Whiskey Caramel Sauce
This caramel sauce has been a long time in the making.
Literally.
It all started when I posted my Recipe Bucket List for 2013. My dear friend Annalise, baker extraordinaire, offered to help me get over my fear of making caramel. I graciously accepted her offer and we set up a caramel date for the next week. Except I had to cancel because my boy was home from school sick. We rescheduled only to have me cancel again because my car broke and was in the shop. We rescheduled yet again and I canceled yet again. This time it was dumping snow and when faced with the choice of driving down the canyon in a loaner car or making a few runs at Canyons, well….you can only imagine what I choose. So on our fourth attempt, we finally got together.
*I’m flakey. I know it. I own it. And I’m truly sorry.
All I can say is, hooray for friends that kick ass in the baking/pastry department. And hooray for High West Whiskey. And hooray for sugar and butter. And a double hooray when you put them all together because you get Whiskey Caramel Sauce and a pretty great afternoon catching up with aforementioned friend that kicks ass in the baking/pastry department.
Annalise and I got together last week and each put our spin on a caramely concoction. She made Caramel Pudding with Sweet and Salty Pecans and I made a basic caramel sauce spiked with my favorite whiskey from local distillery, High West.
At some point, I’d really like to attempt and master all things caramel: soft candies, toffee, some sort of hard candy, caramel frosting, ice cream…..the possibilities are endless! But wanting to master the basic, a simple caramel sauce was up first. Simple, yes, but spiked with whiskey this caramel sauce is far from ordinary. It’s buttery, sugary, boozy love.
Contemplating what this sauce would be good on, ‘anything’ was the only suitable answer we came up with. Drizzled (with a heavy hand) on vanilla ice cream, warmed and smothered over a dense chocolate brownie, there isn’t anything this wouldn’t make better. If all else fails, put it on a spoon and and eat it neat. Annalise and I leaned against her kitchen counter and did just that. It was heavenly.
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Whiskey Caramel Sauce
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Pin RecipeDescription
Boozy and buttery, this caramel sauce is a show stopper. Drizzled on ice cream or poured over a brownie, it is far from a basic caramel sauce.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon High West Double Rye Whiskey or similar
Instructions
- Over low heat, cook sugar in a dry heavy saucepan, swirling the pan until sugar is melted and pale golden.
- Cook caramel without stirring, swirling pan, until deep golden brown about 10 minutes.
- Remove pan from heat. Carefully pour cream into sugar (mixture will bubble and steam vigorously), stirring constantly.
- Return to heat and simmer, stirring, until hardened caramel is completely dissolved. Add butter and cook, stirring, until just incorporated.
- Once again, remove from heat and stir in whiskey. Serve warm.
- Or let cool and and refrigerate until ready to use. When ready to use, bring caramel to room temperature or rewarm gently and drizzle on anything and everything.
26 Comments
Wow this looks delicious. I can’t wait to try it.
Check out my blog if you get a chance. It would mean a lot to me!
http://www.manusmenu.blogspot.com
Will do! I love checking out new blogs. Thanks for the comments!
I love High West! Their new distillery is practically across the street from my house…
Great recipe…
I love it too! The whiskey is my favorite!
What a great color. I need to lesson from Annalise too.
We should all do a baking/lesson day!
I agree with Barbara, and I see a new revenue stream in your future! This looks totally decadent and so jealous you reaped the benefit of Annalise’s crazy knowledge. But better yet that ya’ll spent the day together. I’m next in line.
Let’s do it!! (get together soon, that is!)
Okay, I think we need a group caramel lesson from Annalise. And then we all need to sit around and eat this by the spoonful. This looks absolutely fantastic!
She’s fantastic. And SO full of knowledge when it comes to pastry!
How did I not see this post earlier?? For some reason your blog doesn’t update in my rss feeder. Boo.
Anyway, I’m so glad that I got to be a part of this sauce, and that I got to taste it. Because it’s amazing, and I just can’t get over it. Let’s do another baking day soon!
Oh, and you’re not flaky. 🙂
I think something is broken on my end. Boo is right. It was a great day- thanks for having me over!!
Whiskey Caramel Sauce little bit of heaven. Good reason for me to hit the State Liquor Store.
It’s amazing, a great reason to buy some whiskey!!
HOLY.
I can’t wait to check out Annalise’s blog, and I REALLY want to shovel this into my head by the bucketful. YUM!
You’ll love her blog. She’s an amazing baker and has SO many great recipes!!
I’m dying over this, Kelley! I’m a fool for caramel and the whiskey takes it to an amazing level!
Consider yourself warned!!!
Kelley I am so over the moon excited about this sauce! I love caramel more than I should. I’m the only one in my family that loves it so I don’t make it often. But I’m making this sauce! You should jar it and sell it. I’d buy it by the box. 🙂
I’d send it to you at no cost 🙂
Goooootta figure out a way to get that funneled into my face.
Every other caramel sauce recipe I’ve seen uses water along with the sugar during the first step. Do you need to add water to the pan or just the dry sugar?
Just the sugar!
I don’t know if this blog will be responded to or not. But I am having an issue with my caramel breaking immediately after I add the whiskey. HighWest Canpfire whiskey is my fav with the subtle smokiness. Mmmm
Any ideas on how to keep this from breaking? It becomes sandpaper gritty and it’s just not creamy and appetizing any longer.
How long does this take in the first step. I have had my sugar in the pan on low heat for abourt 25 mins now and it is still just plain sugar?????
So after a couple tries, I think I’ve gotten the hang of this caramel sauce! You’ve really got to swirl that sugar to make sure it’s melting evenly, otherwise you end up with chunks of sugar that won’t melt before the rest of the sugar burns…learned this the hard way. But this evening I made a batch without adding whiskey and a batch with, and I have to say that I actually prefer the batch with the whiskey! The plain one is just a little too…bland for my taste. Adding whiskey (I used Famous Grouse…it’s what I had in the liquor cupboard) just depends the flavour so much. Have you tried using anything besides whiskey? I’m wondering if a nice dark rum would be complimentary as well…