How to: Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

Here is your holiday pizzazz...your wow factor...your little "sumpin sumpin."

Homemade Caramel Sauce. Warm, gooey, and oh so comforting, it's the perfect finish to all of your favorite holiday dishes. A drizzle over homemade apple pie is heavenly. A swirl in your after dinner coffee is just the right amount of sweet. And a big dollop on your pancakes will make you feel like the morning after Christmas is just as special as the day itself. 

While the process of making your own caramel sauce couldn't be simpler, I did have a few freak out moments along the way. Here's a little photo tutorial so you can see how it went down in my kitchen. 

First, stick a whole bunch of sugar in the bottom of a big, heavy saucepan. Turn the heat on medium and just let that sit for a while.

Parts of the sugar will start to get liquidy and bubbly. For me, this was the center of the pot. Gently stir the outsides of the pot toward the center, and the liquid part towards the outside (or vice versa if your pot is heating better on the outside). My mixture looked like this:

Continue to heat until the sugar turns a deep amber color.

Now. This is very important. Are you listening? Heat up your cream for 30 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave. I repeat...heat up your cream in the microwave! 

The first time I did this, I tried to whisk cold cream into the sugar, and it turned into something like this:

Pretty gross, right?

Even though my caramel mixture looked like piles of burnt cheese, I was determined to press forward. And I discovered you CAN fix a giant caramel fail! Simply return the pot to medium heat and melt again. 

But really, try to save yourself the trouble, and just add warm cream to your melted sugar. If you do, you'll be rewarded with the most lovely, smooth, delicious caramel ever. Add a few good pinches of salt and vanilla and  you've got yourself a dessert topping worth celebrating.

You can store the caramel in an airtight container in the fridge for several months. I like to use these plastic squirt bottles (in the background above) for homemade dessert sauces. A few quick seconds in the microwave and it's ready to be drizzled on pies, ice cream, cupcakes, or just a pile of whipped cream!

Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Sauce
Yield: about 1 1/4 cup
Recipe by bakeeatrepeat.blogspot.com

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2-3/4 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
1. In a large heavy pot, spread sugar in a thin, even layer. Turn burner to medium and heat until parts of the sugar begin to bubble and liquefy.
2. Gently stir, making sure unmelted sugar comes in contact with the greatest heat source. Continue, stirring occasionally   until all the sugar is melted.
3. Meanwhile, heat cream in the microwave or over the stove.
4. When the sugar is completely melted and has turned an amber color, remove from heat. Whisk in 1/2 the warmed cream. The mixture will bubble. Whisk in remaining cream until smooth.
5. Stir in salt and vanilla. If any caramel has hardened, simply place over heat and remelt until smooth.
6. Store in an airtight container in the fridge indefinitely.