Salted Maple Caramel Sauce (easy recipe!) (2024)

FAQs

How do you make salted caramel sauce thicker? ›

If you're using heavy cream, note that it contains more water (less butterfat) than double cream. If your caramel sauce ends up too runny, cook it for a few minutes longer to remove some of the moisture – this will thicken it up. (And next time, try using a slightly smaller amount of heavy cream.)

Sugar Note: Most chefs say that only granulated sugar can be successfully caramelized; other sugars — such as brown sugar and unrefined sugar such as cane sugar — contain impurities that can inhibit caramelization. It's those impurities that can burn before the sugar has time to caramelize.

This truly the best salted caramel I've ever had and there's only 4 ingredients required: sugar, butter, heavy cream, and salt. This salted caramel is a reader favorite recipe, marking its spot in the top 10 most popular recipes on my website. It's sweet, sticky, buttery, and tastes phenomenal on anything it touches.

You can substitute maple syrup for honey in equal amounts. Decrease the oven temperature by 25 degrees since maple Syrup tends to caramelize and burn on the top and edges sooner than recipes using cane sugar.

If you want a thickener that will not alter the glossy color of the caramel, try tapioca flour (not pearls). Simply add small amount to your sauce to thicken it.

If you have added too much butter to your caramel sauce, you may find that it is too oily or it might even begin to separate. To fix this, add 1 tablespoon of either water or milk and stir while cooking over medium heat. Adding 1-2 Tbsp of a simple cornstarch slurry may fix the problem, as well.

You should use refined white granulated or caster sugar to make caramel. Avoid using brown sugar or raw cane sugar as they contain impurities that inhibit caramelisation and also the already brown colour can make it harder to assess when the all important reaction is taking place.

Some form of dairy — typically butter and/or heavy cream — is usually added to the mixture at either the beginning or the end of cooking. This addition makes the caramel richer, thicker, and lighter in color, lending more viscosity and rounder flavor.

It makes sense to stir your pot, but you have to resist the urge. The reason that caramel turns back into sugar crystals and becomes grainy is because too much moisture has been lost in the cooking process. When sugar is dissolved in water it loses its structure and becomes the liquid that develops into caramel.

The combination of salty and sweet flavours, plus fat, found in salted caramel releases an unusually intense rush of morphine-like endogenous opioids – or endorphins – in the brain. It does so, moreover, in a way that never gets boring, say scientists at the University of Florida.

What is the point of salted caramel? ›

The salt acts as a flavour enhancer, intensifying the sweetness and adding depth and complexity to the caramel.

The primary difference between salted caramel and normal (or unsalted) caramel lies in salt in the former, which significantly impacts both the flavour profile and the overall taste experience.

Maple syrup that is boiled too long will crystallize and maple syrup that isn't boiled long enough will spoil quickly and will be watery because the concentration of sugar in the syrup will be too low.

This process is known as caramelization.

Pour the syrup into a saucepan, then turn the burner on low. Bring the sauce to a low simmer and let it sit for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn. Leave the lid off so that some of the liquid can evaporate, which is what will cause the syrup to thicken.

Caramel is a deliciously sweet sauce that can turn up the volume on any dessert it's added to. But if you're hoping to drizzle caramel over vanilla ice cream or getting ready to dip apples for a fall celebration, you need a sauce that's not too thick. To thin caramel, just add some cream or water over heat.

If caramels are too soft, that means the temperature didn't get high enough. Again place the caramel back into a sauce pan with a couple of tablespoons of water and heat to 244°F. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can test with a cold water test.

When making a wet caramel, water is added to help dissolve the sugar before cooking. Like dry caramel, you want to gently move the sugar mixture in that same side-to-side paintbrush-like fashion until the sugar dissolves.