It’s amazing how many recipes I’ve seen that promise butterscotch cookies, brownies, or cakes and suggests that you make them with butterscotch syrup. It comes in a jar. Or butterscotch chips. Bagged. It’s like those sandwich recipes where you must grab two pieces of bread and some deli meats (um, thank you?). ), it’s a letdown, but I just assumed that butterscotch must be a thermometer-requiring, magic wand-waving difficult thing to make. This would explain it.
It’s true; I was hoodwinked. You were also because butterscotch is so easy to make. Butterscotch that tastes so good it could even bring you to tears. Five ingredients (spoiler alert: one is salt), plus five minutes on the heat = I can’t. It’s just that I don’t have the vocabulary to describe how amazing it tastes.
It was one of those mornings I imagine any parent who has ever had a child, even one incredibly cute, can relate to. I found an old list of recipes I wanted to try one day. They were awesome, took very few ingredients (and most likely, you have them already), and required little time. They needed less time than a short nap. The home-cooked goodness was so delicious that it almost blew me away. It’s like a magic wand.
Ridiculously Easy Butterscotch Sauce
Yield: 2/3 to 3/4 cup of sauce
Unsalted butter, 1/4 cup (2 ounces), or 1/2 stick (I used light) brown sugar.
1/2 cup (118 ml) heavy cream
Add more salt to taste. 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt (2 grams) or 1/4 teaspoon regular salt.
Vanilla extract: 1 1/2 teaspoons (8ml), plus additional to taste
Melt butter over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Add sugar, cream, and salt. Whisk until well combined. A flat whip is perfect for this. Bring to a gentle boil, then cook for five minutes while whisking.
This is where you can feel like a chef, even though the recipe is simple. Remove the sauce from the heat, and stir in one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Taste the sauce with a spoon (without burning your mouth!) You can add more vanilla or additional salt by adding a pinch. You can adjust it to suit your tastes, whisking after each addition. I used a teaspoon of flaky sea salt and the amount of vanilla listed to make butterscotch with a butterscotch-like solid flavor. However, the vanilla’s intensity and the salt’s strength can vary.
Serve warm or cold over vanilla ice cream, roasted pear, or pound cake. As it cools, the sauce will become thicker. The sauce can be stored in an airtight jar and heated in the microwave or a small saucepan.
Do ahead: The sauce will last at least two weeks if stored in an airtight container.
Gift this: Whoops! A few readers have warned that butter-and-cream-type confections are. You can also check out our other blog posts. Safe to can. Thank you so much for keeping Smitten Kitchen free of botulism! You can put them in small jars but be sure to warn people that they’re perishable. They should still be held in the refrigerator.