Salted Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

The first time I tried to make caramel sauce, it was a disaster. I wasn't sure how long and dark to cook the sugar but when it started smoking and suddenly going from golden to amber to blackness, I knew it was bad. So I grabbed my pot, ran out the door and dumped the mess in the bushes so it would cool off faster and not be stuck in my pot forever. Pouring hot, burning sugar onto little dry pieces of mulch is probably not the best choice. (No bushes were permanently harmed and no fires were started in the failure of this caramel sauce.)

But here's a trick I learned...don't start eating dinner while you're waiting for the sugar to cook because once it starts cooking, it cooks really fast! Also, I found that gently swirling the pan to distribute the heat more evenly was a lot more effective than stirring. That helped me ruin a few other batches after the bush incident.

Wondering what to do with all this fresh, sweet caramel? How about one of these ideas: 

• Skip the cream cheese icing and use this to smother a hot, fresh Cinnamon Roll
• Drizzle over a few small scoops of the Creamiest, Richest Chocolate Ice Cream Ever
• Serve on a slice of Warm Gingerbread Cake
• Pair with a heaping pile of Peanut Butter Stuffed Apple French Toast

Salted Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce [click to print]
Makes about 1-1/2 cups

• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 1 T. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste (OR seeds of 1 vanilla bean)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Heat cream and butter in small microwave safe dish until just warm and butter is melted; set aside.

Spread sugar in medium saucepan; add water. Heat on medium-low heat until mixture becomes mostly clear. Do not stir! This could cause the sugar to crystallize and get all chunky and non-caramely. Gently swirl the pan to prevent hot spots and burning.

Continue heating, about 10 minutes, until mixture turns medium amber and immediately remove from heat.
While whisking continuously, slowly pour in about half of cream mixture. Continue whisking until evenly combined. Whisk in remaining cream. Add vanilla bean paste, extract and salt. Stir well and allow to cool to room temperature. Store in airtight container in fridge.

Source: Adapted from Annie's Eats, previously Cook Like a Champion

Fearless Dulce de Leche

The thought of Dulce de Leche was sweet and enticing, but the nightmares I had every time I thought about cooking an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk on my stovetop was a strong deterrent. Nobody wants to pick shards of aluminum can out of their rental apartment ceiling or spend hours scrubbing gooey, not-quite-cooked-through caramel sauce off the walls. Ew and no fun.

So the first time I made Dulce de Leche, I opted for the microwave version. It claimed to be fast and easy and relatively non-messy. Fibbers. I mixed the ingredients in the biggest bowl I had that would fit in my microwave but it still bubbled over repeatedly and turned into a huge, sticky, hot mess and by the time it was finally done, my feet had started to ache from standing around the microwave for so long and I only had about half the amount that the recipe promised I'd have! I'm sure the rest of it was stuck on some inner surface of the microwave. Oops.

Needless to say, I never wanted to make Dulce de Leche again. Until now.

A while ago, Cupcake Project taught me that I could crockpot Dulce de Leche by cooking a fully immersed can of unopened sweetened condensed milk for several hours. But I was still a little worried about explosions, despite her reassurance. Then I read about a version you can make in the crockpot, in glass jars so they're all ready to be gifted or stored in the fridge! Plus, I love that you can actually see how dark the sauce is getting instead of just guesstimating when it's done. Now that's my kind of Dulce.

Fearless Dulce de Leche [click to print]


If you want to make your dulce without any leftover milk, you'll need two 14oz. cans of sweetened condensed milk and three 1/2 pint canning jars with tight sealing lids. You can use fat-free sweetened condensed milk, too, and it tastes pretty great!

Step 1: Pour the sweetened condensed milk into the canning jars and screw the lids on tight. (I put rubber bands around two of my smaller jars because I was nervous about how tight the seal was.)

Step 2: Put the jars in the crockpot and cover with warm tap water so there's at least an inch of water above the top of the jars. (Hot water gets your dulce cooking faster.)

Step 3: Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Don't lift the lid during cooking! Every time you do, it adds about 30 minutes to the total cook time.

Step 4: At the 8 hour mark, peek in your crockpot and see how dark the dulce is getting. When it reaches a dark caramel color, remove from crockpot with tongs and allow to cool completely.

Source: Adapted from The Yummy Life