Spiced Caramel Butter Sauce

This is actually a consolidated post for two different posts that I did last year. I just love this sauce so much; every time I make it I feel like all is right with the world.

During the summer when some of my extended family were gathered at my sister’s house, we were talking about food, SURPRISE!!!!! My sister, Leslie, looked over at my sister, Donna, and asked her if she had ever had any of my caramel sauce. Donna said, no (she lives outside of the U.S. and doesn’t get back here very often.) Leslie rolled her eyes and snorted, “Ohhhhhhh, you have GOT to try it. Donna, you will die.”

I laughed and chimed in with, “Well, Leslie, I have it on my blog.”

“I don’t care about your blog. I want a jar of it. In my house. Terri,” she snapped.

“Well, alrighty then. I’m glad we got that one all straightened out. Guess what? I have a spiced version of it, too, that you use for dipping apples and pears,” I said just to taunt her. I was met with a glare and another snort. It was funny.

Sisters get to act that way around each other. That pseudo ‘you disgust me’ kind of attitude when what we are really saying is, “I admire what you do…or have…or think about.” We are not squealers in my family. Some women are squealers. We are more on the loud and boisterous side. It’s a family thing, taught to us by example from our mother and her brothers. And come to think of it, I do believe that all of us kids have passed that little behavioral trait on to our own children. Monkey see, monkey do.

So, make this lovely sauce and give your sister or best friend or grumpy boss a jar of it. They’ll be really nice to you, for reals. And as I said in the original spiced caramel post, make this for your children for an after school snack. Share the moment with them and talk with them about their day. It will be a time you won’t regret.

Spiced Caramel Butter Sauce
Recipe by Terri @ that’s some good cookin’

Basic Caramel Butter Sauce

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup agave nectar or corn syrup
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)

Directions
Microwave Method:

In a large bowl, put one cube of butter. Cover the bowl with wax paper to catch the butter spatters. Microwave on high for 45 seconds-1 minute until the butter is melted.
Remove bowl from microwave and add the white and brown sugars. Stir well, breaking up any brown sugar lumps. Stir in the rest of the ingredients until well combined.
Dip a pastry brush in warm water and brush the inside of the bowl to wash down the sides where the sugar granules have stuck. This will help prevent your sauce from being grainy. If sugar crystals are reintroduced to the sauce after it has begun to cook, then it causes more crystals to grow. Interesting, ain’t it. If you don’t mind a grainy sauce, then skip this step. Personally, I kind of like it. (Grin.)
Put the wax paper back over the bowl. Microwave on high for two minutes. Using oven mitts, take the bowl out of the microwave and stir. Wash down sides again with pastry brush and water.
Cover, return to microwave, and cook on high another 2 minutes (this is now 4 minutes that you have cooked your sauce). Stir again.
Cook for two more minutes on high (this brings cooking time to a total of 6 minutes). The sauce will be super hot and will be bubbling around the edges. Be careful and use oven mitts to take the bowl out of the microwave. Stir until everything is smooth and creamy. You’re done!
Transfer the sauce into a glass jar and allow to cool. Store in refrigerator. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not pour the hot sauce into a cool or cold jar. It could cause the jar to break. To warm the jar, just run some hot tap water over it, wipe off the water with a cloth, and then pour the syrup into the jar. Again: this syrup is very hot!

To summarize:

melt the butter for 45 seconds-1 minute
add the rest of the ingredients, stir, cook for 2 minutes on high
stir, cook for 2 minutes on high
stir, cook for 2 more minutes on high

Stove-top Method:
Melt the butter in a 3-quart sauce pot over medium heat. Add the remainder of the ingredients. Stir until well blended. Wash down the inside of the pot with a moist pastry brush that has been dipped in warm water. Cook and stir the sauce over medium heat just until the first bubbles start to appear. Stirring is important because the sugars burn easily. When stirring, make sure that you get the sauce at the bottom of the pan otherwise it will burn. Remove from heat and pour into a warmed one-quart jar or two warmed pint jars. Allow to cool before putting on the lid(s). Store in refrigerator.

For the Spiced Caramel Butter Sauce

1/2 cup caramel butter sauce
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Mix warm caramel butter sauce with pumpkin pie spice. Serve with fruit and cheese of choice. I like to use apple and pear slices, and a sharp cheddar cheese cut into sticks.

For the Microwave

Melt the butter for 45 seconds-1 minute on high.

Add the sugars.

Mix well until the butter and sugars are well incorporated. Break up any brown sugar lumps. Just press them against the side of the bowl with the back of your mixing spoon.

Add the corn syrup or agave nectar.

Stir well.

Pour in the sweetened condensed milk.

Stir well until all of the ingredients are well combined and look creamy. (In this picture I have just begun to stir in the sweetened condensed milk.)

With a pastry brush moistened with warm water, brush the sides of the bowl where some of the sugar granules have collected. You will get a small amount of water that runs down onto the sauce. Not a problem. Cleaning the sides of the bowl will help prevent the sauce from being grainy.

Place a piece of wax paper over the bowl before putting it in the microwave on high for two minutes. The wax paper helps to prevent any splatters from getting all over your microwave. You can see the butter splatters on this piece of wax paper after I used it to cover the butter while it was melting.

After microwaving on high for the first 2 minutes, you may not notice too much difference in your sauce except maybe some little bubbles along the edge and your sauce will be warm. Stir well. Repeat with the pastry brush washing after stirring.

After the second 2 minute cooking on high, the sauce will be a lot hotter and there will be bubbles along the sides. You can see the bubbles in this picture forming along the upper edge of the sauce. Be sure to handle the bowl with oven mitts.

After the third two minutes you will see that the sauce is VERY bubbly and VERY hot. Handle carefully. Stir well until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Allow to cool a little (just a few minutes) before pouring into warm jars. Remember to warm the jars before adding the hot syrup. Hot ingredients in a cold jar will often cause the jar to break. To warm your jar(s), just run hot tap water over the outside of the jar, then wipe dry.