The first time I had ever made caramel was two years ago; I don’t even remember why I wanted to, I just did it. I think the idea of any type of candy making, makes me run away (y’know, because those things require patience, with all the waiting.). But caramel sauce is so easy, I mean REALLY easy.
I’ll give you the basic caramel sauce recipe, and then we’ll talk about ways you could go ahead and jazz it up.
Now there’s a whole mess of ways I change this up. First of all, being in a relationship with someone who fancies lava, sometimes I put a tsp of cayenne pepper in my caramel sauce, for a spicy kick in the pants.
Spicy not your thing? What about booze? In my head, bourbon was born with caramel, and I’m certain they were separated at birth; any chance I get, I like to reunite the two so they can be together. You could add a couple tbsp of your favorite bourbon AFTER you’ve taken it off the burner, and added the cream (omit the lemon juice.).
Then there’s salted caramel, which sounds fancy and gourmet but… it’s just adding salt. Do everything the same, but at the end, add 1 tsp of kosher salt. Or, after you’re done drizzling the caramel on whatever you decide, sprinkle the kosher salt on top of that. You’ve seen this everywhere, salty&sweet are always a good combination.
Obviously the applications are endless… your finger, a spoon… oh, well, that’s MY way of eating it anyway. I like mixing it in coffee (Hey, you know you can click on the pictures to make them bigger, right? Of course you did.):
Oh yeah… look at that:
Adding it to brownies (Don’t worry, we’ll get to the brownie recipe another time):
Oorrr even, making a caramel frosting out of it, and then drizzling even more caramel on top:
You want that frosting recipe now, don’t you? Sigh… y’know, you’re spoiled.
If you find the frosting to be too stiff, add a teeny, tiny drop (1/4 tsp) of milk and mix it up some more to loosen it. Remember what I said about salted caramel? After frosting, add a sprinkle of kosher salt to the top of the cupcakes, and boom: Salted Caramel frosting.
Oh, the cupcake? Yeah, we’ll get to that another time as well.
I usually store my caramel sauce in squeezy bottles and in my fridge. How long does it last? A LONG time.. but I usually use it within 2-4 weeks because I love it that much… though I probably wouldn’t use it past 7 weeks. Now go play with some caramel!
Cara Manolescu says: Hi Cathy,
I’m trying out the caramel recipe and also the frosting recipe for my sister’s birthday this weekend. How much does the frosting recipe yeild? I’m making 24 cupcakes – it should be enough right?
Thanks!
admin says: Hmm, depending on how you frost them, it may be enough. Lightly frosted, it should be fine, but if you wanted a big, swirly mounds on top, you may have to make more. Remember if the frosting seems too stiff, add a drop or two of milk and it’ll loosen it right up. The cupcakes in my picture only frosted about 14, because I went a little heavy on the frosting.. lol
Fantastic! I love caramel! I want to stick a BIIGGGG spoonful of them into my mouth RIGHT NOW!! hahaha