“The Butter Book” Salted Caramel Sauce

Creating pastry masterpieces at home.

The fundamentals of pastry have been perfected by chefs over centuries. The Butter Book teaches you these fundamentals first so you can perfect the basics before experimenting with recipes, textures, and flavors. Each of the online baking classes makes it clear why you should use particular ingredients and why the techniques work, what can go wrong, and how to correct it if it does. Developed by Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F., and Jacquy Pfeiffer, James Beard Award-winning author, both are recipients of the French Legion of Honour.

As far as I’m concerned, joining The Butter Book is the deal of the century. The annual membership gives you unlimited access to a growing library of hundreds of expertly tested recipes, step-by-step training videos, and fundamental baking techniques. It will give you ideas, and it will motivate you to be a better baker to create better pastries for your customers, friends, or your family.

Great memories from a galaxy far far away:

I worked with Jacquy years ago at the Fairmont Hotel Chicago. He was the Executive Pastry Chef and I was the Executive Chef.  He created, along with his team, the most amazing pastries: from freshly baked scones with clotted cream to Macarons for the afternoon tea, and all cakes, chocolates, and desserts for the fine dining restaurant, Entre Nous, and the Primavera Italian restaurant.  His book, “The Art of French Pastry” is a treasure;  it has taught pastry novices for years. The book and online baking videos are simply amazing.  The recipes are accurate and have ingredients scaled by weight – no more cups, teaspoons, or tablespoons and for serious bakers, this is the only way to go.

Salted caramel sauce:

Making caramel sauce is not a complex process.  A traditional recipe, that is easy to follow and requires a little more than 4 common ingredients: heavy cream, sour cream or cream fraiche, sea salt, and granulated sugar. The sauce is easy to make and so much better than the store-purchased product. The Butter Book salted caramel sauce is sweet, sticky, nutty, and tastes so good. Perfect for milkshakes, dessert toppings, coffee drinks, brownies, and ice cream toppings.  Adding sea salt gives the sauce a more distinctive taste, it balances the sweetness, making this the best-salted caramel sauce ever.  Most caramel sauces are cooked with butter. The butter reminds me too much of a butterscotch sauce, which is a great sauce, just too buttery for me.

Figs in Bourbon, Quark, and Salted Caramel Sauce
A perfect simple holiday dessert

Why make a gift rather than buy it?

Creating an edible gift is more personal than running to a store to purchase a bottle of wine. Most of the time it’s cheaper than buying from a store and it means so much more. The salted caramel sauce is not only a mindful seasonal gift, it can be gifted any time throughout the year.

Interesting caramel history: 

The Arab community has always been noted for its love of sweets. Kurat al milh — a ball of sweet salt was the name they gave to a sticky product extracted from thickened cane syrup; a designation reflected in our own term of caramel. In the 11th century, the Crusaders returned to Europe with accounts of mouth-watering sugar-based sweets and desserts served at weddings and religious celebrations.  Caramels were one of the earliest types of sugar-based sweets. It was Brittany, in northwest France, that became famous as long ago as the 14th century for its caramel au beurre salé (salted butter caramel).

Figs in Bourbon, Salted Caramel Sauce,
A perfect simple holiday dessert

Salted caramel sauce as a topping:

In all the confusion over what to eat, what not to eat, and how much to eat, I believe that it’s important to take a balanced approach to nutrition.
The salted caramel sauce has a fair amount of calories per serving, 2 tablespoons equal 125 calories.  So frequently adding salted caramel sauce to your meal plan may cause your midsection to get bigger 🙂 Mindful eating is a powerful tool to get control over your eating habits and it’s the key to a well-balanced lifestyle. So yes, of course, I do enjoy salted caramel sauce – in moderation.
If you want to know more about mindful eating, please read the Mindful Eating 101 – Beginners Guide.  

How to store salted caramel sauce: 

Cover tightly and store for up to 1 month in the refrigerator. Adding fat, like sour cream and heavy cream, makes the caramel sauce elastic. However, as it cools in the refrigerator it slightly solidifies.  You can reheat it in the microwave or over low heat on the stove so it’s liquid again. 

The Taste

A rich texture and sweet smooth satisfying taste.
That sauce is just itching to be poured over ice cream, or drizzled over a great brownie

The Process
Easy to make and very rewarding

The Verdict
Adding sea salt gives the sauce a more distinctive taste,
it balances the sweetness, making this the best-salted caramel sauce ever

Chef’s Tips
Make it an edible gift for the holiday season
Creating an edible gift is more personal
then running to a store to purchase a bottle of wine.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Chef Norbert

The Butter Book salted caramel sauce is easy to make and undeniably satisfying, sweet, sticky, nutty, and so good

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Course Dessert, Sauces

Cuisine French

Servings 26 1 oz

Calories 135 kcal

Recommended Equipment

1 Cast Iron Sauce pan

1 Food Wrap

1 Sauce Pan 2 Qt

1 Immersion Blender

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

0.5x1x2x3x

• 14 oz Heavy cream 30 - 40 % fat
• 3.5 oz Sour cream 35 to 40 % fat
• 0.35 oz Vanilla paste
• 0.17 oz sea salt, fine ground fine
• 17.5 oz Sugar granulated

Instructions

 

• Method
• Scale the ingredients precisely and bring to room temperature.

Heat the Cream

• Combine the cream, sour cream, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan on medium heat. Bring to a simmer occasionally whisking. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
  14 oz Heavy cream, 0.35 oz Vanilla paste, 0.17 oz sea salt, fine ground, 3.5 oz Sour cream

Caramelize the Sugar

• Sprinkle a thin even layer of sugar in a saucepan on low heat. Let it dissolve occasionally stirring. Then sprinkle another thin layer of sugar on top and allow it to dissolve. After the fourth layer of sugar, begin stirring after each new addition and repeat until all of the sugar is in the saucepan.
  17.5 oz Sugar

Add the Cream

• Carefully add a small amount of the hot cream at a time on low heat. Bring to a full boil constantly whisking.
• Strain the caramel into a bowl and cool. Emlusefy for about 20 to 30 seconds using an immersion blender.

Chef Notes

Chef Tip:

Continue to cook the caramel sauce on low heat until all of the sugar is completely dissolved and tiny bubbles begin to form on the surface occasionally whisking. The color should be a deep, golden brown.

Makes an awesome edible gift for the holiday season or any time of the year.

Nutrition

Serving: 1oz | Calories: 135kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 81mg | Potassium: 17mg | Sugar: 19g

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate

Keyword Salted Caramel Sauce

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