In an emergency you can cook up a fairly good caramel sauce using milk instead of heavy cream. This caramel sauce was adapted from the Bright Eyed Baker’s recipe. It makes a little more than 3/4 cup of caramel sauce, which was the perfect amount for the apple cake I was making.
CARAMEL SAUCE WITH MILK
1 cup sugar
1-1/4 cup 1% milk
1/4 tsp salt
• Place the sugar in a large, tall, heavy-bottomed pot. Make sure it isn’t a shallow pot.
• Place the pot over medium high heat.
• Spread the sugar around the pot with a wooden spoon with a long handle. If you don’t have a long handled spoon you will wish you had after you add the milk.
• In the mean time heat up the milk in the microwave until very hot.
• Place the hot milk beside the pot.
• Do not leave the pot for any length of time and stir it occasionally. The medium high heat melts the sugar faster and can burn faster as well. The advantage of slightly higher heat is there is less clumping of the unmelted sugar.
• When the sugar begins to melt, you have to start stirring the pot.
• When you have a blond color move the pot off the element, stand back a little, making sure your face is nowhere near the pot.
• Now begin to add the hot milk to the melted sugar very gradually and keep stirring it.
• Some of the caramel will harden into a glob as you add the milk.
• Return the pot to the stove and stir constantly, this time over medium-low heat, until all the hardened caramel is melted again.
• Pry off the hardened caramel from he bottom and the sides of the pot, melting these pieces back into the caramel as well. Be patient.
• If you want a thicker caramel, which is better for drizzling, cook the caramel, stirring constantly until the desired thickness. But keep in mind, the caramel will thicken a little more as it cools.
• Stir in the salt and remove pot from the heat.
