How to Make Homemade Caramel Sauce

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A good caramel sauce is the base of many delicious desserts so it’s worth taking time to learn how to make it properly at home. Store-bought caramel can often be laden with sweet but harmful corn syrup so I feel it’s much safer to make your own, especially since it’s not that difficult at all.

Simply explained, caramel is a mix of cream and honey cooked together. Depending on the temperature you use, you will end up with either syrup or hard candy. In this recipe, we will be heating our mixture to 225 degrees so that it turns into a delicious caramel liquid. But if you use a lower temperature, you will get soft chewy caramel or hard caramel candy. The ingredients are all the same but the end result will differ so try out making different caramel versions!

Caramel sauce can be used in a variety of ways to instantly enhance your sweet treats. It can be drizzled over hot pancakes, waffles, or a cheesecake. I love eating it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or together with some buttery shortbread bar. It also works beautifully as a middle layer in cakes, for example pear cake or coconut cake. You can a pinch of sea salt to make salted caramel.

Another use for caramel? In drinks! My personal favorite is homemade caramel macchiato. I add some caramel syrup to fragrant coffee, cool cream, and steaming milk. The result is the most delicious coffee drink of all time!

I love caramel sauce for its versatility. I keep a batch of it in the fridge very often, especially in the summer.

Necessary equipment:

  • a saucepan
  • a wooden spoon
  • a candy thermometer
  • a shallow glass bowl OR a pie plate
  • a glass jar or any other container with a lid for storing

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of heavy cream
  • 1 cup of honey
  • 1 t. of sea salt

Instructions:

  1. Fill your shallow bowl halfway with cold water and ice. This will be your ice water bath that you’ll use later. Set aside for now.
  2. Heat the heavy cream with salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Do so until you can see bubbles forming around the edges of the saucepan.
  3. Add the honey. Keep stirring until the mixture fully combines and becomes smooth.
  4. Turn the heat up to a boil.
  5. Attach the candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. The tip should be submerged in the mixture but not so deep that it touches the bottom of the pan.
  6. Lower the heat to medium again and keep the mixture simmering steadily.
  7. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes.
  8. Once it reaches 225 degrees, turn off the heat.
  9. Carefully put the hot saucepan in the ice water bath. Continue stirring while the caramel sauce cools and thickens to a nice consistency.
  10. Your caramel sauce is now ready! Transfer to a glass jar and keep in the fridge for later use.

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