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When the recession hit my house, we all gave up our luxuries, which for me included regular stops at a high-end chocolate shop nearby. Now, when the urge hits for something sweet, I make it myself, and often I turn to caramel. This homemade caramel sauce - sweet, sticky, a tiny bit salty, thick as frosting when cold, gloriously runny when warm - fully deserves the crystal wine glass it's pictured in.
I admit to impatience when it comes to caramel: You'll often find me spooning it out of the jar in front of the refrigerator and eating it straight up (a la Nigella Lawson, though I'm sure she'd look a lot better doing it). It's also fantastic drizzled over ice cream, crepes or a sweet bread pudding.
For some condiments, the homemade version isn't significantly better than the store-bought, and thus it's not worth the trouble to make it at home. That is definitively not true of caramel sauce. The homemade version takes a little time and a bit of skill, but it's a different species from its commercial imitators. Once you taste this, you'll never go back.
The recipe I use is based on the one in The Way to Cook by Julia Child. This is one of my favorite books, particularly for classic French-inspired dishes.
The ultimate caramel sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- pinch of sea salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Swirl the pan by its handle until the sugar is completely dissolved and the liquid is clear.
Cover the pan for a few minutes and let the liquid boil. Do not stir - this may cause the sugar to crystallize, which will make your caramel grainy. Remove the cover and let the mixture continue to boil, swirling gently every minute or so, until it starts to change color.
When the liquid is the color of deep amber, remove the pan from the heat and pour in the cream - the mixture will bubble up tremendously, which is as it should be. The caramel will seize up and harden when the cold cream hits it, and that's fine too. Put the pan back over low heat and stir until the caramel has re-melted and the sauce is light brown. Last step - remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla and salt. You now have the most glorious sauce, ready to dress up whatever dessert you have at hand.
Comments
Yummmmmmm!!!
This is amazing!
It's awesome and real easy to make.
How long can I keep it in the fridge?????
Sandy, sorry it's taken me so long to answer your question. A month at least - and I've probably kept it up to two months with no problem.
more detailed directions would be easier
I agree with Edna!!! I was a fiddle of a widdle confizzled. It would be simpler if you said how many minutes or whatever. Edna and I are trying to make this for a party last minute and would love better detailed instructions. thank you dearly, Susan
Susan and Edna, I'm so sorry you had trouble with the directions above. I didn't give times because it's not exact - it really depends on your pan, how high the heat is under the pan, and even the kind of sugar you use. Color is the best judge for when the caramel is ready to have the cream added. Let me know what specifically you had trouble with and I'll try to clarify.
Brilliant! Quick and easy - worked great the first time. I think I let the sugar reach a slightly too-dark amber. The resulting caramel is fabulous, but has an ever so slightly too toasted taste. I will certainly make this again.
this worked perfectly for me!!! loved it loved it!!! thank you...
I am thinking of using this sauce as a bottom layer to a chocolate mousse. Do you think this will work or will the caramel sauce harden?
@Debbie - no, the caramel will not harden. It's pretty thick when refrigerated, but at room temperature it's definitely runny.
The directions are perfect. Look, feel, smell and taste are way more accurate methods of determining where you are when cooking a dish then relying on "six seconds" and "22.5 minutes".
We used this to drizzle over some killer homemade vanilla ice cream and a slice of chocolate angelfood cake. So so good!
@Andrew @Whit @Nic - so glad you liked the caramel sauce recipe and that it worked for you! I have a jar in my refrigerator as we speak...hmm, wonder if there's any ice cream around? Thanks for the reminder!
After a bag of sugar and numerous other recipes, found your heavenly sauce. Used it over apple turnovers.
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