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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Salted Caramel Sauce


A finger swiped through the sauce sort of gives you an idea of the consistency.

You know those cookies, the Pumpkin Toffee Cookies that turned out like balls instead of cookies? I'm going to try that again. If the results are stellar, I'll prepare the drizzle that's supposed to go on those cookies. The drizzle calls for a caramel sauce and the folks at Two Peas and Their Pod offers a recipe for that too.

Salted Caramel Sauce
adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

2 c granulated sugar
12 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1 c heavy cream, at room temperature
1 tbsp Maldon sea salt flakes

Heat the sugar over medium high-heat in the bottom of a heavy 2-3 quart saucepan. Swirl the pan to move the sugar around occasionally.

Over 18 minutes, the sugar went from solid to a pool of liquid with sugar chunks in it. At that point I threw in a thermometer and learned that it was at 300°F. I didn't bother stirring or whisking; instead I shook the pan, tossing the melted sugar up and toward me, sort of like I was flipping a pancake.

Continue cooking the sugar until it reaches 350°F.


Over the next 12 minutes, all of the sugar melted into a brown liquid and the color began changing from brown to amber.

Remove from heat; carefully add the butter. Whisk until butter is incorporated into the sugar.


Slowly pour in the heavy cream, whisking until cream is incorporated and caramel is smooth.


Whisk in Maldon sea salt flakes.


Let the caramel sauce cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Pour the caramel into a 4-cup container and cool to room temperature. Store the salted caramel sauce in the refrigerator for about a month.


The texture and consistency of the finished sauce was perfect! I was quite pleased with those aspects. Unfortunately, there was a distinct bitterness I didn't care for and the sauce was much too salty for my preference. I'm not sure if that's how it's supposed to taste since it can be used as a component in other things such as the drizzle for cookies or if I botched it somehow.

The original recipe said to whisk the sugar as it melted; I didn't see the need and maybe that's why it came out bitter. As for the salt, I'd probably whisk in 1.5 teaspoons and add more to taste. Not bad at for a first attempt.

Cost:
  • granulated sugar: $0.40
  • unsalted butter: $0.81
  • heavy cream: $1.50
  • Maldon sea salt flakes: $0.82
Total: $3.53 for about 4 cups of sauce

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