I know the name of this recipe is a bold statement but trust me; I’ve been perfecting this for twenty years and I’ve finally come up with the Perfect Caramel Sauce!
Caramel is my mom’s favorite thing in the world and she’s never give up that someday I would come up with the dreamiest caramel sauce. My secrets: a dry caramel cooking method, room temperature butter, room temperature half & half, and a finishing blitz with my immersion blender.
Just look at how perfect this is on my dreamy homemade vanilla ice cream!
What makes this caramel sauce perfect?
I have made so many batches of caramel and many of them almost made the cut but they all fell short in consistency. They were simply too thick and were gloopy on ice cream. This caramel sauce is truly a sauce fit for ice cream with a perfect pourable consistency.
How do you make perfect caramel sauce?
For starters, don’t use water to melt the sugar. Use the dry method detailed here; the sugar is less likely to crystallize without water. Also use room temperature butter and half and half. This is key! Caramel doesn’t want a dramatic change in temperature. And finally, my secret ingredient is half & half! If you don’t have it, use 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup cream.
Perfect Caramel Sauce
1 cup granulated sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup half & half, at room temperature
Dash sea salt (optional)
- Spread sugar evenly in the bottom of a wide metal sauce pan. Heat over medium-low heat until completely melted and dark brown, about 5-10 minutes. Do not stir with a utensil; keep an eye on it and if need be, swirl the pan until sugar has completely melted.
- Turn off the heat. Whisk in room temperature butter until uniform in color, then whisk in room temperature half & half. If desired, add a dash of sea salt.
- Strain caramel through a fine mesh sieve. For an extra luscious sauce, finish with a blitz of the immersion blender to make the sauce ultra smooth. Let cool at least 15-20 minutes before using. Keep leftovers in a jar in the fridge.
To reheat homemade caramel: bring jar to room temperature for about an hour, then heat at 20-30% power, stirring every 15 seconds until heated to your liking.
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