Closet Cooking

Cooking adventures in a small, closet sized, kitchen. - I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.

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Caramel Sauce

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Caramel Sauce
Velvety smooth, melt in your mouth homemade caramel sauce that is so easy to make!

Thick and creamy homemade caramel sauce is one of the most amazingly divine treats and it’s super easy to make! You simply melt some sugar in a pan and simmer it until it starts to turn a nice amber colour before adding some cream and butter and optionally some flavours like vanilla or salt. After letting it cool a bit you are ready to go to use the caramel sauce on whatever you like from simply with apples to on melting vanilla ice cream to apple pies, etc. (Take a look below the recipe to find some ideas about what you can use it on!) The caramel sauce will keep in the fridge for months and it makes for a great present for the holidays! That is if you can bring yourself to part with it! My precious!

Caramel Sauce
Caramel Sauce
Caramel Sauce
Caramel Sauce
The recipe easily doubles, triples, etc; so make a lot of it! 🙂

Caramel Sauce

Caramel Sauce
Caramel Sauce
Caramel Sauce

Caramel Sauce

Prep Time:5 minutes Cook Time:15 minutes Total Time:20 minutes Servings: 16(~1 cup or 16 1 tablespoon servings)

Velvety smooth, melt in your mouth homemade caramel sauce that is so easy to make!

ingredients
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (optional)
directions
  1. Mix the sugar and water in a large sauce pan, bring to a boil over medium heat and let simmer until it turns an amber colour.
  2. Carefully pour in the heavy cream, stir the mixture until it is smooth and simmering until any lumps have melted.
  3. Stir in the butter and salt, remove from heat, allow to cool for a few minutes and stir in the vanilla extract.
Tip: If the sugar seizes and turns into solid lumps after melting, carefully add 1/4 cup water and let the sugar sizzle and melt before continuing to simmer until it starts to turn amber.
Nutrition Facts: Calories 73, Fat 2.8g (Saturated 2g, Trans 0), Cholesterol 9mg, Sodium 12mg, Carbs 12g (Fiber 0, Sugars 12g), Protein 0.1g
Nutrition by: Nutritional facts powered by Edamam
Use in:
Rolo Cheesecake Bars
Apple Crisp Pizza with Caramel Sauce
Vanilla Apple Crisp with Caramel Sauce
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
Apple, Cheddar and Bacon Fritters in Caramel Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake
Pumpkin Cinnamon Role Pancakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Banana Bread
Pumpkin Pie Pancakes
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oatmeal
Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Parfait with Gingersnap Pecan Streusel
Apple Crumble Quinoa Parfait
Slow Cooker Apple Pie Steel Cut Oatmeal
Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Buns with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Caramel Apple Grilled Cheese Sandwich (with Bacon)
Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread
Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip
Apple Cinnamon Spiral Bread with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Caramel Apple Crumble Cheesecake Dip
Grilled Pineapple and Banana Sundays with Caramel Sauce and Cashews
Carrot Cake with Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting
Caramel Soaked Almond Cake

Similar Recipes:
Vanilla Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Blueberry Caramel Sauce
Dulce de Leche
Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
Lemon Curd
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Heather says

    November 5, 2008 at 1:30 am

    oh my gosh! i disappeared for a few days and you posted like 100 amazing recipes! they all look so good! do you do delivery?! 😉 I want every single one of those pizzas!! this caramel sauce looks really, really good, too. i love apples with caramel – and the pictures are gorgeous!

    Reply

  7. Amber says

    November 5, 2008 at 3:21 am

    Love caramel sauce, love it. And the short canning jars are way cute and I love the autumn plate for this. Interiors is my first love, can you tell, hence the table setting luncheon every year. Honey crisp apples are sooo good but really expensive, $2.99 per pound. But everything is high this year. Do you think you could create a sandwich with caramel? That is a good challenge. I’ll be watching.

    Reply

    • Jeanne says

      December 1, 2018 at 5:56 pm

      For a sandwich—try peanut or almond butter bananas and a drizzle or more of the caramel sauce (i would put the caramel between so the bread dies not soak it up. Also try an open face toast caramel sauce and marshmellow cream—use the chocolate peanutbutter—just sayin

      Reply

  11. Natashya says

    November 5, 2008 at 4:07 am

    Not too many men making their own caramel sauce. You are a catch!
    I made some this year for the first time, a recipe similar to yours.
    Love honey crisp too, we are near Algoma and pick them up there.
    Beautiful photo, lovely lighting.

