HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CARAMEL SAUCE

I don't know about you but, I just love caramel sauce. When we go to the ice cream shops I always forgo the hot fudge sundaes and order mine with caramel sauce.

I had been wanting to try my hand at making some homemade caramel sauce for awhile now and today was the day!



I got out all my ingredients. As you can see, there isn't much to making caramel sauce. Here is what you will need:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla




Use a heavy bottom, 2 quart pan. Pour the sugar in it.

Stir in water. This will help your sugar melt completely before it burns. The water will actually boil off before the sugar will turn color.



Once the sugar and water come to a boil DO NOT stir. Just lift the pot slightly and swirl it around.

It will take awhile before the water boils off and the sugar starts to turn amber color. Be careful though as you don't want your sugar to burn.

I used a pastry brush dipped in water to make sure no sugar crystals were left up on the pan after I swirled it. You do not have to do this step but if you do make sure the brush does not go into the sugar syrup. Just brush the edges of the pan.

Soon the melted sugar will start to turn an amber color. For one of my batches I didn't let it turn a dark amber and took it off while it was still pretty light.

The other batch I cooked longer and let it turn a deeper color.

They both turned out great. The light one tastes like a See's caramel sucker and the dark one is more like the caramel sauce you get at the ice cream shop.

To be honest I like the lighter one the best. It has a lighter flavor. Though the darker one may be better on ice cream.

It's up to you as to how dark you would like your caramel sauce to be. Just be sure it doesn't burn as it can do so rather quickly.

Once your sugar gets to the color you like, take the pot off the fire and whisk in 1 stick of butter.

Keep whisking until the butter has completely melted.

Stir in the cream and continue to whisk to incorporate.

The mixture will foam up once you add the butter. This is normal. Just be careful you don't let it foam up and land on you as it will be very hot.

After the cream is all mixed in add the vanilla.



That's it! You just made your very own caramel sauce!

I poured mine into canning jars. While you can not actually can caramel sauce to keep on the shelf, you can use the jars and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2-3weeks.

The caramel sauce will thicken as it cools down.

I don't think I will ever buy another jar of caramel sauce again. This is so easy to make, costs hardly nothing and tastes so much better then any kind you buy.

I hope you will try it and let me know what you think.

I'm excited to try it on ice cream tonight! It would also be great as a dipping sauce for apples or pears. YUM!