Homemade Caramel Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How is caramel sauce made from scratch? ›

Combine brown sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan and bring ingredients to a boil. Remove thickened mixture from heat before adding (optional) vanilla extract. Let the caramel cool slightly before using. The result is an impossibly rich sauce that is guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Storage: Store Caramel Sauce in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three weeks. Caramel is safe at room temperature on cakes, brownies or gifts for up to three days. Freeze: You can also freeze the sauce for up to 3 months.

For those who are uncertain, Caramel Sauce is not the same as Caramel syrup. The syrup is sweeter and thin, the sauce is richer and thick. (The sauce is the one we use to make our signature Caramel Macchiatos.)

Wet caramel is made by combining sugar and a liquid and cooking them together, while dry caramel is made from just sugar, heated in a dry pan until it liquefies and browns.

Heat sugar and water in a heavy-bottom, high-walled, light-colored skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is a deep golden amber color (caramel-colored) (this could take around 10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in butter. Whisk in heavy cream, stirring until smooth.

You're Not Watching the Pot and the Syrup Got Too Dark

Caramel isn't one of those things you can set and forget—once the sugar starts to brown, the caramelization process happens quickly. If you're not careful, the sugar can burn and take on a bitter, unpleasant taste.

The difference between butterscotch and caramel is that caramel is made with white granulated sugar and cooked to 340 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas butterscotch is made with brown sugar and cooked to 289 degrees Fahrenheit.

Yes, you can freeze the caramel sauce! Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using, then reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop on low heat until it reaches drizzling or dipping consistency.

Add more sugar to the sauce.

Most caramel sauces are made by caramelizing sugar and adding milk and a little salt. If you increase the amount of sugar in the recipe you'll end up with a thicker caramel. Try increasing the sugar by about 1/3.

Pour back into a prepared buttered pan. If caramels are too soft, that means the temperature didn't get high enough. Again place the caramel back into a sauce pan with a couple of tablespoons of water and heat to 244°F.

Why did my caramel sauce get hard? ›

The water evaporates, leaving sugar crystals behind. If even one sugar crystal falls back into the pan of cooking caramel, it starts a chain reaction of sugar crystals and the entire pan will harden. The result? Gross, grainy caramel that is unusable in most recipes.

Sugar Note: Most chefs say that only granulated sugar can be successfully caramelized; other sugars — such as brown sugar and unrefined sugar such as cane sugar — contain impurities that can inhibit caramelization. It's those impurities that can burn before the sugar has time to caramelize.

Just to recap: dry caramel is made with just sugar. This makes dry caramel more difficult to make because it burns quite easily and the sugar crystals can clump together, resulting in grainy caramel. Wet caramel is made by first dissolving the sugar in a little water and then allowing it to caramelize.

Caramel can be produced in so many forms such as, sauce, a chewy candy, or a hard candy because of how much of an ingredient is added and the temperature it is being prepared at.

Most believe caramel was created more than 1,020 years ago in 1000 AD by Arabs mixing sugar and water to create a crystallized liquid. Funny enough, the original caramel was not believed to be enjoyed as a sweet treat but rather used as a beauty product.

If the temperature gets too hot and the caramel becomes too hard as it cools, you can put it back in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of cold water to try and save it.