Salted Caramel Sauce (Foolproof Recipe)

The days between Christmas and New Year's are their own particular kind of time, slow and full of leftovers and the specific luxury of having no obligations except the ones you choose. I have been choosing: reading my books, taking long walks with Tyler when he drives over, making simple meals out of the Christmas remnants. The ham in a frittata Tuesday morning. The lane cake slice eaten cold from the fridge standing over the sink at eleven at night. The pimento cheese on crackers watching a movie with Biscuit on the couch.

I have been thinking about what I want 2023 to be. Not resolutions, I said that last year too, just a direction. I want to keep going in every direction that is going well. Tyler. Sunday dinners with Gloria. The cooking that gets better every year. The kids at the daycare who need me to be steady and I am steady. I am twenty-four years old and I have the outline of a life I want and I am inside it already. What I want is to not lose track of that, to not fall into the future so completely that I stop being present in the now that I built for so long to get to.

New Year's Eve will be at Tyler's. His brothers are coming over, it will be loud, there will be too much food. I am bringing a black-eyed pea dip and my bourbon pecan pie. I am going into 2023 with fried things and people I love and that seems like exactly right.

My bourbon pecan pie is already a little indulgent, but a few years back I started making a small jar of salted caramel to go alongside it and now I can’t imagine showing up without both. There’s something about having a sauce to drizzle — it makes a slice feel more like an occasion, which is exactly what New Year’s Eve at Tyler’s deserves. This recipe is the one I’ve landed on after a lot of trial and error: it comes together quickly, it doesn’t seize up on you, and it keeps beautifully in the fridge through whatever slow, lucky days are left of the holiday week.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 16 (about 1 cup)

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt (or 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt), plus more to taste
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Melt the sugar. Pour the granulated sugar into a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan set over medium heat. Stir constantly with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon as the sugar begins to clump and then melts. Keep stirring until the sugar is fully liquefied and turns a deep amber color, about 8–10 minutes. Watch carefully — it can go from golden to burnt quickly.
Add the butter. Remove the pan from heat and immediately add the butter cubes all at once. The mixture will bubble up vigorously — this is normal. Stir until the butter is completely melted and incorporated, about 1–2 minutes.
Stream in the cream. Still off the heat, slowly pour in the heavy cream while stirring continuously. Again the mixture will bubble. Once combined, return the pan to medium heat and let it boil for 1 minute without stirring.
Season and finish. Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla extract and sea salt. Taste and adjust salt as desired. The sauce will be thin while hot and will thicken as it cools.
Cool and store. Let the caramel cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then pour into a heatproof jar or container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Rewarm gently in the microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring between each, before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Salted Caramel Sauce (Foolproof Recipe) — The Sweet Thing I Bring to Every New Year