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Sauce: Creamy Caramel Sauce

Source of Recipe

From "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz


Recipe Introduction

"There's nothing that beats the taste of darkly caramelized sugar transformed by a pour of cream into a suave, velvety caramel sauce. If you've never made caramel before, it's simple, but do take care, because the sugar gets very hot as it liquefies. Wear an oven mitt when stirring in the cream, and resist the temptation to peer too closely into the pot while it's bubbling and boiling away."

List of Ingredients

◦ 1 � cups heavy cream
◦ 1 cup sugar
◦ � teaspoon kosher or sea salt
◦ � teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Recipe

Warm the cream in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Spread the sugar in an even layer on the bottom of a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven. Cook the sugar over low to medium heat, watching it carefully. When it begins to liquefy and darken at the edges, use a heatproof spatula to very gently stir it to encourage even cooking.

Tilt the pan and stir gently until all of the sugar is melted and the caramel begins to smoke and turns a deep amber color. Immediately remove from the heat and gradually whisk in half of the warm cream, which may steam and bubble up furiously. Carefully stir until the sugar is dissolved, then gradually whisk in the remaining cream, the salt, and the vanilla. If there are any bits of hardened sugar, whisk the sauce over low heat until smooth. Serve warm.

Makes 1 � cups





❧ Storage:
This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Rewarm it gently in a microwave or by stirring in a saucepan over very low heat. If the sauce is too thick, you can thin it by adding a small amount of milk or additional cream.