Mom's Caramel Dip: A Recipe That Skipped a Generation

This recipe is from my mother (c. 1960), my kids' grandmother. One of my daughters makes this for us a few times every fall. She's the caramel dip expert in our house. From grandmother to granddaughter, the best simple, from scratch, caramel dip or sauce recipe, with a few of my daughter's comments.

Caramel Dip or Sauce (suitable for apple wedges, sliced fresh pears, sliced bananas, cooked sweet potato slices, simple baked custard or rice pudding, pumpkin pie, ice cream, or pretzels)

Yields about 1 1/4 cup

"What I really like about this recipe is it takes so few ingredients. It’s exciting to make something fancy without a lot of stuff." 

Just 5 ingredients, and one of them is water.

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup hot water

1 tablespoon butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, heat the sugar over low to medium flame, stirring constantly moving the sugar all around the skillet. (My daughter prefers to keep the heat on Medium, but stirs vigorously this entire step.)

"When it starts to caramelize I  stir constantly. If I’ve been stirring for a while and it’s not caramelizing, I either turn the heat up, take a break from stirring maybe 30 seconds, or both."

In the meantime, heat your 1 cup of water. (My daughter heats the water in the microwave.)

Larger lumps of sugar eventually melt down. Keep stirring.

Continue stirring until all sugar is melted and caramel is light golden-brown. 

2. Remove from heat. Very gradually (about a teaspoon at a time) stir in the hot water, and stir rapidly as the bubbling subsides.

"If you add too much water at once, it seizes. Stir hard and vigorously. If it becomes very stiff, you might be adding the water too quickly." 

Stir and stir and stir after each addition of water.

When bubbling action after the addition of water has pretty much subsided (fewer bubbles), water can be added in larger amounts, about 1/4 cup at a time. Continue stirring, scraping up hardened bits of the caramelized sugar on the bottom of the skillet. Adding the water and stirring during step 2 is the most time-consuming part of the recipe.

3. When all water is added, return to heat, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until it thickens slightly and reaches 228 degrees F.

4. Remove from heat and add butter, salt and vanilla extract. Stir well, then allow the caramel to cool. This syrup thickens substantially as it cools, and even more once refrigerated.

The whole process from start to final additions of butter, salt, and vanilla takes a little less than one hour.

Once cooled, pour into a jar and refrigerate. 

This caramel sauce/dip has kept in the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks (then it's gone) with no problems.

My comments: This is true caramel. Its flavor is deep and rich, with a hint of toffee. I love this stuff, and I can actually have some, as it has neither milk nor cream. We enjoy this as a dip for apple wedges this time of year.