Weekday Chef: 8 Minute Caramel Dipping Sauce

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

8 Minute Caramel Dipping Sauce

I love dipping Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples into warm, gooey caramel. I was at an event recently (The Festival of Trees) and we bought some warm caramel sauce and cut up apples and enjoyed them sooo much. I thought I would look for a recipe and make some of the sauce tonight for New Year's Eve. We have several parties to go to but this is just for us to enjoy at home. But it would also be a great treat to bring along with us to the parties.

My Easy Caramel Dipping Sauce. It literally takes about 8 minutes to make, but it is so evil delicious!

For Easy Caramel Dipping Sauce I started with the cream, sugar and butter and let that all melt together on low.

After you dump the butter in, add the vanilla and salt and let it get the Caramel Sauce up to a rolling boil, stirring as you go.

Easy Caramel Dipping Sauce..... stir it while it bubbles for 5 to 7 minutes. It will look lucsious like this! Can you say....delightful deliciousness? Mmmmm.....

I put the Easy Caramel Dipping Sauce on a tray with Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples for a holiday treat. This would be so easy as a finger food for a New Year's Eve Party! Or what a nice hostess gift in a pretty jar with a ribbon and a cute label?

Here is the recipe I used. All you need is butter, brown sugar, cream and vanilla and salt. It was super easy. I would boil the mixture for the full 7 minutes. It said 5 to 7 minutes so I went with 5. But I wished mine had been a little thicker. It thickens as it cools, but to make it even chewier and thicker, let it boil for the 7 minutes. This recipe is taken from The Pioneer Woman's website, HERE.

Notice my 2 little granddaughters are standing right in front of the Easy caramel dipping sauce and apples? They are READY to dig in to this yummy stuff.

You can use half and half OR cream, and I had cream on-hand from making Alfredo a few nights ago. So I used the rest of the pint. Bubbling boil it for 7 minutes to thicken it up. Or thinner sauce I'd go less, more toward the 5 minutes mark.

Now I've taken down more than half of the Christmas decorations and replaced them with January "Snowman and Winter themed" decorations. Don't they look cute?

It is always a little bit of a downer to change out all that Christmas gloriousness. So I have to replace it right away or my house looks very dull and depressing! To see more check out my
Patties Place blog.

Here's my kitchen table with some snowman decorations. It is starting to look a little bit wintery with the shades of blue.

8 MINUTE CARAMEL DIPPING SAUCE

Ingredients

1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 stick Butter (4 Tablespoons)
1/2 cup Half-and-half Or Cream (cream Will Make It Thicker)
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
Pinch Of Salt

Preparation Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low to medium heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until thicker. Turn off heat. Serve warm or refrigerate until cold.

If sauce is thin, just continue cooking for a few more minutes. This would also be so wonderful drizzled over cheesecake! Mmmm. The possibilities are endless!