The favourites I’ve blogged about to date have been pretty basic recipes that I’ve made countless times (buttercream, pancakes, muffins). Today I’m getting a little more trendy with my favourite Salted Caramel Sauce. I wanted to dedicate a post to this because like the buttercream, it’s on the blog, but buried as a component of another recipe.

I used to be totally terrified of making my own caramel, after a few scorched pots and mishaps in which what was supposed to be gooey sauce turned into hard toffee. This recipe is foolproof though, as long as I follow my own advice:

• Candy Thermometer: Use a recipe with a temperature guideline, and then use a candy thermometer for accuracy. This ensures the sugar is cooked to the correct stage. Some recipes have you eyeball it according to the colour as the sugar cooks and I’ve tried this in the past with disastrous results (see: scorched pots above).
• Mise en Place: When I bake, I usually measure as I go, but when dealing with Salted Caramel, I measure everything in advance and set it next to my stovetop. Everything happens pretty fast once you pull the hot sugar off the heat, and you need to be ready.
• Pay Attention: Once I was trying to simultaneously watch The Mindy Project and make caramel and you can probably predict what happened (spoiler: it involved the saucepan on my balcony in the middle of the Winter because I totally burned it and it wouldn’t stop smoking).

That’s it! Honestly, if you have a candy thermometer, prep all the ingredients before you start, and pay attention, you’re like 10 minutes away from the most delicious salted caramel sauce! The recipe below makes about 1 1/2 cups, but you can easily cut it in half if you don’t need as much. This can be used as a component of other recipes (i.e. Salted Caramel Apple Crumble Bars, Salted Caramel Shortbread Thumbprints) or to pour over ice cream or as a dip for apple slices. One last note is that you can reduce or even leave out the sea salt if you’re not into the salted aspect of salted caramel – it’s still delicious.

My Favourite Salted Caramel Sauce

Source: Two Peas & Their Pod

Yield: ~1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

6 tbsp (3/4 stick) butter, cut into cubes, room temperature

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 tbsp flaky sea salt (I have Maldon)

Directions

1. As stated above, measure everything out first, clip the candy thermometer to a medium saucepan, and then begin.
2. Add the sugar to the saucepan and set it over medium heat. The sugar will slowly start to melt. You can swirl the pan a bit to move things around.
3. When the sugar is totally melted, increase the heat a little bit until the sugar starts to bubble. The magic number is 350°F. As soon as it reaches 350°F, immediately pull it off the heat. Add the butter and whisk until melted. Add the whipping cream, and whisk until combined – be careful because the mixture will bubble and steam. Add the salt, and whisk again.
4. Let the caramel cool in the saucepan for at least 20 minutes, then transfer to a jar and store in the fridge.