Salted Caramel Sauce
Caramel sauce might be one of Hubby’s favorite things ever. He will always choose a caramel treat over a a chocolatey treat. I’ve just recently gotten more comfortable making my own caramel sauce. It actually is so much easier than I thought it was. Having a candy thermometer is a must for making caramel at home. But that’s really all you need. If you haven’t made your own caramel sauce, do it. Trust me, it’s worth the minimal effort required.
I ended up making a triple batch of this salted caramel during the holidays. I ordered some cute jars online and gave them away as gifts to some family members. Hubby also enjoyed a bunch of this caramel sauce heated up over vanilla ice cream.
One Year Ago: Crunchy Nut Encrusted Chicken Tenders
Two Years Ago: BBQ Chicken Pizza Sticks
Salted Caramel Sauce
Salted caramel sauce is easier to make than you could ever imagine. And it makes a great gift!
Yield: 2 cups
Ingredients:
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
1 tsp fleur de sel
Directions:
Add water to a 2-qt saucepan. Gently add the sugar to the center of the pot - it will mound, that's fine. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Once boiling, uncover the pot and insert a candy thermometer. Continue cooking until the mixture registers 300 F and is just starting to develop some color, about 15 minutes.
Reduce heat under the pot to medium and cook until the syrup is amber and registers 350 F on the thermometer, about another 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour the cream into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. If it simmers before the syrup is ready, just take it off the heat and set aside.
Remove the caramel from the heat and add about 1/4 of the warm cream to the pot. It will bubble furiously so be careful. Once the bubbling subsides, add the remaining cream. When it stops bubbling, whisk gently to incorporate fully. Add the butter and the salt and whisk to combine.
Refrigerate up to 1 month.
Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, as seen on Erin's Food Files
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Ohh I love that it’s an all-natural mint flavor. So much better than the fake stuff.
beantownbaker — July 24th, 2013 @ 12:53 pm
I agree. Hubby likes to give me a hard time by calling me a food snob for trying to avoid fake stuff in everything we eat. I figure, it’s worth the effort. And the name calling 😉
Ohhh, I love mint chocolate chip! Love that you used coconut milk in it!
Yummy 🙂 my mother would love this, mint chip has always been her favorite! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
beantownbaker — July 30th, 2013 @ 5:48 pm
I can’t believe you’re commenting on blogs while at a blogging conference. Overachiever 😛
Love it! This is amazing 🙂
for some reason your blog stopped updating in feedly 🙁 corrected and now to catch up on all the deliciousness! i just made a fresh mint ice cream as well, but i like how you used coconut milk. will be doing that next time 🙂
beantownbaker — August 1st, 2013 @ 3:17 pm
I know – I realized that too. But it’s working again now. Not sure if it was a Feedly issue or something on my end…
Really good! I may have steeped the mint too long.. A little earthy. Will try again!
beantownbaker — August 1st, 2013 @ 3:18 pm
Oh bummer! I’ve never had ice cream that I’d call “earthy”…
Would you consider doing a mint chocolate chip ice cream with goat’s milk? Or do you think the “goaty” would show through too much?
beantownbaker — August 10th, 2013 @ 9:36 am
Interesting idea. I think it would be good. This ice cream was very minty, so I think it would mask the goatiness of the milk.