Here are the ingredients that you will need to make your own caramel:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup flavored liquid (this can be juice, coca-cola, chocolate milk, heavy cream, etc)
- 1 TBSP milk
- 4 TBSP butter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
Here are the directions that you will need to follow in order to make this recipe:
1. The first thing that you need to do is to make a dry caramel. You can do this by heating the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium-high heat. Do not move or stir the sugar after placing it in the pot.
Watch your pot, and as soon as the sugar starts to melt, use a heatproof spatula to move it constantly around the pan. You want it all to melt and caramelize evenly. Then you need to cook and stir, and cook and stir more, until the caramel is a deep, dark amber. This process should take about 3 to 5 minutes from when the sugar starts to melt.
2. Once the caramel has reached the target amber color, you can remove the saucepan from the heat. Next, very slowly and very carefully, pour in the liquids to the sugar mixture. The caramel will bubble up and steam; stand away until the steam dissipates.
You don’t want to get burned and also the slower you add in the ingredients the less steam should appear. Use the heatproof spatula to stir the mixture together until everything is combined.
3. Then, add in the butter, vanilla and salt, while you continue stirring the mixture. If it is at all lumpy or if there are any clumps of hardened caramel floating around the sauce, put the saucepan back over medium heat and heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth.
4. Let the caramel cool before using it. It will keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.
