Caramel Sauce (SO straightforward!)

What can you say about caramel sauce besides “Yum!” Smooth, creamy caramel sauce makes even simple food special! Add rum or bourbon for a special treat.

At a glance

What stands out: Caramel sauce is surprisingly straightforward to mix and it’s good on everything, from apples to ice cream.

How long it takes: 15 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: saucepan, measuring utensils, small jar or bowl
Servings: makes 1 1/2 cups

Simple ingredients almost magically produce this sweet, rich, and creamy caramel sauce. So straightforward to mix and even easier to eat, from-scratch caramel sauce elevates every dessert. Even simple apple slices or a scoop of vanilla ice cream become a special treat topped with caramel sauce.

The optional addition of just a tablespoon of dark rum or bourbon transforms plain caramel sauce (which is still really, good, let us assure you) into a memorable caramel rum sauce. You’ll see everyone’s eyes light up when you casually mention that you made caramel rum sauce. The rum adds an standout depth of flavor.

We could live on this caramel sauce. We could, it is that good. Living on caramel wouldn’t be too good for our waistline, or our blood sugar, or our general well-being, but we would be one happy camper! At least for awhile. If you’re on a diet, you might want to go elsewhere. Quickly. This isn’t necessarily a lighter recipe. Unless we’re talking about emotional health. Because it will make you happy, happy.

About this caramel sauce

All you need to make this sauce is a heavy saucepan and your stove. Follow the instructions carefully and a turtle sundae, complete with from-scratch caramel sauce, is right around the corner! Hmm, or maybe a caramel latte or caramel brownies or … help, somebody pinch us before we fall into a caramel coma.

What You’ll Need

• White Granulated Sugar: Use regular white sugar that is normally used for baking.
• Water
• Corn Syrup: Helps stabilize the sugar mixture.
• Pinch of Salt: Helps to balance out the sweetness.
• Heavy Cream: no substitutions, please. Some caramel recipes are made without cream but with milk instead. We've found that they just aren’t as good.
• Dark Rum, optional but rich! Bourbon is great, too.
• Butter: Choose unsalted butter. Again, some cooks make caramel without butter, but we say, Why? This is caramel sauce – why try to cut corners?
• Pure Vanilla Extract: Adds depth of flavor.

How it comes together

If the only way you’ve ever made caramel is by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk, you’re in for a real treat! Not to mention, it’s a bit safer – no exploding cans.

Make sure you have all the ingredients measured out and ready to go before you get started because you’ll need to move quickly. A heavy-bottomed saucepan works best.

Combine the sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat. Swirl the mixture occasionally but don’t stir it.

Boil until the sugar darkens to about the same shade as iced tea. Keep a close eye on it because once the sugar starts browning, it can go from reliable to burned pretty quickly. If it gets too dark, it will taste scorched.

Remove the pan from the heat and carefully whisk in the cream and rum or bourbon if using. We say carefully because there will be a fair amount of hot steam and we don’t want any injuries! Whisk in the butter and vanilla until the sauce is smooth and well-blended.

Don’t worry if the sauce seems a little runny. It will thicken as it cools. Pour it into a small bowl or a jar.

Ways To Use Caramel Sauce

Desserts: There are so many ways to serve this warm caramel sauce! From-scratch vanilla ice cream, apple slices (think caramel apples), apple crisp, banana splits, turtle sundaes with caramel, chocolate, and pecans (learn how to toast pecans), apple spice cake, pound cake, or chocolate cake. Maybe a standby way is by the spoonful.

Breakfast: How about caramel sauce for breakfast? Maybe instead of maple syrup on pancakes? It’s especially good on banana pancakes or apple quinoa pancakes. Top plain yogurt with a swirl of caramel. Add excitement to apple muffins or pumpkin muffins with a drizzle of caramel.

Gifts: A jar of from-scratch caramel sauce makes a great gift idea. Put it in a recycled jar or a Mason jar and tie a pretty ribbon around it. Include a jar of from-scratch spiced pecans for a special someone. You may want to attach the recipes because we're pretty sure they’ll want to make their own when the jar is empty.

Before you start

Keeping leftovers

Refrigerate: Cool the sauce completely before covering and storing in the fridge. It will keep for one to two weeks.

Reheat: To reheat the caramel sauce (because everyone loves warm caramel!), warm it up in a sauce pan over medium-low heat or in the microwave at 50% power in 45-second increments until it’s evenly warm. Try to only warm up what you’re going to use, so that you’re not warming and cooling the whole batch repeatedly.

• Yield: 12 servings
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 10 minutes
• Total: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• pinch of salt
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter ( ½ stick)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Boil sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat, swirling occasionally, but not stirring. Cook until caramel is the color of iced tea, about 10 minutes. Watch it closely! It takes some time to start turning golden brown, but once it does, it can go from perfect to burnt very quickly.
2. Remove saucepan from the heat and add heavy cream, whisk to combine. It will foam up and and steam, so be careful! Whisk in butter and vanilla.
3. Transfer to a bowl or a jar to cool completely. It will thicken quite a bit as it cools. Store in fridge for 1 to 2 weeks.

Notes

If desired, stir in one tablespoon of rum or bourbon at the same time as the cream.

To reheat: Heat in saucepan over medium-low heat until warm or in microwave at 50% power in 45 second intervals, stirring well each time.