Caramel Sauce

There’s nothing like warm, molten caramel sauce drizzled over your favorite fall treat to warm up those cozy autumn evenings.

Warm

Gooey

Drizzled all over ice cream, apples, or spiced cakes.

Stirred into a Caramel Frappuccino.

Caramel sauce is a real fall treat. It is a special treat we serve with sliced Honeycrisp or Granny Smith Apples and then roll in chopped toasted almonds and pecans.

I love this time of year, but I am not a fan of all the mountains of candy I try desperately to avoid without being labeled the “mean” mom. Candy is available in practically every store we visit and even at church. I don’t want to be the Grinch of Halloween, stealing candy from children, but I do want to help them make wiser decisions by educating them, offering better alternatives, and if all else fails… using bribery. With all the genetically modified ingredients, chemicals I can’t even pronounce, dangerous food dyes, and of course loads of processed sugars and high fructose corn syrup, I want to at least offer a better alternative for this sugar-ladened “holiday.”

Recipe

• 1 1/4 cup organic sugar
• 1/3 cup filtered water
• 1 cup organic heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• generous pinch of sea salt or fleur de sel

This recipe calls for sugar. I have experimented using honey and truthfully, it completely changes the flavor. There are just some “occasional” recipes I don’t want to mess with. Because this is only once a year, and I think of this as an exchange for all the candy they won’t be eating, I am okay with one night of organic sugar. Somehow the word organic makes me feel better;)

Gather all your ingredients and have them ready

It is important to have all your ingredients measured and ready because the process of making caramel is fast.

You don’t need a candy thermometer but you will need to watch for the color

Add your sugar and water to the pot and turn on to medium heat. Give it one stir and then let it rest so the sugar makes contact with the heat at the bottom of the pan and starts to bubble and turn golden. Stir only occasionally. This process can take from 4-8 minutes depending on your stove. You want it to be a light golden, like the color of honey. If it gets darker, it is starting to burn and has a burned flavor. I like mine to have a butterscotch flavor.

Adding the cream

Remove from heat and slowly stir in cream. It will bubble up a bit so it is important to use at least a 4 qt saucepan or pot. Stir constantly until it blends into a creamy consistency. It will harden in parts and separate. That is okay. Just keep stirring and it will eventually combine. After your cream is added, turn on the heat to low and cook an additional minute or two until you have reached a creamy consistency and all the hardened parts have been dissolved back into the caramel.

Finishing it off

Remove from heat and add in the vanilla and a generous pinch of salt. Pour into a 13 oz glass jar with lid.

Dollop about a tablespoon of cream on top in a circle and use a toothpick to pull through it, forming a heart shape… just for fun.

As far as all the candy collected around Halloween goes, I might be able to negotiate a special lunch out or a lego kit in exchange for the booty they collect. For my daughters, negotiations will have to involve some form of chocolate, I’m sure. They are too much like their mama.

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In everything you do -eat, play, and, love- may it always be Seasoned with Joy!