At a Glance
About this Recipe
I originally developed this recipe when I was working as the lead baker in a coffee shop that wanted to start using house-made syrups. It's specifically made so that people with no background knowledge in making caramel or working with sugar can do it easily. It's thin enough that it dissolves easily into hot coffee, but thick enough that it can be drizzled and still reasonably hold it's shape. And because it's made with honey, you can play around with flavor without worrying about changing the recipe too much. At the coffee shop we made it with a local wildflower honey, but I've also made this sauce with a Madrona smoked honey, which was delightful. Just make sure the honey you're using doesn't have little bits in it that can burn.
Instructions
Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a 5qrt pot, mix together the sugar, honey, and salt, with just enough water to give it the texture of wet sand. Set over medium high heat.
Once the sugar has liquified and is starting to bubble around the edges, brush down the edges with a pastry brush dipped in water. Also, once it's reached this point, don't stir it; instead occasionally swirl the pan to ensure an even coloration. Cook until desired color is reached; I aim for a deep amber. It's better to pull the pan a little earlier than you think, rather than wait and burn it. If you're having difficultly getting an accurate read on the color while it's in the pot, use a spoon and carefully drip a couple drops on a white heatproof plate to better see the color.
While the sugar is just starting to melt, warm your cream. The easiest way is to have it in a little pan on the stove and bring it to a boil and then turn off the heat once it does. Once the desired caramel color is reached, turn the heat under the caramel to medium low and dump the entire pot of hot cream in at once, stirring the entire time. The caramel will bubble up once the cream has been added.
Stirring the entire time, cook until sauce reaches 220 degrees. Immediately take pot off heat and dunk the bottom into the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Stir in the vanilla paste. Let cool completely, then transfer to a storage vessel and keep in the fridge.
Notes & Tips
Caramel making tips:
-You may look at the amount of sugar at the beginning of the process and want to use a smaller pot. Don't; the caramel will bubble up significantly once the cream is added. Speaking from experience, cleaning caramel off a stove takes twice as long and is twice as annoying as you think it will be.
-Stir with a heat-safe silicone spatula; don't use a whisk. Agitation promotes crystallization, and you don't want to whip air into the cooking sauce anyways.
-You may be tempted to not warm the cream before adding it, but adding cold cream to the hot caramel will cause it to seize. While this is fixable, it's a bigger pain than just warming the cream at the beginning.
-The caramel sauce will thicken once stored in the fridge. If you want to warm it up, don't microwave it; that may cook it and cause it to thicken up more. Instead place the container of sauce in a bowl of warm water, stirring occasionally, until it flows again.
This recipe is also very easily adaptable; infuse coffee beans or tea into the heavy cream (strain it out before adding to caramel). Add finely chopped dark chocolate to the sauce as soon as it comes off the heat to get a chocolate caramel sauce. Whip the sauce into buttercream or fold into homemade ice cream. If you want a thicker sauce add less heavy cream, if you want a thinner sauce add more. The list goes on and on.
Ingredients
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