Ingredients In Real Homemade Caramel
How To Make Hard Caramel Candies
Dry Sugar Cooking Method
For the dry sugar cooking method, simply heat sugar in a heavy saucepan until it melts and begins to brown. You don’t stir the pan at all you just watch it all happen from a safe distance. The browning of the molten sugar happens quickly, so you really don’t want to walk away while it’s happening.
- To help prevent the caramel from crystallizing, you can add an acid to the sugar before you begin: add about half a tablespoon of lemon juice to each cup of sugar and mix it with your hands it should be the consistency of wet sand.
- Heat the sugar over medium-high heat until it melts. You can shake the pan gently to redistribute the melting sugar, but don’t stir.
- When all the sugar is melted and caramelized, immediately remove the pan from the heat and submerge the bottom of the pan in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.
Don’t Miss: Texas Pete Pepper Sauce Walmart
Slow Cooker To Keep Warm
Caramel must be prepared on the stove as instructed. However, after the caramel has cooked, you can keep it warm in a slow cooker on the low setting. Give it a gentle stir every 10 minutes to ensure the butter doesnt separate. This is a great idea if you want to have a party where everyone can coat their own caramel apples!
What Does The Caramel Taste Like
My salted caramel is perfect for garnishing desserts, filling cakes, and as a dip for apple slices. However, its not suitable for coating apples because its too thin and wont set properly its missing corn syrup and the proper sugar to fat ratio.
The homemade caramel well use for caramel apples is soft, chewy, buttery, a little taffy-like, and adheres to the apple easily. If applied lightly, the caramel wont pool down at the bottom of the apple. Lets break down the ingredients you need for homemade caramel coating and why each are imperative to the taste and texture. Cooking candy is actual chemistry, so theres no room for substitutions.
Read Also: Ragu Simply Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce
Does Salted Caramel Sauce Need To Be Refrigerated
Yes, you should store this salted caramel sauce recipe easy in the fridge. It will only last for three days at room temperature, but it will last up to three weeks in the fridge.
I store mine in a pint mason jar with a plastic lid. I was using the cheap plastic lids, but they cracked when I looked at them the wrong way. The Ball lids are much sturdier and worth the extra money.
More Ingredients To Add To Caramel Sauce
You can flavor caramel with liqueurs, fruit juices, and extracts. For example, you can make an apple cider caramel sauce for your next apple pie by adding about a third of a cup of apple cider to the warm caramel. Let it cool and pour the sauce over the apples in your pie . Toss gently and transfer the apple mixture to the crust-lined pie plate.
Also Check: Rao’s Homemade Marinara Sauce Costco
Equipment Needed For Making Caramel Sauce
Just like the ingredients, the equipment that you need is also very basic.
First thing that you need to make any sort of caramel is a heavy bottom saucepan since it distributes heat better and prevents your sugar from burning easily. Also, it is very important that you use a pan with a wider surface area. This will make sure that your sugar is spread in one even layer. If the pan is too small and your sugar granules are overlapping, your caramel will definitely seize.
At times while sugar is cooking it starts to crystallize. One way to prevent this is by brushing the edges of your pan with water so always keep a bowl of water and pastry brush handy.
Many people blend or emulsify their caramel sauce after it is cooked. This is done to ensure that the fat from the butter doesnt separate from the sugar and the caramel remains silky, and smooth. I use the method of cooking my caramel on low after everything is added to it instead of using a hand blender. Watch the Youtube video attached to see a demonstration.
Caramel Sauce With Milk
Makes about 1 3/4 cups
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Pour the sugar into your large pot. Shift the pot side to side to distribute the sugar evenly.
Put the pot over medium-low heat. Stay nearby, but don’t stir or shift the sugar. This is a slow, gentle heating, and nothing visual will really happen for a few minutes. Concurrently, you can combine the milk and the vanilla in a heatproof measuring cup, and heat the mixture in the microwave for about 1 minute .
After several minutes , you’ll see the sugar beginning to liquefy. At this point, use a heatproof rubber spatula to turn the mixture over on itself, moistening the still-dry portions of sugar.
Continue heating. As the sugar warms, it will begin to darken in color, first to a sort of beige and then to a light caramel tone. When the sugar has reached a rich caramel tone, medium-brown but not dark, remove from heat. Now, be ready for some hissing and bubbling as you pour about 1/3 to 1/2 of the milk mixture into the caramel mixture. It will hiss, it may bubble, hardened bits may form, but it shouldn’t bubble over the sides of the pot. Once the bubbling has subsided, add the rest of the milk mixture, and return the pot to the burner, and put it on medium-low heat. Remember: those hardened bits = totally normal.
Stir constantly as the mixture cooks. You’ll see that the hardened bits begin to shrink and then dissolve. Once they are mostly dissolved, stir in the salt.
Read Also: Chick Fil A Sauce Combination
How To Make Salted Caramel Recipe
Thats right, it really does only take 5 minutes to make this homemade caramel sauce.
Simply melt the butter.
Cook it with the brown sugar and milk until it boils for a few minutes.
TIP: the important part is waiting to set the clock until its BOILING. Simmering doesnt count as boiling, so once its bubbling all the way through, then set your timer.
Add the vanilla and salt and you have an easy caramel syrup or sauce.
