Caramel sauce

Caramel sauce is something I find totally irresistible. On ice cream, on panna cotta, or similar desserts, caramel sauce is always my favorite choice, closely followed by fruit ones.
One thing I don't like, though, is the horrible taste industrial caramel sauce has, at least all those that I've tried.
So, there was only one thing I could do, make my own. You'll find plenty of recipes around, I've read them, I've watched the videos, etc., but what I'm about to write, is just what I did to prepare it - the quantities were definitely improvised.
I've also prepared caramel without butter and with different sugar-cream proportion, but let's say this is the one I'm really happy with, and that I'll probably stick to in the future.
I've made plenty of desserts with this caramel, Apple Caramel Cinnamon Rolls, Hazelnut Caramel Muffins, and I guess you remember my last post, the Chocolate Caramel Cookies. My favourite were definitely Caramel filled pralines - so good (although I managed to screw something when tempering chocolate), that gooey goodness coming out with every bite, mmmmmmmmm....

white chocolate mousse with caramel sauce

Caramel sauce


180 g sugar
200 ml heavy cream
15 g butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
a pinch of fleur de sel

   

Put the sugar in a heavy bottom sauce pan or a deep skillet (I use ceramic coated deep skillet because white coloured interior helps control the sugar caramelization better). While the sugar is warming up, stir it with a fork. As soon as it starts melting stop stirring and just swirl the pan.
In the meantime, warm up the heavy cream to 80°C (if you don't have the food thermometer, it's when tiny skin starts forming in surface).
Once all the sugar's melted and has reached dark amber colour, pour in the hot cream stirring - be careful, it will foam and bubble, and turn into one big candy at first, but don't worry, keep stirring it and it will gradually melt and become liquid again.
Add the butter and cook stirring until it's reached desired thickness (keep in mind it will thicken a lot when it cools completely, and even more in the fridge, so it will depend a lot on what you intend to use it for).
Pour the caramel sauce into a bowl, add the vanilla extract and the fleur de sel (I usually add a few pinches). Stir well and let cool completely.
If you are not using it immediately, store it in a glass jar and keep in the fridge for up to one week (I've actually kept it a few days longer and it's still fine).
If you need your caramel sauce to be liquid, you can always warm it up in the microwave - a few seconds will be enough (5-10 seconds for 2 TBspoons).

Caramello


180 g di zucchero semolato
200 ml di panna fresca
15 g di burro
1 cucchiaino di estratto puro di vaniglia
un pizzico di fior di sale


Mettete lo zucchero in un tegame, preferibilmente con interno di colore chiaro (io uso una con il rivestimento in ceramica bianca), per controllare meglio lo zucchero - se si brucia troppo, il caramello sarà amaro. Cominciate a riscaldare lo zucchero, inizialmente giratelo con una forchetta, ma appena inizia a fondersi, smettete di girare (eventualmente girate il tegame).
Nel frattempo scaldate la panna fino a 80°C (se non avete il termometro, è quando in superficie inizia ad apparire la sottile pellicina di grasso).
Quando tutto lo zucchero si è sciolto e ha raggiunto il colore dorato versatevi la panna calda mescolando con molta attenzione.
Unite anche il burro, e cuocete mescolando finché la salsa diventi liscia e cremosa.
Versatela in una ciotola, aggiungete l'estratto di vaniglia e il fior di sale (a piacere, io ci metto un paio di prese). Lasciatelo raffreddare a temperatura ambiente. Se non dovete usarlo subito, conservatelo in frigorifero in un vasetto di vetro, fino a una settimana.

Caramel umak


180 g sitnog kristal šećera
200 ml svježeg slatkog vrhnja
15 g maslaca
1 žličica čistog ekstrakta vanilije
prstohvat morske soli


Stavite šećer u dublju tavu ili drugu posudu (izbjegavajte posude tamne unutrašnjosti) i zagrijavajte ga miješajući vilicom, ali samo dok se ne počne topiti. Prestanite miješati dok se sav šećer ne otopi i postigne tamno-zlatnu karamel boju.
U međuvremenu zagrijte vrhnje do 80°C (ako nemate termometar, to je kad se na površini počne stvarati tanka kožica).
Dodajte vrhnje u otopljeni šećer, pazite jer će se jako zapjeniti i prskati. Miješajte pjenjačom ili žlicom. U početku će se šećer pretvoriti u grumene, ali će se polako opet otopiti.
Dodajte maslac i nastavite kuhati miješajući dok se umak ne počne zgušnjavati - dok ne primijetite da ostaje trag na dnu posude dok miješate. Ponekad mi ostanu komadići neotopljenog šećera, pa ih odstranim tako što umak procijedim kroz mrežasto cjedilo.
Umak ulijte u zdjelu i umiješajte ekstrakt vanilije i morsku sol (sol se neće osjetiti u karamelu, ali ugodan je kontrast slatkoći šećera).
Ostavite da se potpuno ohladi, pa ako ga nećete odmah koristiti, ulijte ga u staklenku i čuvajte do tjedan dana u hladnjaku.
Ako vam je za upotrebu potreban u tekućem stanju (kao preljev za sladoled i sl.), dovoljno je zagrijati ga nekoliko sekundi u mikrovalnoj (5-10 sekundi).