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Caramel Sauce
| Yield | |
|---|---|
| Source | |
| Prep time | 20 minutes |
| Recipe Tags |
Description
Caramel is one of my favorite flavors, and I can't believe how easy it was to make vs. how long it took me to actually get around to it. Eat this with a spoon, serve it over ice cream, eat it with a spoon, drizzle it over a cake, or eat it with a spoon. Ingredients are from Smitten Kitchen, but Joe Pastry gives a better description of the cooking method.
Ingredients
| 1 | c | sugar |
| 3 | oz | butter (salted. 3 oz = 6 Tbs) |
| 1 | pn | sea salt (optional) |
| 2 | T | Water (approximately) |
| 1⁄2 | c | cream (plus 2 T ) |
Instructions
Place the sugar and salt, if using, in a thick-bottomed, fairly deep pot. Don't use a skillet, as ingredients will bubble up, and you really don't want them to spill over the pan. Measure out your butter and cream and have them near the stove. Wet the sugar with a couple tablespoons of water - the amount is unimportant, as it'll cook out. Turn up the stove to high heat and swirl the pan as the sugar dissolves. Once it starts to bubble, you can stop swirling. After a few minutes, you'll see a spot of color appear in the sugar as it begins to caramelize. Don't panic. In the next minute or so, the whole pan will be light amber, then dark amber, then smoke (not steam) will start to appear. Still don't panic. Let the caramel go for another few seconds (it will start to darken rapidly) to your desired level of darkness. However, keep in mind that burned sugar is gross, and that seconds here will make a big difference - it gets hot fast!
Once you can't stand it anymore, move the pan to a cold burner and add in the butter. The sugar will bubble up, and the cool butter will stop the sugar from cooking further. Stir until that's all melted, then pour in the cream. The caramel will bubble up higher. Stir until the cream is incorporated, then pour the caramel into your storage container (it should keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge). I've read that you can strain it to get rid of any bits of crystallized sugar, but I didn't have any problems with that. Sauce will thicken as it cools to a reasonable pouring consistency. If refrigerated, you should zap it in the microwave for a few seconds to be able to pour it again. However, it works delightfully on a spoon at refrigerator temperatures.
Notes
- A la Joe Pastry, let the sugar get as dark as you dare after it starts to smoke. However, if all the sugar goes black, it won't be sweet anymore. I chickened out at the first 5-7 seconds after smoke appeared.
- Another site suggests having a bowl of ice water at the ready in case you splash some of the burning-hot sugar on your hand. While I didn't splash myself, this seems like a prudent measure to me.
- Don't use tin-lined copper or a thin-bottomed pot for this. Nice, solid stainless steel is a good bet. This stuff is like napalm.
- Soak the cooking utensils in hot water after cooking. Just wait for the sugar to dissolve - don't bother scrubbing
- Rumor has it that you can infuse the cream with various flavors for a flavored caramel. I have yet to try this, but it excites me.
