It’s been a crazy past couple weeks around here. I’ve got my fingers in a lot of pots at the moment, with articles to type, photos to take, and Oregon house-hunting finally on the horizon! Yes, my friends, we’re finally taking the big leap and going up north for a few days to poke around the Portland metro area. Neither myself nor Jeremy has ever looked for a home before, so if you have any house-hunting tips, please feel free to toss it this way. I kiiiind of have no idea what I’m doing. I mean, I’m vaguely aware of the steps that need to be taken, but any pointers on getting from one step to another would be pretty amazing.
I’ve been keeping busy with a lot of recipe contributions lately, and right now I have a few recipes up at Simple & Crisp’s journal. These tasty little bites include dark chocolate & orange mini-sundaes, blood orange cocktails, and my favorite of the three, pancetta, cheddar, & sage apple crisps. And you may have seen me share this on Facebook or Twitter yesterday, but I have a guest post up over at Cup of Jo for this decadent and wonderful homemade caramel sauce, and Jo and Shoko were kind enough to encourage me share it here, as well!
This caramel recipe has been there for me through thick and thin. Iāve made it for myself, friends, family, and guests and used it in a wide variety of frostings, fillings, and toppings. Iāve incorporated it into buttercream, Iāve drizzled it over sheet cake, Iāve cored and stuffed apples with it, and Iāve even boiled it down to a thick paste and used it to fill the macarons at my own wedding. This, my friends, is the best caramel sauce. And because itās the best caramel sauce, my absolute favorite way to enjoy it is to simply pour it over a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, so I get every little burst of its rich, buttery, toasted caramel flavor.
There are two keys components to this recipe. The first is to cook down the granulated sugar until it starts ātoastingā and begins to turn amber-colored. This brings out all the deep, nutty flavors of the sugar. The second is to add in brown sugar immediately afterwards. Brown sugar has a little bit of molasses in it naturally, and it brings a wonderful buttery, warm note to the party that granulated sugar canāt create on its own. And when the two combine with the rest of the ingredients, you get a caramel sauce unrivaled by any in human history. And that, my friends, is why Iāve used this recipe so many times and in so many ways, because when somethingās the best, it just makes everything you add it to that much better.

The Best Caramel Sauce
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup water
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar
- Ā½ cup butter at room temperature
- 1 cup heavy cream at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
-
In a small stainless steel saucepan, mix together the water and the granulated sugar over high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Bring the heat down to medium and continue boiling until the mixture turns a light caramel color, stirring once every two minutes or so. It can take up to 15 minutes for the clear syrup to turn light caramel-colored, but the exact speed will depend upon the heat intensity of your stovetop.
-
Once the syrup turns that light amber hue, quickly remove the pot from the heat and immediately stir in the heavy cream, butter, and brown sugar until incorporated. Be careful when adding the ingredients, however, as the mixture will spit and hiss a bit. If the sugar begins to clump up when you're stirring do not worry, just stir as best as you can for about 30 seconds and then place the pot on the stovetop over medium heat until the mixture reaches a boil. Once it is boiling again, stir it until the sugar chunk dissolves and the mixture is smooth.
-
When the caramel smoothes out, allow the mixture to simmer for 3-5 minutes more so that it thickens slightly. Remove from the stovetop and stir in the vanilla extract and the salt. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature. Use immediately, or keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. If refrigerated, the caramel will solidify slightly, simply heat it up a bit to get it back to drizzling consistency.
Looks delicious, I must definitely try it soon š
Thank you, Ines!!
everything is so beautiful!! good luck on the house hunting!!
Thanks Molly!! Reallllly hoping we find something, the houses up there seem to be selling very quickly!
Hip hip for Cup of Jo AND for buying a house! If it helps, I signed a contract earlier this month/am two weeks away from closing and I still have no idea what the heck I'm doing. But the good thing is, that's why you hire a realtor – they do all the hard work. š Sending good house buying vibes your way!
Haha, thanks so much Ashlae! Yeah I am so thankful we have a realtor to help us with the process, there's so much legal stuff and paperwork it's kind of overwhelming to think about it all!
