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5 from 8 votes

The BEST Caramel Sauce

This delicious Caramel Sauce is so easy to make and tastes about a million times better than anything you can buy at the store! It's such a versatile ingredient, you'll find yourself making it year round because caramel sauce makes everything better! 
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword caramel sauce, salted caramel sauce
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 32
Author Trish - Mom On Timeout

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons water
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt optional if you want salted caramel
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional

Instructions

  • Add sugar and water to a medium, heavy duty sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves (3 to 5 minutes).
  • Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. 
  • Don't stir the caramel sauce at this point. Just gently swirl the mixture around the pan occasionally and brush down the sides of the pan with a wet silicone brush as needed to keep sugar crystals from forming.
  • Continue swirling and cooking until the mixture turns deep amber in color (6 to 9 minutes).
  • Remove from heat. Stir in the cream, butter, and salt until the butter has melted and the caramel is smooth. Be careful because the mixture will bubble up.
  • Let caramel sauce cool for 15 minutes in the sauce pan before pouring into a large glass jar for storage.
  • Keep refrigerated for up to 1 month.

Video

Notes

Recipe can be doubled.
OPTIONAL Add one tablespoon of corn syrup in with the sugar and water to help prevent crystals from forming while cooking the sugar.
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