The first time I attempted salted caramel I was terrified. I have seen all of the TV shows and bake-offs. Caramel is scary. Caramel is hard. Caramel will burn. Caramel will drive you to madness. But I came across this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction and although I was terrified, it was WAY easier than I expected it to be and holy moly its good. I want to just grab a spoon and eat it out of the pot, and I am not even a big caramel girl to begin with. I will use this caramel in a few things that I make, and one batch goes a long away. I make it and then keep it in a jar in the fridge to reheat easily whenever I need it.
what you need:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
what you need to do:
- In a medium nonstick saucepan, heat your sugar on medium-high heat. Stir constantly with a high heat resistance rubber spatula.
- The sugar will begin to clump up as it melts, but just keep stirring. We will keep stirring and watch it until it turns into a brown liquid. Do not let it get too dark as it will burn, you want it to be the perfect light tan caramel color.
- This is where it gets real……Once all of the sugar has melted and there are no clumps remaining, add in your butter. It will bubble and foam but just keep stirring the butter in until it is all melted. It does this because of the temperature of the butter vs. the melted sugar so it reacts. SCIENCE!
- If you notice that the butter is clumping or separating, remove the pan from the heat and use the whisk to mix it vigorously to blend it all together. Once it is cohesive, put it back on the heat.
- Slowly drizzle in the cream, and again, the same thing with the bubbling and foaming will happen but keep on stirring!
- Allow it to bubble for about 1 minute (it may rise up in the pan but just keep mixing) and then remove it from heat and add in the salt.
- Set it aside and let it cool, it will thicken as it cools.
- Use immediately or pour into a mason jar to keep in the fridge for sundaes, apple dipping, or just use a spoon!!!