    Reply

  26. Happy cook says

    November 5, 2008 at 10:45 am

    This is the best caramel sauce i have ever seen in my whole life. Really they looks so delicious. I am sure going to make them. The will be excelent with ice cream too.
    And i woudn”t get a chance to lick to pot or the spoon as my daughter will be waiting there like a hawk to do it 🙂

    Reply

  29. OhioMom says

    November 5, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Oh thank you for finding this easy recipe, I love caramel sauce. When we were children Mom would make a pot and we would dip apples and then roll in nuts.

    Thanks for the memory 🙂

    Reply

  41. CECIL says

    November 5, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    I love your photos and presentation, Kevin! It’s so like magazine shots. Before I came to N.America, I did not even know there is such thing ‘ apples dip in caramel’ Pretty sad, huh? 🙂 Then my host sister got me hooked.

    Reply

  46. Dee says

    November 5, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    I saw your photo on tastespotting and it looked fabulous! I just made some salted butter caramel and it was brilliant on everything (the SBC popcorn was delish!). Must keep this recipe in mind for when I run out.

    Reply

  57. Paula says

    November 5, 2008 at 7:08 pm

    Oh this is lovely! I laughed when you mentioned cleaning out the pan with your fingers! We’re seeing more and more of your personality in your posts! This sauce would be a great addition to the Thanksgiving menus that your blog fans from the U.S. will be preparing for soon! YUM!

    Reply

  68. Pat says

    November 10, 2008 at 12:33 am

    I just made your sauce. It is amazingly easy, rich, and delicious. I used whipping cream instead of heavy cream because I had it. No problem with that. I also used a whisk instead of a wooden spoon, which worked fine.
    Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!

    Reply

  70. Jeanne says

    November 12, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    Holy guacamole, look at that. I haven’t made caramel sauce in years but now I think I will have to! I had my first honeycrisp apple in Chicago last month and now I think I’m in love…

    Reply

  73. MelBell says

    November 7, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Just made this to serve with your vanilla apple crisp tonight. The sauce is fantastic. And so easy. No reason to spend the money on ready-made stuff when this is superior in every way.

    Reply

  74. Anonymous says

    April 7, 2010 at 5:32 am

    What a very delectable caramel sauce for my apples tonight!!! Thank you so much for your delectable recipe!!!

    Reply

  75. Anonymous says

    November 3, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    What would be the difference between caramel sauce and dulce de leche?

    I know the differences in how they're prepared, but when would you use caramel sauce and when would you use dulce de leche?

    Reply

  76. Kevin says

    November 9, 2010 at 12:17 am

    Anonymous: I would say that in a lot of cases dulce de leche and caramel sauce are interchangeable. I have only just started getting into dulce de leche and I have a lot more experimentation to do with it! 🙂

    Reply

  77. Anonymous says

    December 2, 2011 at 10:43 pm

    So what is the wet method? I want to be able, to dip something into the caramel. Can this be done with the dry method? I hope.

    Reply

  79. Kevin says

    December 2, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    Anonymous & Mr. Piemaker: This recipe is for the wet method and for the dry method, simply omit the water and syrup. Both methods will yield caramel sauce that you can dip or pour. When it comes out of the fridge it will be fairly solid but at room temperature it will be dip-able and at a slightly warmer temperature you can easily pour it.

    Reply

  80. Jesmyn Hibbard says

    January 15, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    I have tried this recipe twice and have never achieved the color in the picture. What could I be doing wrong? I have waited two different amount of times to have the sugar mixture turn into this amber color. Neither times have I achieved it. This last time my mixture got pretty thick from the wait with no change in color at all. The first time I made it I used light corn syrup so I thought that could have been the problem…this time I used the dark one and the color changed by only a couple of shades. Please help or I might give up on this one. 😀

    Reply

  81. Kevin says

    January 19, 2012 at 11:08 am

    Jesmyn Hibbard: All of the colour is going to come from simmering the sugar before adding the cream. You want to keep simmering it until it turns a mid to dark amber and then add the cream. What colour are you getting when you make it?

    Reply

  84. Sarah Aberman says

    November 23, 2012 at 11:06 am

    How many cups of caramel sauce does this recipe yield? I'm planning on making it with your vanilla apple crisp recipe (which calls for 3 cups of this bad boy) and you say this recipe doesn't make much. Should I double the recipe? Triple it ? Thanx!

    Reply

  90. Gus says

    October 11, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    Okay I guess I’m the only other person that this didn’t work for. I simmered this for over an hour I had to add water twice to it and I still got no color. I didn’t think there was a way I could screw this recipe up but it sure looks like I did. I am by no means a good cook but this seems to be easy enough. Unfortunately no luck for me.

    Reply

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