Caramel sauce is surprisingly easy to make and soooo good! Today I’m sharing 2 recipes, one that is made with brown sugar as the base and the other made with granulated white sugar. The second takes a bit more effort but is still super simple. The difference? Taste and texture. Both are rich, smooth and delicious.
We use my homemade caramel sauce on almost everything from monkey bread (as shown below) to ice cream, waffles, pancakes, bananas, apple crisp and more.
The first recipe is the simplest. It can be made by almost anyone by just combining all the ingredients in a sauce pan, bringing it to a boil for a few minutes then it’s good to go. This sauce is a bit grittier for those who like texture and has a deep brown sugar taste. The second recipe involves caramelizing the granulated white sugar to an amber color before adding the other ingredients. If you haven’t caramelized sugar before you might be surprised that sugar actually becomes liquid when it get hot enough.
These recipes take a heavy or thick bottomed sauce pan to help ensure the sauce doesn’t burn. I recommend a 3 qt pan or larger to ensure the sides are high enough to prevent the sauce from bubbling over.
Try both and let me know which you prefer!
This recipe is quick and easy for those that don’t want to caramelize sugar from scratch. It’s sometimes called Brown Sugar Sauce.
- 1 cup Dark brown sugar
- 6 tbsp Butter – cut into 4 – 6 pieces
- 1/2 cup Heavy whipping cream
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 pinch Salt – optional
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Using a heavy (thick) bottom 3 qt sauce pan over medium-low heat, add all ingredients and bring to a broil stirring frequently with a whisk or spatula.
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Continue boiling for 5 – 6 minutes stirring continuously allowing the caramel to thicken. Don’t overcook or over heat as this may cause the caramel to burn.
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Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 or more minutes.
Delicious caramel sauce for all of your desserts
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp Butter – cut into 4 – 6 pieces
- 1/2 cup Heavy whipping cream
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 pinch Salt – optional
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Using a heavy (thick) 3 qt sauce pan over medium heat, add the granulated sugar and stir with a whisk until it liquifies and comes to a gentle boil. This may take 5 -10 mins depending on the temperature of your stove. Turn up the temperature if needed. Just keep stirring, it will begin to clump up and then liquify.
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Continue boiling for 3 – 5 mins stirring frequently until the color is a medium brown/amber. You can cook it less or longer depending on the color and intensity you are looking for.
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Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the butter. Once the butter has melted, add the cream and stir in throughly. Caution, the mixture will bubble up so add these ingredients slowly.
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Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt (optional).
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Allow to rest for 5 or more minutes.
Once cooked and slightly cooled, it’s ready to go!
The sauces can be cooled and stored for 7 – 10 days when covered in the refrigerator. Just simply microwave the cold sauce for a few seconds before use.
Caution: When cooking, the sauce gets extremely hot, please be careful not to touch or taste the sauce until it has cooled!
Enjoy!
-Jeff
Very Nice! Where did you purchase the beautiful containers holding the caramel sauce, if you do not mind.
I’m a Carmel sauce fiend my mom made homemade Carmel rolls all the time when we were young and monkey bread. Her Carmel was made using the real old fashioned Carmel sauce with castor sugar. She made her famous potato pastry dough and then ofc the cinnamon rolls and Carmel sauce, Sugar heaven! Later as we got older she made the canned biscuits monkey bread with a Carmel sauce using vanilla ice cream instead of cream. Oh my, just can taste the memories of it and smell the sweetness, the cinnamon and Carmel and so gooey with a glass of milk or coffee. Mom loved to bake and I do too. We love your baking Jeff, you always have a smile while baking & Kristy gets to sample! Lucky girl! You both are the best! Happy 2021! Thanks for sharing!