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This Salted Caramel Sauce with rich, decadent, and complex flavors is the best caramel sauce I have ever eaten, perfectly complimented by the flaked salt.
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5 from 2 votes

Salted Caramel Sauce

This Salted Caramel Sauce with rich, decadent, and complex flavors is the best caramel sauce I have ever eaten, perfectly complimented by the flaked salt.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8 servings

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup water - approximate amount
  • 1 cup heavy cream room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon salt flake salt recommended, amount completely depends on taste

Instructions

  • You want to use a medium to large sauce pot because the mixture boils pretty high. I used a 3 quart sauce pan and it worked perfectly.
  • Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in pan. You want mixture to resemble wet sand. You can add more water if you wish, the process will just take longer because you basically cook the sugar until the water evaporates.
  • Set the heat to medium to dissolve the sugar, then increase the heat to high to boil it. Do not stir, but you may give the pot a gentle swirl as it boils. Cook until melted sugar has turned a bit brown in color and smells like caramel corn, but do not allow it to burn. If you aren't sure because you're cooking with a dark pan, you can dip a white spatula in to see color, but just dip a little because the sugar will harden and won't drip off the spoon back into the pan. This may take 5-15 minutes.
  • Once sugar is ready, very slowly pour in the room temperature heavy cream, whisking while you pour. Once all the cream has been added, cook for about a minute before removing from heat.
  • This caramel sauce tastes amazing with salt, especially if you use flaked, but start slowly and add according to taste. You can also hold off on adding salt until you serve.

Notes

Recipe makes about 1.5 cups
 

Pro tips for perfect results:

  • A stainless steel pan works better than a dark teflon coated pan because you'll need to see the color of the mixture.
  • I do not recommend making any substitutions to this recipe. For example, one time I tried making it with brown sugar instead of granulated sugar. It burned.
  • Take care not to add the cream to the sugar prematurely. If you do, the result will be more like a sweetened condensed milk than a caramel.
  • Take the boiling sugar past the point where you think its done.
  • The brown color of the final caramel sauce should almost looked like milk chocolate. It will taste like something you'd get at See's Candy.
  • You can mix the salt in or sprinkle it on top. I prefer to sprinkle it on top at the very end.
  • Use on ice cream, brownies, cheesecake, in your coffee, on sliced apples, or just eat it plain! 

Nutrition

Calories: 255kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 304mg | Potassium: 22mg | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 437IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 19mg