Think fluffy pancakes, warm waffles, muffins right out from the oven or a scoop of humble vanilla ice cream. A little drizzle of salted caramel is perfect to elevate a mundane dish and take it to a whole new level.

It’s just the cooking of the sugar, that is the most crucial part of making caramel. It is a little under and you don’t get the nuttiness and a little over, and you’ll have a bitter taste.

If you wish to take a departure from the bottled chocolate sauce, then my recipe for simple and delicious salted caramel will come in handy, and will easily survive 2-3 weeks, if refrigerated. The best part is, that you can flavour it with any ingredient that you like.

Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar(200 grams)
80 grams butter(unsalted if making regular caramel. You may use regular salted butter while making salted caramel).
100 mL cream
A pinch of salt

Steps:

1. Take a heavy bottomed pan and add the granulated white sugar in it.
2. Let the sugar melt gradually and start to whisk to melt it evenly.
3. Once the sugar disintegrates into a deep amber and not dark brown colour, remove it from heat.
4. Immediately add the butter to the pan. Be careful as the moment you’ll add the butter, the syrup will bubble up.
5. Whisk until the butter is completely mixed with the sugar syrup.
6. When the butter gets mixed, add the cream and keep whisking continuously. Now you can add a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter. Adjust for seasoning when hot.
7. Store the salted caramel in an airtight container. This is the time when you can infuse your caramel with flavours you like. I’d recommend adding either cinnamon or star anise or some pods of cardamom to the caramel to give a beautiful earthy undertone.
8. This’ll easily last for 3 weeks in the refrigerator if you don’t finish it before that!