Whiskey Caramel Sauce Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

How do you know when caramel sauce is done? ›

To avoid burning the caramel, it's just a matter of being vigilant. The melted sugar should be cooked until it's a deep amber colour — it's done when it starts to smoke and begins to foam just a little bit. At this point, it should be removed from the heat immediately to stop the sugar from darkening any further.

If caramels are too soft, that means the temperature didn't get high enough. Again place the caramel back into a sauce pan with a couple of tablespoons of water and heat to 244°F. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can test with a cold water test.

Reduce the amount of milk.

If you know that you want a thick caramel sauce, cut down on the amount of milk that the recipe suggests. Leave out about 1/3 or 1/2 of the recommended milk. This will result in a caramel sauce that's thicker and that you won't have to spend extra time simmering.

I emptied the bottle into a small saucepan and brought it to a boil. Then I added about half a teaspoon of kosher salt and let it continue boiling for 10 minutes. It thickened and darkened significantly, which I took as a good sign.

Give your caramel at least two hours to set, or overnight if possible. You can also pop caramel into the fridge to help it set up faster. The caramel will sweat a little when brought out of the fridge, but will still taste fine. If you don't eat it right away, here's how to store caramel.

– Know when it's done.

Caramel is done when the color is a rich, reddish-brown, similar to the color of an old copper penny. Perfect caramel should be cooked just past the point where it starts to smoke. Some recipes advise cooking caramel until it starts to smoke—but that's too soon.

Some form of dairy — typically butter and/or heavy cream — is usually added to the mixture at either the beginning or the end of cooking. This addition makes the caramel richer, thicker, and lighter in color, lending more viscosity and rounder flavor.

To thicken a caramel sauce, use one tablespoon of cornstarch or tapioca starch (sometimes known as tapioca flour) and one tablespoon of water per cup of caramel. Then simmer the caramel, stirring it constantly with a wooden spoon until it becomes thick.

Temperature is key when making candy. The difference between a soft caramel and one that's hard and overcooked is all in the temperature. Candy thermometers—like this instant-read thermometer—let you know exactly what stage the caramel is in (thread, soft-ball, firm-ball, hard-ball, soft crack or hard crack).

The water evaporates, leaving sugar crystals behind. If even one sugar crystal falls back into the pan of cooking caramel, it starts a chain reaction of sugar crystals and the entire pan will harden. The result? Gross, grainy caramel that is unusable in most recipes.

How do you fix caramel that is too soft? ›

The caramel should feel pretty firm but pliable in the ice water. Caramel is too soft after it has set up: It needed to cook longer. You can pour the whole batch back in to a pot and warm it up again!

Keep in mind that the caramel will thicken significantly once cool. Likewise, if the caramel is too thick, thin by stirring a tablespoon or two of heavy cream. To store, keep refrigerated in an air-tight container. To warm, place in the microwave for 30 seconds to heat through.

Caramel is a candy created when sugar is heated to 340 degrees Fahrenheit (170 degrees Celsius). As sugar is heated slowly to this temperature, the molecules break down and form new compounds that have a deep, rich flavor and dark golden brown color.

If your caramel sauce is bitter, it could be that your sugar burned. Lower your heat and pay attention to the color of your sugar; it should be no darker than a medium tan.

By firm ball stage, it's gone from syrup to caramel. You don't need a candy thermometer, just a dish of cold water. As the name implies, if you spoon a drop of the caramel into cold water the drop will form a firm ball. Simply test your caramel periodically by dribbling a tiny bit into cold water and giving a pinch.

It tastes burnt because you're burning it. Pull your caramel from the heat when it is light amber in color. It will continue to cook and darken as it cools. If you leave it on the heat until it reaches the final desired color, it will overcook.

This said, you break out the teaspoon and take a taste: if the sauce tastes exactly the way you like it to, then the sauce is done.

Once you burn caramel, you won't do it again. But if you undercook it, the sauce will lean more to the sweet side, and I like caramel to have a bit of an “edge.”