I could not tease you any longer. In my last post, I shared a recipe for The Best Chocolate Sauce Ever, in it, I had a jar of caramel sauce. Now, let me preface, I love my first caramel sauce recipe. Love, love, love. But, I was making a batch for an ice cream party, and I decided to see if I could make a good thing, great. And this went beyond great. It is so delicious, that you could eat it from a spoon, and not miss the ice cream. All it took was a vanilla bean and a sprinkling of sea salt. The sea salt does not make this sauce salty, but enhances the caramel and vanilla flavor. It is to die for. I cannot wait to make this after my first trip to the apple orchard in the coming months. I cannot wait to swirl a little of this sauce into some apple sauce, or drizzled over a slice of apple pie. I have made this sauce many times, and always give the leftovers away because I cannot be trusted alone with it. I have been told by a reliable source that it is also perfection spooned into your morning coffee.
Come Christmastime, this will for sure be a gift for neighbors, friends, teachers. It will be so cute in little jars, with some cute ribbons and some festive embellishments. Like this one, from pinterest.
or this.
Ready to make some? Let’s go.
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cups heavy cream (used 2 cups by accident, oops.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 vanilla bean, sliced and seeded
1 teaspoon sea salt
Slice a vanilla bean in half. Using the back of the knife, scrape the seeds from the pod. You can save the pods, and put them in a jar of sugar. Pretty soon, you will have the most fragrant and delicious sugar.
Pour the cream into a measuring cup and add the vanilla bean scrapings, and sea salt. Set aside.
Put the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the sugar to a boil.
Let the sugar cook (do not stir using a spoon, at most, you may swirl the pan to avoid hot spots) until it reaches a deep amber color.
Whisk in the cream mixture. It will bubble and go nuts, but keep whisking. It will come together just like this.
Pour into a jar and keep in the fridge. The sauce will thicken, but it is more of a loose sauce. This will keep for about a week in the fridge.
For more tips on making caramel sauce, check out my original caramel sauce recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream (used 2 cups by accident, oops.)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 vanilla bean, sliced and seeded
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Slice a vanilla bean in half. Using the back of the knife, scrape the seeds from the pod.
- Pour the cream into a measuring cup and add the vanilla bean scrapings, and sea salt. Set aside.
- Put the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the sugar to a boil. Let the sugar cook (do not stir using a spoon, at most, you may swirl the pan to avoid hot spots) until it reaches a deep amber color.
- Whisk in the cream mixture. It will bubble and go nuts, but keep whisking. It will come together.
- Pour into a jar and keep in the fridge. The sauce will thicken, but it is more of a loose sauce.
- This will keep for about a week in the fridge.
I am Bree. I love to cook. Even more than I love to take pictures.
Sounds divine. I will make it mid week after our brief beach trip. YUM
Oh and sea salt in caramel is always a hit with me
wow this looks great!!
Oh goodness…salted caramel sauce!? Obsessed!
Me too. I can eat it with a spoon. With nothing else. So good.
This does look quite dangerous
but insanely delicious! Love your pictures too, so clean, clear and lovely, thanks, Chris
thank you Chris.
Bree this looks and sounds amazing! I’d like to make for x-mas gifts. U say it only lasts a week in the fridge. Can this be canned in a water bath like jams and jellies?
I am sure that it can, but I am not sure how to do it. I would do some research on a valid canning site.
I’m a little late, but hopefully you’ll still see this. Anything that includes more than a teaspoon or two of dairy at most is unsafe for canning, even with a pressure canner. Only industrial canners can get hot enough to make canning something like this safe.
thanks for sharing!
Oh. My. Me thinks this will pair well with the gallon of vanilla ice cream I just made. Thanks for a new Christmas gift idea, too!
You’re killing me! I don’t even like caramel sauce and I’m drooling over this!
you will like this one. Amazing.
I am SO in! Homemade caramel sauce. Vanilla bean. Sea salt. Yep, sounds incredible!
Me too! This sauce is so good.
Beautiful images today Bree. The sauce looks lovely!
divine!! Love them on cheesecakes too
yum. Forgot about it on cheesecake.
I do think there’s any such thing as too much heavy cream.
It looks delicious! 
me neither. My behind doesn’t seem to think so either.
Oh man, I will never forget the first time you made me caramel sauce. I really thought it was going to be a huge process and not that much different from store bought. Boy, was I wrong. It didn’t take long and it is no comparison to store bought. The addition of the sea salt must take it over the top. I think this will be my holiday gift this year. I love your packaging ideas too!
See, have faith my friend.
Oh, and yes. This is perfection in a cup when added to coffee.
you make the best coffee in the world. Miss Corey’s Coffee House.
Holy smokes…that looks amazing!
Could I just eat it with a spoon?
why yes. And, I may have done that myself a time or two.
THIS. LOOKS. MOUTHWATERING. I wonder if you could add lavender notes to it? That might make my head explode in all its gourmet deliciousness.
Sure you can. Or lemon would be delicious.
Salted caramel is one of my absolute all-time favourites – I normally spread it on the bottom of a chocolate ganache tart but I could literally just eat spoonfuls of your sauce straight up. Delicious!
Yum. I made a tart like once from Saveur. It almost killed me, I have the scars to prove it, but it was delicious.
Just made this and am having it tonight over your vanilla bean ice cream…can’t wait! I was hugely disappointed when I added the cream mixture because it globbed it, but you were right – it came together beautifully. And deliciously. I see gifts in the future. Thanks for the recipe and one million thanks for all the pictures!!!
Yeah! I am glad that you kept the faith, it always comes together. I am glad that the pictures helped.
