A good caramel sauce can be used so many different ways. It is great on ice cream. Makes a wonderful drizzle on cakes and cheesecakes. It taste great on its own. Caramel Sauce can be mixed in with any of the buttercreams to add a wonderful caramel flavor to it. You must try this recipe today.
You can easily make this in the home kitchen. All you need is a heavy bottom sauce pot or sauce pan. Make sure you opt for a larger one than you think you will need because as the water starts to boil out it will create many bubbles and rise fairly high in the pan.
Making Caramel Sauce
Before we begin, I must start out with a safety warning. Any time you are working with melted sugar, the temperatures are well over 212ºF/100ºC and sugar is a sticky substance and will not come off the skin easily. Be on the safe side and have a bowl of ice water, just in case you get some splashed on your fingers or hand. The quicker you can cool it down the less of a burn you can get. Hot sugar solutions can cause blisters and worse burns. But fear not for following a few safety rules and you caramel sauce will be ready in no time.
SAFETY NOTE: Caramel Sauce is made by melting sugar to very high temperatures of 310ºF/150ºC plus. Also sugar in its liquid state will instantly stick to your skin making burns worse. Please do not do this around small children.
Measure out your ingredient before you start. It is a good idea to have a bowl of ice water available so that if you get splashed you can cook your burned area down right away. Slice a lemon in half and use the cut end to rub the inside of the large sauce pan, this will help in the prevention of sugar crystal formation.
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- Ingredients for caramel Sauce
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- Rub the cut side of a lemon around the sides and bottom of a large sauce pan.
To the large sauce pan, add the sugar and water.
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- Add the granulated sugar.
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- Add the water.
Gently swirl the pot to mix the sugar and water together. Place on the stove and turn the heat to high.
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- Swirl the pot to mix the sugar and water.
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- Place on the stove on high heat. Have a bowl of ice water ready in case you get splashed.
The sugar and water mixture will come to a boil. This is the water boiling out. The bubbles may become very intense at this point and will rise in the pot which is why we are using a large sauce pan. The picture on the left so the sugar solution just after the boiling calmed down. This solution is over 220ºF/105ºC. Continue to heat, but do not stir. Any sugar crystals that fall back into the pot may cause the sugar to crystallize and you will have to start over. If you have sugar crystals on the side of the pot, you can use a wet water pastry brush . From this point the sugar is going to heat quickly since the water has basically boiled off. As it continues to heat, you may notice a few whisks of smoke starting to come off the sugar solution and/or some color starting to form. At this point keep a close eye on things since it will go very rapidly to dark down and then burnt. We want to stop at the brown color. Burnt sugar looks blackish and has a horrible taste and smell and is only food for the trash. The photo on the right show the sugar solution starting to take on a light brown tint. As soon as it is a little darker brown (or as dark as you dare take it), remove from the heat.
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- The sugar solution has become to a boil. Continue to boil until it gets a brown color.
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- Once the sugar solution start getting a color, the color change is going to go rapidly from here. Caution this sugar is well over 300ºF and will cause serious burns.
Once off the heat, it is now time to add the ROOM TEMPERATURE heavy cream. Add it in a slow stream. It will want to splatter since you are introducing a product containing water and you are will above water’s boiling point.
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- Once it become a brown (but not black which is burnt and will tasty horrible). Add in the ROOM TEMPERATURE heavy cream in a slow steady stream.
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- Adding in the ROOM TEMPERATURE heavy cream. Notice how the sugar solution is bubbling and rapidly boiling. The bubbles will rise up the pan.
Lastly add in the butter and stir. Allow to cool completely before using.
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- Finally add in the butter and stir with a heat proof spatula or a wood spoon to mix in. Allow to cool some before pouring into a serving dish or a clean glass jar for storage.
Caramel Sauce Recipe Details
- 1 lemon
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 cup room temp heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick or 56 grams)
- Measure out all ingredients.
- Cut the lemon in half. Rub the cut end over the bottom and sides of the sauce pan you will be using. This is an aid to help prevent sugar crystals from forming.
- Add the sugar and water to the sauce pot. Gently swirl the pot to mix the water and sugar together. It is ok if all the sugar does not dissolve.
- Place the sauce pot on the stove on high heat. Have a clean pastry brush and a container of clean water nearby if needed.
- You can use a wooden spoon or a heat proof spatula to do some mixing of the sugar and water until it gets to a boil. If you notice sugar crystals on the sides of the pot, use the wet pastry brush to wash them back into the pan. Expect the pan to splatter a little at this point.
- The sugar solution will go through several different stages until it gets to the point we need. There is no need for a thermometer here since we will be taking this to a brown color. (the actual temperature will be over 300ºF,
- DO NOT WALK AWAY. Once the boiling has calmed down, the heating will proceed fairly rapid.
- At the first moments of color or whisks of smoke coming off you are getting close. You want to take the caramel sauce to a brown color. The darker brown the sauce is the more caramel flavor it will have. If it gets too far on you and turns black and has a burnt odor to it. Remove it from the heat. Allow to cool some and discard and start over.
- Remove from heat one you get to the brown color.
- While off the heat, slowly add in the ROOM TEMPERATURE heavy cream in a steady stream. The mixture will bubble up. Once this is completed add in the butter.
- Allow your caramel sauce to cool before using.
Make Caramel Sauce With Me!
