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

Print Save

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

    Pin It

18 Responses to “Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes”

  1. #
    1
    Colleen — July 16, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    These look amazing! I love that you added even more peanut butter flavor too!

  2. #
    2
    Amy Kingman — July 16, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    Mmmmmm! These look incredible!! AH! My weakness!!!!

  3. #
    3
    Memória — July 16, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    Oh wow!! This looks soo good. I would make the cupcakes with the Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate cake recipe and then use the other recipes you provided. Thanks!!!!

  4. #
    4
    Jen — July 16, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    You could definitely use any chocolate cupcake recipe that you want!

  5. #
    5
    Stephanie Wagner — July 16, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    These look awesome! I bet they’re really rich!

  6. #
    6
    oneordinaryday — July 16, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    Holy. Cow.
    These look sooo darn good!

  7. #
    7
    Jill — July 17, 2009 at 3:51 am

    I saw your picture on Tastespotting and had to see more! Your cupcakes look delicious!

  8. #
    8
    Kerstin — July 17, 2009 at 3:54 am

    Wow, these look beyond incredible! I’m completely impressed 🙂

  9. #
    9
    Jennifer — July 17, 2009 at 10:32 am

    peanut butter cups…one of my favorites!! What an awesome cupcake!!!

  10. #
    10
    Laura — July 17, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    Oh. My. God. I think my DH is packing his bags to leave me as we speak!

    These look soooo good. I bet it’s all you can do to eat one they are so rich!

  11. #
    11
    Erin — July 18, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    These look delicious! Chocolate and peanut butter is the most fabulous combination!

  12. #
    12
    Scott W. — July 23, 2009 at 12:35 am

    Alright, so you’ve gotta make some cupcakes when we are in Pennsylvania. These would work. Yummy!!!

  13. #
    13
    Jen — July 23, 2009 at 12:38 am

    haha no prob Scott. Just let me know what you’re in the mood for. These were delicious…

  14. #
    14
    Ingrid — July 26, 2009 at 1:13 am

    The only time I like chocolate or PB is when they’re together so these are looking pretty good to me!
    ~ingrid

    Btw, your salmon and the “sauce” looked really good too!
    ~ingrid

  15. #
    15
    Mermaid Sweets — July 27, 2009 at 5:09 am

    Thanks so much for the link back, your cuppies look amazing.

  16. #
    16
    comfycook — February 24, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    I just discovered these and can’t wait to make them. Love chocolate and peanut butter.

  17. #
    17
    LauraC — May 4, 2010 at 8:13 pm

    I just made your vegan chocolate cupcakes over the weekend for some vegan friends and they were a huge hit. I had bookmarked this cupcake recipe for mother’s day because I LOVE peanut butter cups.

    Anyway I wanted to let you know the woman from Confetti Cakes was on Rachel Ray and they posted the official recipe on the Rachel Ray website. Not sure if you want to link it?

    http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/chocolate-cake/

  18. #
    18
    Jan — February 23, 2012 at 7:29 am

    THank you for this post! I tried the cupcakes out here: http://www.themediamaid.com/2012/cupcake-celebrations/

    and loved it!

Leave a Comment