Salted Caramel Sauce - Homemade

I love salted caramel. Especially a lavish drizzle on a scoop of vanilla ice cream makes me go for a second or third serving. Salted caramel cuts down the richness and sweetness of the ice cream!. yeah.. I love the sauce so much that I used to buy those squish in bottled syrups and used to mix with milk, top it on white bread, or the best, squish it directly into my mouth.. ha ha ..

But now I m a little health conscious.hmm.. so i kept away from those seriously addictive bottles and I should admit that in a course of time I forgot about it. Yesterday we stepped out for a late night stroll and as M was driving our way back home, the new Baskin and Robbins that has popped up in our neighborhood market got my eyes. My over the board excitement made M stop right in front of the B&R door. Yay!! As I perused through the menu, the word caramel made me stop for a moment. Then I continued and ordered my regular chocolate fudge. But the caramel word struck to my memory and was making me restless throughout the night. When I woke up I packed lunch box and when he was out, the first thing I did was collecting the ingredients for caramel and made this yumm yumm sauce. Trust me, with little patience and focus the process is a cake walk!!!

Ingredients:

Sugar-1/2 cup

Salt-1/2 tsp (preferably sea salt)

Cream-100ml (fresh/heavy)

Milk-50ml/1/4 cup+2 tbsp (Full fat)

Butter-3 tbsp (softened but not melted)

Vanilla exract-1/2 tsp (optional)

How It Happened:

1. Add sugar to a tall sauce pan, and start heating it. After 2 minutes the sugar will start melting. Now start stirring now and then and keep the flame in medium.

2. The mixture will start slightly browning. This is called caramelizing. Now simmer the flame and keep stirring, the sugar will be completely dissolved and the syrup will have a brown color. Switch off the flame. (Read notes)

3. Now stay away and slowly slide in the butter. It will splatter and the butter will start dissolving. Mix cream and milk with a whisk in a bowl and keep ready.

4. After a moment or two, start mixing the butter well so they don’t form any lumps. By now the sauce would have become glossy and will slide away from your spatula.

5. Now mix a little of the cream-milk mixture and start heating it. Few of the lumps which would have formed due to sugar crystallization will dissolve as you keep stirring.

6. Keep adding the cream-milk mixture little by little and continue stirring. Add salt and vanilla extract and mix well. Heat the mixture for 4-5 minutes. Switch off the flame.

7. Once when it has completely cooled down transfer it a clean air-tight jar and refrigerate it.

8. Serve a generous drizzle of salted caramel sauce on a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with chopped nuts.

Notes:

* When the sugar starts turning brown simmer the flame immediately else they will get caramelized too much and will turn bitter also they will have a burnt flavor. There is just a split of a moment between caramelizing and being burnt. So focus. Always be by the stove and keep stirring.

* You can decide on the color of your sauce. If you want slight golden hues then switch off the flame in the early stage just after the sugar syrup has turned to golden color (initially before adding butter). If you want a deep golden brown (like what I have done) you may have to heat for a little longer.

* You can also used salted butter but adjust salt accordingly.

* Always heat in low flame after adding cream else they will curdle.

* If you want the sauce to be thin add more milk.

* I have been told that they stay good for 2 months in refrigerator if stored properly. Let’s see how long it holds. But I don’t think I will leave them unused that longer J