Once its cooked you should cool the salted caramel for about 10 minutes before using it on ice cream, so it doesnt melt it. But you can also let it cool in a jar or bottle and store it to use over the week. Its a creamy caramel sauce thats thin enough to pour but thick enough that its not runny.
And its made from scratch!
Homemade Salted Caramel Recipe
Follow these easy instructions to create sweet salted caramel sauce at home. This salted caramel recipe requires only 4 easy ingredients. Its perfect for cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pound cake, ice cream, cheesecake, scones, apple pie, and more!
What once intimidated me became the subject of my 2nd cookbook: Sallys Candy Addiction. As it turns out, homemade candy isnt all that difficult. And salted caramel is one of the easiest recipes. This truly the best salted caramel Ive ever had and theres only 4 ingredients required: sugar, butter, heavy cream, and salt.
This salted caramel is a reader favorite recipe, marking its spot in the top 10 most popular recipes on my website. Its sweet, sticky, buttery, and tastes phenomenal on anything it touches. Trust me, after trying this 1 time, youll be hooked like the rest of us!
Recommended Reading: Is Ragu Classic Alfredo Gluten-free
Easy Caramel Sauce Recipe
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
This caramel sauce recipe is so simple, youll never want store-bought again! There are only 5 all-natural ingredients that all go into the pot at once and then you whisk until its thickened to your liking. How easy is that?! Youll learn how to make caramel sauce in no time!
Ive been disappointed many times looking for caramel that didnt have high fructose corn syrup, or artificial colors and flavors, or other ingredients I couldnt pronounce. Its crazy! This caramel recipe is not just easy, but it tastes amazing. Nothing beats homemade caramel sauce!
I learned how to make caramel sauce from Pioneer Woman years ago and have been making this salted version ever since! The little bit of salt in this recipe balances the flavors perfectly so dont skip it! Theres a reason why salted caramel is a thing.
Additional Tips To Keep In Mind
These are all the tips and tricks you need to make the best caramel sauce at home. I hope you read each point carefully and are getting very excited to try this recipe out!
Use my recipe to make the best caramel sauce at home and share your pictures with me on my Instagram . Happy baking!
You May Like: Texas Pete Hot Dog Chili Sauce Recipe
What Kind Of Sugar Should I Use For This Recipe
The recipe calls for dark brown sugar since it has more of a caramel flavor, but you can really use any kind of sugar. If you dont have dark brown sugar on hand, you can use brown sugar or white sugar. Depending on which sugar you use, it will change the flavor of your Salted Caramel Sauce.
You can also try out my Vegan Caramel Sauce if youre looking for a recipe that specifically uses sugar-free sugars.
Gemmas Pro Chef Tips For Making The Best Microwave Salted Caramel Sauce:
- If youre Salted Caramel Sauce is runny after cooking for around 2 minutes, let it cool instead of cooking it for longer. Otherwise, the sauce will overcook and crystallize. Trust the process, and let the sauce thicken as it cools.
- No one likes hard Salted Caramel Sauce. To prevent crystallization, make sure the sugar is fully dissolved before raising the temperature to caramelize. Its really important to start gently dissolving all of the sugar for any successful caramel.
- To make your Salted Caramel Sauce less sweet, reduce the sugar by a quarter or a third of the amount in the recipe. Your cooking time may be less, so keep a close watch on it, and observe the changes that should happen in every step.
- Store your Salted Caramel Sauce in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. To reheat, pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds at a time, and stir after every cycle. Keep that going until your sauce is back to its nice and fluid consistency.
Tools You Need For Caramel Apples
Recommended Reading: Costco Rao’s Sauce
What Do You Do If Caramel Sauce Is Too Hard
I’ve made this salted caramel sauce recipe easy several times, and it shouldn’t get too hard at room temperature.
However, if you find that it’s too hard, you can reheat it and add more heavy cream.
If it’s just hard when it gets cold, then you can place the jar in warm water to soften it. You can also microwave it or heat it on the stove, but be careful not to overcook it.
Three: Remove From Heat Add Butter To The Melted Sugar And Stir To Combine
The mixture will begin to bubble violently.
Now, I know the normal human reaction to this would be alarm, but this is exactly what the homemade caramel should be doing! The butter is much colder in comparison to the hot sugar, so theyre just trying to get to know each other. Sparks are flying.
After a few minutes of stirring the two will start to combine. Just keep whisking until they are completely homogenous
This is what the caramel should look like by the end of this step:
Don’t Miss: Tomatoes Uric Acid
Homemade Caramel Sauce Recipe
How to make a homemade caramel sauce recipe. This salted caramel sauce can be made on the stove or in the Instant Pot pressure cooker. Use this is a delicious topping for ice cream and other desserts. You can even add it to coffee.
Fall means apples, and apples mean caramel. We use this salted caramel topping recipe for apple dishes, but I also use it for ice cream and for coffee.
This is the best salted caramel sauce recipe that I’ve adapted to make in the Instant Pot. I love my Instant Pot pressure cooker, and it’s so easy to use for many things instead of using the stove or oven.
This Instant Pot caramel recipe can also be made on the stove, so I’ll also have those directions in the post.
Tips To Make A Successful Caramel Sauce:
Also Check: Where To Buy Rao’s Sauce
