Perfect Caramel Sauce

This is my base caramel sauce recipe. When cooled it has a nice thick texture which is perfect for filling, piping, and drizzling. Don’t be intimidated by making homemade caramel. With these few tips and tricks, you will be making caramel like a pro.

There are a lot of variables that can affect you making the perfect caramel sauce. First things first. Make sure you start off with a clean sturdy pot. Any impurities in your pot or sugar can contaminate your product and cause your sugar to crystalize. Make sure to use a large enough pot, because when you add the rest of your ingredients the caramel will boil vigorously causing it to rise and double its size.

The classic way to make caramel is to put dry sugar in a pot and let it melt and heat to an amber color. We aren’t doing it that way! I like to live life on the edge, but if I am going to go through the trouble of making homemade caramel, I am going to put my safety rails up, and make sure it is perfect every. single. time.

We are going to start with the wet sand method. This is where you add just enough water to your sugar that it resembles “wet sand.” Don’t worry about adding water. It will boil out anyway. I also like to add a little bit of corn syrup; this helps to ensure that our sugar will not crystalize while cooking.

Lots of clear bubbles boiling rapidly, sign of no crystallization

The next pro tip I have is to use warm/hot butter and cream. If you add cold butter and cream, it will result in your caramel seizing up, and you have a sauce that has chunks of hard caramel. Straight caramel turns hard as glass when cooled. This is what happens if you add cold products to your boiling hot caramel.

Always use heat proof utensil’s while making caramel. Such as heat proof spatulas or wooden spoons. I tend to steer clear of metal utensil’s as I don’t want to scratch the surface of my pans. Caramel reaches temperatures of 300 degrees which is basically molten lava. Not using a heat proof spatula or spoon will result in a melted mess.

Almost there, light amber color bubbles starting to slow, we are in the home stteach, keep going.

Never walk away while cooking caramel. It honestly takes around 5-7 minutes for your sugar to turn the perfect amber color on medium high heat, which for some reason feels like an eternity while standing there staring. You never want to stir your sugar while it’s cooking. This can result in crystallization and ruined caramel. I like to take this time to heat my butter and cream and also have everything ready to go so I can pour it all into the caramel at once. It only takes a few seconds for your caramel to go from the perfect amber color to burnt, so whatever you do, don’t leave it unattended.

If by chance you cook your caramel too dark and want to try to save it, have an ice bath ready. After adding all of your ingredients, place your hot pan over the ice bath to cool your caramel rapidly. This will imedietly stop the cooking process and cool your caramel sauce. Just make sure to stir contantly so your caramel doesn’t solidify at the bottom.

Perfect amber color with small bubbles. Ready for butter and cream.

Now that I have told you everything you need to know to make the perfect caramel, let’s get started, shall we.

Ingredients

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1/4 cup Water

1 tbsp Corn Syrup

1 stick or 8 oz Unsalted Butter

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

In a clean sturdy pot, add your sugar, water, and corn syrup. Mix to combine and make sure every granule of sugar is wet. This helps to ensure your sugar dose not crystalize while cooking. Cook sugar on medium/high heat. Let sugar cook until a nice deep amber color, making sure not to stir while cooking. Let it be. This should take around 5-7 minutes, depending on how well your pot conducts heat.

While your sugar cooks, making sure to stay in close vicinity, heat your butter and cream, so that it is warm/hot to touch. Make sure you have all your ingredients ready to pour into your caramel, you don’t have a large window once the caramel is as the perfect color.

Once your sugar has reached a deep amber color, remove from heat and slowly pour in your butter and cream. Everything will boil vigorously so be very careful but also make sure to stir constantly. Once the boiling has reduced you can add your salt and vanilla extract. Making sure to stir until fully combined. Let your caramel sauce cool to room temperature before using. Never use your finger to test if your caramel sauce is ready, always use a spoon, as touching boiling sugar will result in blisters. I may or may not know from experience.

This Caramel is the perfect accompaniment for ice cream topping, brownies , cakes, drinks. The world is your oyster, and this is your perfect caramel sauce to put on top!

This caramel sauce is a perfect base for different variations.