Quick (and Perfect!) Caramel Sauce

January 11, 2010 | Posted by Lorraine as Caramel at 2:12 pm | (1) Comment »

One of the smartest things I ever did was learn how to make perfect caramel sauce. About once a month, I fill a large plastic ketchup dispenser with my homemade caramel sauce, and keep it in the refrigerator. Having this on hand is wonderful for:

  • Serving on ice cream and frozen yogurt.
  • Drizzling slices of chocolate cake with.
  • Pouring into my coffee for instant Caramel Macchiatos.
  • Sandwiching between two homemade cookies during dire emergencies.

Seriously, all it takes is 3 ingredients: sugar, butter and cream. Do you need even more reasons to make this?

Homemade Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup salted butter (the salt makes it better, really)
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the cup of sugar over medium heat. Do not stir. I like to swirl the pan around, to ensure even melting. Before long, all the sugar will have melted, and it’ll look something like this:

caramelsauce-01

Cook it some more until it’s a little dark- You want a nice amber color. But don’t overdo it.

caramelsauce-02

Now immediately whisk the butter in. Once it’s all melted, take the pan off the heat, and slowly (!) add the cream, whisking nicely. Don’t stick your face in it or anything, because it will sizzle up.

Let it cool, transfer to a container of your choice, and pat yourself on the back for making perfect caramel sauce.

Brown Sugar Caramel Popcorn

August 20, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Caramel, Snack Recipes at 1:54 pm | (2) Comments »

Caramel Popcorn

I’ve never understood why anyone would buy packaged caramel popcorn (yes, I’m talking about those tin cans)- or worse, the “caramel-flavored” microwave popcorn which comes with a little pack of artificially flavored caramel to mix with your popcorn while its hot. See, the thing is that caramel is sugar. And if you have popcorn and sugar in your house, you can make caramel popcorn that tastes a thousand times better than anything storebought.

My own recipe, which I think is based off one I got in Seventeen magazine when I was, um, around 17, uses brown sugar, honey, kosher salt, and plenty of butter. I love that phrase, plenty of butter. It always equals something good.

Brown Sugar Caramel Popcorn Recipe

3-4 cups plain popcorn, popped (you can make this in the microwave, hot air popper, or kettle)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons butter

In a large pot, over medium heat, melt the butter. To this, add the brown sugar, honey and salt. Stir while cooking, so that it all melts into a gorgeous, golden caramel… just below boiling. Immediately take off heat, pour onto your popcorn, and mix mix mix.

I don’t always have honey around, so sometimes I omit it altogether. And of course, you can add all sorts of goodies to this, like chopped walnuts or almonds- even some chocolate, if that’s your thing.


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