Homemade Caramel Sauce

I mastered the Caramel Sauce a while back. Remember this exceptionally fancy birthday cake? I gave the regular old chocolate ganache a twist by adding caramel sauce. And believe you me, it was excellent! Caramel sauce can have a pleasing effect on anyone who has the good fortune of tasting it. It is delicious as a topping on ice creams, cakes, brownies, pancakes and what not! In fact, it is worth spending the time to make this sauce just for the mere pleasure of licking it off the bowl!

Making your own caramel sauce at home is a lot easier than you might think. It only requires a few ingredients and your full attention. And as far as I've researched on the internet, toffee sauce & caramel sauce recipes are almost similar. The only major difference between the two being - toffee sauce uses brown sugar and corn syrup. You can use any kind of sugar for caramel sauce and it requires no corn or golden syrup. I've tweaked a recipe to ensure there are lesser chances of the sugar burning. Adding that 4 or 5 spoons of water ensures that the sugar cooks evenly. Although, it does take a bit longer than if the water isn't added.

HOMEMADE Salted CARAMEL SAUCE RECIPE
(Print this recipe)
Prep Time - 1 minute
Cook time - 5 minutes
Makes - around 1 cup

Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk or cream
4-5 tablespoons of water.
a whisk or spatula

 

Method
1. In a heavy bottomed pan, add the sugar and water and heat it on medium heat.

2. As the sugar begins to melt, stir it vigorously with a whisk or a spoon
3. Add in the butter.

4. Keep stirring continuously as the butter melts and starts forming a light brown mixture.

5. When the mix is light brown, switch off the flame and add the cream (or milk) and whisk continuously.

6. Never stop whisking. It is okay if there are some sugar crystals here and there.
7. Keep whisking until the cream is fully incorporated. Add salt if you like your caramel sauce a bit salted

8. Run the sauce through a sieve to avoid crystallized sugar and get a smooth mixture


Notes
1. You must have everything ready BEFORE you begin making the sauce. Making caramel is a fast process. Even a second's laxness can cause burnt sugar.
2. Use milk for a low fat version. But I prefer the richer, creamier Caramel sauce. You only make it once in a blue moon. Why not go all the way and get full fat cream? :-)
3. If you want a runnier sauce, heat the mixture before serving