Oh my goodness I love Caramel!  I find myself sometimes staring blankly at a wall just dreaming about a sundae made with coffee ice cream, caramel, whipped cream and topped with walnuts.  Excuse me while I wipe drool off of my laptop.  Caramel is just one of those things that makes most things better.  Chocolate cake? Yum. Chocolate cake with warm caramel sauce drizzled all over it? GET IN MY BELLY NOW! Apples? Healthy delicious snack. Dipped in caramel?  Not so healthy, so much more delicious snack!!

Caramel is actually not that complicated.  Its one of those recipes that is intimidating but once you have done it a couple of times you realize you were duped for so long into thinking it is one of those unmakeable foods best saved for professionals.  For a long time I thought the only way a simple home cook like me could make caramel was by melting down caramels I bought at the grocery store.  As I started to research how to make this wonderful treat at home, I discovered there are more ways to make caramel than one would have ever imagined possible.  As I have played around in the kitchen I have come up with a caramel that works perfectly for my kitchen. I find this homemade version has much more flavor than its store bought counterpart.  Also, for ten minutes of time and a fraction of the cost how can I resist making it at home!

I would say the most important part of the whole process is have everything on hand and ready to go.  I like to pull my heavy cream and butter out about fifteen minutes before I start cooking, this helps your sugar not bubble up too much.  Get a good heavy bottomed pot with plenty of space for your caramel to bubble up.   You do not want to be burnt by this melted sugar substance, so until you’ve done this a couple times, I suggest wearing an oven mitt while you are stirring.

Set your heat to Medium High and add your sugar to the pot.  Stir your sugar, keep stirring your sugar.  For a few minutes nothing is going to happen and you are going to feel slightly foolish stirring sugar that is doing nothing, but keep going and clumps will start to form.

And just keep stirring, stirring stirring, what do we do, we stir stir stir…sorry got Dory’s song stuck in my head.  Eventually your sugar will melt.

Time to add your butter and stir stir stir again.  It will bubble up when you add your butter so beware.  You will need to stir for a minute or two and combine the butter with the melted sugar.

Now time to slowly pour in your heavy cream.  This will bubble up higher than your butter so make sure to do it slowly.

Stir to incorporate and then turn off the heat.  I have a mason jar ready to go and usually pour it in right away so I can get the pot washed, but probably safer to let it cool for ten minutes or so and then pour it into your container.

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Sugar
• 5 Tbsp Salted Butter cubed
• ½ Cup of Heavy Cream

Heat your sugar in a medium pot over a medium high heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until sugar dissolves.  Carefully add butter to the dissolved sugar and stir for about two minutes until the butter is melted and combined. Slowly pour heavy cream into your butter and sugar and stir for another minute.  Remove from heat and allow to cool for five to ten minutes before using.