The monsoons started just yesterday. As usual, the rain has the habit of catching me at the worst possible times so came home today after work, half drenched, fully windblown and craving for a nice, warm bath. After a fully satisfying long, hot bath, the inevitable happened. I was hungry. After rummaging through the fridge I chanced upon two pots of these babies that I had made about 1-2 months back and decided to give it a go. I am still licking my fingers clean :D

It is a recipe that needs a lot of attention since it involves caramelizing sugar and all, but the good part is, once you’ve made it, you can keep it in the fridge for literally, months. Once needed, I just give it 1 minute microwave time and voila! Gooey and delicious, just as I just made it!

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
  • 1 cup tightly packed brown sugar
  • 150 ml whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add to it the brown sugar and combine until the sugar is uniformly wet.
  2. Wait for the sugar to melt completely (wait for it to go from grainy to molten lava). Add to this the cream and the salt and whisk or stir until well mixed.
  3. Increase the heat to high till it boils while stirring continuously. Then reduce the flame to a low. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes until the mixture thickens. Check the consistency by dabbing some mixture on a plate. If the mixture is sticky, thick and gooey after it has cooled down, it has the right consistency. Once this has been reached, remove from heat immediately.
  4. Let the mixture cool and store in microwavable glass containers. Pop the pots in the fridge!

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The sweet and salty combination really works! I can eat this by potfuls and it serves as a lazy dessert as well. Today I gobbled it down on freshly toasted bread (pan-toasted on both sides), the warm sticky, thick sauce coating the taste buds, the salt cutting through the richness of the liquid. Oddly enough, for something that is for the most part sugar, it is not too sweet. The slightly burnt quality of the liquid together with the salt counteracts with the sweetness, making you dip into those pots more times than you really ought to. And the smell! Oh, I am pretty sure that this is what heaven must smell like. After preparing this salty caramel sauce, the whole house smells oh-so-caramelly and deliciously homely for days afterwards.

Tips

  • It’s important that the sugar dissolves completely before turning the heat on high. Otherwise, the sauce tends to get a little too grainy.
  • Keep stirring continuously. Sugar is a tricky substance to work with as it loves to huddle into little balls all over the place, so do not let this happen. For a silky smooth sauce, just keep stirring.
  • Do not burn the sauce! Sugar burns easily too, so keep your eyes on the sauce and keep stirring, making sure that you scrape the bottom of the saucepan, letting the mixture move around freely continuously.
  • Microwaveable pots are important because once you put the sauce in the fridge, it tends to harden just a little bit. So they need to be microwaved every time. Don’t have microwaveable pots? No problem! Just use plain old jam jars.
  • Taste and adjust the salt as per taste. If you like it a bit more salty, add a bit more salt by all means.
  • If you are using salted butter, you may need to reduce the amount of salt you add afterwards.
  • You can have this in any which way you want. On toast, with crackers or all by its glorious self as I am very much guilty of consuming. Not the healthiest of snacks but who cares! We all deserve to be a bit naughty every once in a while ;)

Perfect rainy day indulgence :)