CARAMEL SAUCE

Homemade caramel sauce may need your utmost attention while bubbling and boiling, but it is worth taking the time to make. This sauce works well with any ice cream in this book, but I especially like it paired with the Pumpkin No-Churn Ice Cream. makes 1½ cups

¼ cup water, room temperature

1¼ cups (248 g) sugar

½ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick; 113 g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 8 pieces

½ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Have all your ingredients set up near the stove, ready to go.

Pour the water in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan (the caramel will bubble up quite a bit once it starts cooking, so it’s important to have a pan that is deep and also has a heavy bottom to prevent burning). Sprinkle the sugar and salt on top. Very gently stir the ingredients together, just until the sugar is completely wet, being careful not to get the water or sugar on the sides of the pan. Cook over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally to stir the sugar while it melts. When the sugar crystals have completely dissolved, increase the heat to medium-high. The sugar will begin to foam. Let it bubble and boil 3 to 5 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t boil over. Give the pan a swirl every once in a while to help the sugar turn color evenly. The sugar will begin to turn dark golden brown at this point, and you want to keep it bubbling until it just begins to smoke. Remove from the heat and add the butter, whisking carefully (remember, the sugar is crazy hot). Whisk in the heavy cream, followed by the vanilla. Set the caramel aside until ready to use.

VARIATION

burnt honey caramel • Instead of using 1¼ cups (248 g) sugar, substitute 1 cup (198 g) sugar and ½ cup (168 g) honey.

salty caramel • When you take the caramel off the heat, add ½ teaspoon fleur de sel.

toasted sesame caramel • Add 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil along with the vanilla.