Oh my! this looks amazing, I have been searching for maldon sea salt for a while now but it seems my only option is to order it online. Where do you get yours?
I have gotten mine at Whole Foods, and I am almost positive that you can buy it at Williams-Sonoma.
I really want to make this but can you buy a vanilla bean at the grocery store? I have never seen one and don’t want to get my hopes up if they are hard to find…..
Yes, you can get them in the spice aisle.
This sounds great! But you really should try some Himalayan pink salt. I get mine from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com. The flavor is so much better than regular salt! Thanks for sharing this recipe—I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Deb!
Salt makes everything better. I’ve been dipping banana bread in it all night! It’s like crack.
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Thank you for the lovely recipe. I tried to make this but my sugar/water mixture never carmelized but instead turned into a white sugar rock in the bottom of the pan. Do you know what I did wrong? I would appreciate the help!
Was your heat not high enough? I am stumped about this one.
Is the vanilla bean + vanilla intentional? And if so, when should the vanilla be added–into the cream mixture?
Yes, I like both. I add the vanilla bean and salt to the cream before I add it to the sugar.
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So, I made two batches. The first didn’t seize at all even though the sugar was boiling when I added the cream mixture and the second did a tiny bit and got a bit more on the brown side but still isn’t as brown as yours. Both batches would make a even a shoe taste delish!!! Any insight into how to tweak my process?
Every time I make it (which is more than I would like to admit) it turns out a bit differently. If you do not want it to seize at all, you can heat your cream. But I usually just keep it on the heat and whisk and it comes back together.
Bree, I think I have failed Caramel Sauce 101. I attempted to make a double batch on my very first go, but I didn’t feel this was my down fall. I was unsure about whether I should have removed the simple syrup from the heat before adding the cream. I did this, whisked steadily while pouring the cream in slowly and I got a huge gooey ball, that would not leave the whisk, splashing around in a thin caramel milk. Since I was in this deep and felt any attempt to salvage was worth not tossing the pot, I returned the kit and caboodle to the heat and whisked until the sugary mass relented into the sauce. It’s cooling in the pot now while I stir occasionally to avoid separation before jarring. Any suggestions on what I could do differently next time? This sauce is intended for your frosting recipe in the morning, over pumpkin pie spiced cinnamon rolls for the gaggle of girls who had a slumber party here last night
TIA and it was this very recipe that brought me to your wonderful blog.
Well, for starters, I would not recommend doubling this recipe. As a rule, I do not play or change a recipe at all the first time I make it. When you pour the cream, it will clump, but keep whisking over the heat and it will come back together. It will not be super thick, but it wil thicken in the fridge.
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WOW! I just made this today first time ever making candy of any kind. Your recipe was dead on, LOVE the pictures, I didn’t even use a thermometer, when mine looked like yours I knew it was done! I used liquid vanilla coffee creamer in place of the heavy whipping cream, AMAZING! TY!
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I am so glad that it was successful for you!
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Thanks for this recipe idea! I’m going to make it for Christmas gifts- do you know approx how much sauce is made using your recipe amounts?
A little over 2 cups.
I tried this today and it’s such a simple recipe that puts out an amazing product! Made three jars that I will be giving as Christmas gifts to some very special friends. Thanks so much!
Happy Holidays!
I am so glad Diane! You have some lucky friends.
Thank you! this is a great recipe. Can this be canned (10 minutes in boiling water)? Also, do you have a recipe for Dark Chocolate Carmel Sauce with the sea salt? I had some recently and have been looking for a recipie – it was awsome.
I do not know, I don’t can anything, I am scared. I would add a few ounces of dark chocolate at the end and see how it works.
Just had my first attempt and I completely read it wrong…and yet still tasty! I accidentally read 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 cup cream…but it still came out great. I also didn’t have sea salt so I used kosher salt instead…will try it and read everything correctly next time.
Question, at what point do you add that 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla? I missed that part and it tasted fine, but was wondering. Thanks for such a wonderful sauce! A total keeper…I’m trying to keep from straight drinking it out of the jar!
At the end, when it is off the heat.
Thank you so much for sharing your divine Sea Salt & Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce recipe…it is so good!
)
I made it for my Husbands Birthday Coffee…he loves a caramel sea salt latte…he couldn’t believe how amazing the caramel sauce was..he said we made the best coffee in the world that day!
So…thank you for making every day..the best coffee day…. in the world
That is a very delicious coffee! Happy Birthday to your husband!
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Can I can this for later use?
I answered this in a previous post, you need to do some research with a canning website.
This sounds like perfection!
Why will it only last a week? I guess that eliminates it as a good Christmas present idea because I wouldn’t want to give something that has such a short life span. But it sounds perfect for making for special desserts.
If you can it, it will last longer but I do not know how to do that. And it is because it has cream in it.
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OH. MY. GOSH. Forget eating this with a spoon, I was drinking it right after it came off the burner! I’m going to call this Salted Caramel Crack because as I was running my finger over the remnants of the pan and frantically licking them clean, I felt like a crack addict must feel. I was very worried about this turning out right. Especially after reading the comments from a different, but similar recipe. But this was so easy and turned out great. I even got a little distracted while the sugar was cooking and thought I burned it (it was very dark and smelled a little burnt) but it still came out great!
I love this recipe too. Once you figure out how to make it you will be making it all the time!
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Massively late to the party here, but thank you so much for this recipe – it is so delicious! I made this with an ice cream cake for some friends on Saturday and it went down a storm! I think this will be my Christmas gift to everyone this year – I know I’d be thrilled to get a jar in my stocking. Keep up the great work!
I am so glad! Thanks!