I have to be honest. For most of my life I was a hot fudge kind of girl. In the past few years, though, I’ve really come to embrace caramel as a topping (and a snack). I think that the deal is that I only really like salted caramel. Regular caramel is good, but it just lacked that oomph that I got from chocolate. Turns out, the oomph comes from salt! Who knew?
Well, lots of people, but that’s neither here nor there.
I’m so incredibly glad that I decided to give salted caramel a chance, because it’s an amazing thing to have on hand. You can use it in so many ways and it lasts forever in the fridge! It’s so much cheaper to make your own caramel at home, and you know you’re only getting the basic ingredients without any of the preservatives added to store bought sauces.
A few ideas for using this salted caramel sauce: pour it over Chai Spice Apple cake. Smother these No Yeast Apple Sticky Buns. Dip slices of this Rustic Apple Tart into it.
Lets talk about Salted Caramel Sauce
Homemade caramel is a great addition to anyone’s fridge. The sauce lasts for up to one month when stored in an airtight jar in the fridge (though I doubt it’ll last you that long) so you only have to put in about 20 minutes’ worth of work to get a jar of sauce that you can use for several weeks!
The sauce is super easy to make, although, you have to keep a very close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn.
PRO TIP: Don’t double the recipe – the sugar wont melt properly. If you want more than the two cups the recipe makes, make two separate batches.
Ingredient List
- Sugar
- Water
- Light Corn Syrup
- Unsalted Butter
- Heavy Cream
- Sea Salt
PRO TIP: Maldon Sea Salt is my go to flaky sea salt.
Tips and Tricks
- Keep a very close eye on the caramel as it cooks. Sugar can go from browned to burned in a matter of seconds, so keep a close watch and be ready to move the pan quickly.
- Caramel comes together quickly, so measure out all your ingredients before starting and have them all ready to go.
- Go easy on the salt at first, add a little, then taste and add more if needed. You can always add more salt, but you can’t take it out once it’s in there.
- This recipe only works as a sauce, you cant make caramel candies with this recipe.
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How dark should the caramel be when I take it off the burner?
You want a light honey color. The caramel will continue to cook in the pan even after you take it off the heat, so you want to take it off before it’s technically done.
Recipe Highlights:
- Easy
- Delicious
- Great for topping other desserts
- Perfect for autumn
- Delicious ice cream topping
- Great for gifts!
Why do you add corn syrup?
I add corn syrup because it keeps the caramel from crystallizing. You can definitely make caramel without it, but it never sets up as well for me when I leave it out. There are about a million caramel recipes out there, so if you want to avoid the corn syrup I would recommend Sally’s Baking Addiction’s recipe.
Why does the cream need to be at room temperature?
The warmer the cream, the less you’ll experience the splattering and sputtering that happens when you add the cream to the hot sugar. I have a fear of being burned by sugar, so I do everything I can to mitigate that.
Do I have to use unsalted butter?
Technically no, but why let anyone else dictate the amount of salt you’re putting into your caramel.
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Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup heavy cream at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
Instructions
- In a large skillet, whisk together the sugar, water, and corn syrup.
- Cook over medium high heat, whisking occasionally until the mixture is honey colored. This will take about 10 minutes or so, depending on your burner temperature.
- Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the butter, whisking until the butter is completely melted, and mostly mixed into the sugar.
- Add the cream slowly, whisking until smooth.
- Add the salt and stir to combine.
- Pour the caramel into a heat proof container and store in the fridge.
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