Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

My parents are having a New Year’s party tomorrow night and asked me to make two flavors for the event. Since no party is complete without sauce, I made David Leibovitz’s Salted Butter Caramel Sauce (from The Perfect Scoop).

Caramel is always a nerve racking process, the sugar looks horrible and you’re sure you’ve ruined it until, magically, it all turns out ok.

Two bits of advice; 1) Use a large whisk to combine the cream into the sugar and butter and 2) wait until the sugar starts to melt back from its more solid stage before you put in the cream. It will look bad, and it probably won’t smoke, but it will turn out fine.

Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

6 tablespoons (85g) butter, salted or unsalted – I use unsalted
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream – 38%, not cream with added sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons course salt – a nice kosher or fleur de sel

Melt butter in a large, deep heavy-duty saucepan or Dutch oven. Stir in the sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar is a deep golden brown and starts to smoke (again, wait until the sugar begins to melts, you may not see the smoke).

Remove from the heat and immediately whisk in half of the cream until smooth (wear an oven mitt, since the mixture will stream and splatter and may bubble up furiously). Stir in the rest of the cream, then the vanilla and salt. If there are any lumps of caramel, whisk the sauce gently over low heat until they’re dissolved. Serve warm.

Storage: This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Rewarm it gently in a microwave or by stirring in a saucepan over very low heat.
It came out and tastes great! Can’t wait to eat it.

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About Natan S.

Natan is a founding member of Theater in the Rough, an group of community minded actors dedicated to bringing quality, affordable theatrical experiences to the Jerusalem audience. Natan also works as a freelance web programmer, and writes about food (mainly ice cream) in his spare time.

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