This sauce looks so good I could kiss you!! Annnnnd as always, so do the photos. Your posts bring so much effing brightness to my day, friend!
Awww thank you my dear!!! I am so incredibly happy to hear that! š
Yay! Are you moving back to Portland?! We should defs. hang out in real life then! I just bought a house in inner-SE portland last summer, and house hunting here can be a nightmare. The market's really hot right now.
YES!!! We definitely should!!! And yeah, everyone up there is saying buying a house right now up there is kind of a nightmare, so many competitive bids. And we'll be doing it out of state, so we really want to find a place (or a few) we'd be happy with so we don't have to make another trip up until the actual move date. SE is my ideal neighborhood, but we want a big lot for gardening so it's been hard finding stuff there. Right now we're looking at Milwaukee as the main housing location. Really hoping everything goes well!!
OMG! I live in SE Portland, kinda close-in ā a few blocks away from Division. Feel free to email me for tips! I bike around a lot and have spotted some cute houses with sale signs in the 'hood.
Back to the promise land, eh? ;0) I'm an east side girl all the way. Grew up in Ladd's Addition (SE), but rented twice in NE and fell in love. I bought our house in 2001 and love being able to walk to anything and everything. The big yards are hard to come by, but they're out there. Good luck!
Thanks Mindy!! Ladd's Addition is great, my parents' deli used to be on 18th & E Burnside and I love that area too. I'm so nervous for next weekend but so excited at the same time!! But most of all I can't wait to be back in the Pacific Northwest š
Wowww so prettyyyyy…..I'm googly eyed. toasted sugar sounds kinda divine. š Have a beautiful day Eva~
Awww thanks Ellie!! I'm glad you liked the post š
Such gorgeous photos and the caramel look to die for!
Thank you, Tieghan! I love your name btw, I've never heard it before but it is just beautiful. Is it Irish?
I was just struggling with caramel recipes last night! It can be so tricky. I don't have a go-to recipe, and I love the addition of brown sugar, so I'm definitely trying this one next!
I highly recommend it, Katie! The trickiest part is getting the granulated sugar to caramelize but taking it off the stovetop before it starts to burn. once you get that down the rest is easy peasy š
House Haunting by Portland?! How exciting! Good luck – what a wonderful adventure you have ahead of you!
Thanks Shelly!!! I am *so* excited and can't wait to start looking at places in person š
Eeek, house hunting in Portland!! That's really, really exciting. I love that you've got a go-to caramel sauce recipe. Caramel is something I've attempted…once? I think? I mean, clearly I'm far from having a go-to thing with it. I feel you on the fingers in all the pots thing. You get to the end of the day and you've done so much but you've done nothing at all! Eventually things settle, right? Let's just hope it's sooner rather than later! Good luck on the house search! <3
Thanks so much, my dear friend!!! Caramel is my bff, it's probably the recipe I've made more than any other. Once you find something that works you just got to keep using it. And totally agree with you about the end of the day thing, I'm really hoping that all of these various efforts will come to fruition very soon!!
Such beautiful photos and my mouth is officially watering now. Good luck house hunting!
Thank you Alison!! Fingers crossed we find something to make an offer on and our offer gets accepted š
This is great news! I hope I could meet you once you live in Portland- I'm absolutely in love with your food photography and all the deliciousness in your photos!
Love,
Sonya
http://foreverornot.blogspot.com
Yes, definitely!! I feel like there is so much good food in Portland that I need to try, I'd love to meet up at a little restaurant or bakery! I'm also contemplating starting a PNW food blogger meet-up group…
some people go crazy for chocolate, but not me. i'm a caramel girl. š
have to wait until i've moved to the new house to be able to do this! thanks for the recipe!
So so unique and I love them. personal chef in austin tx
The recipe sounds good, but is a lot of work. Have you ever tried boiling an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for a couple of hours? I promise it wont blow up!
The first picture is stunning; I could look at it for hours. Also, good luck on finding a new home! So exciting.
I tried this, and the BEST thing EVER!!!!! You are a goddess! Thank you so much, and its easy to follow your instruction.
P/s : your photos are divinee. I can stop thank you you, thank you thank you hihihi.
Let's Be Penpals!
from my homestead to your inbox