This South African Caramel Sauce Will Save Your Life
Sick pet, toddler tantrums and impending redundancy: with this caramel sauce, you can handle all of life’s setbacks just fine. If the cat throws up on the sofa, your husband keeps messaging his tennis instructor and your bank card has been blocked, you can already start thinking about a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a generous drizzle of caramel sauce. You need this recipe!
The recipe for this caramel sauce comes from the South African website Melkkos & Merlot. A bilingual site, in Afrikaans and English, but that Afrikaans is particularly mood-lifting. Take this sentence: Hier aan die einde van week vier van die groot Covid-opsluit dink ek ons verdien almal ’n leksel soet vir die siel. Truth as plain as day, so let’s get started. According to the site, this recipe is ‘kannie-flop’, so nothing and no one can stop you.
How to make life-saving caramel sauce
- Mix the sugar and water in a saucepan. Place it over medium-high heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. From that moment on: do not stir your sauce anymore. Let the sugar water boil for about ten to fifteen minutes. If you see sugar crystals forming along the edge of the pan, brush them away with a pastry brush dipped in a little water.
- Pay close attention when the sugar water starts to change colour. If it becomes too dark, the caramel will taste bitter and burnt. Melkkos & Merlot advises removing the pan from the heat when the caramel is amber-coloured. The sugar is so hot that the caramel will continue to darken slightly even after being removed from the heat.
- Now stir the cream into the caramel. It will bubble like crazy, so don’t panic. Then gradually stir the butter into the sauce, add the pinch of sea salt and the vanilla. The sauce is now ready; it will thicken a little as it cools. Don’t be tempted to lick the spoon or dip your finger into the sauce to taste it, because caramel is ridiculously hot. Pour into a bottle or jar and store in the refrigerator.
- You can pour the caramel sauce over vanilla ice cream, but also over waffles, pancakes or a plain old slice of bread. Blend ice cream, milk and sauce together to make an amazing milkshake (in Afrikaans: melk skommel). Or sneak to the fridge at night and spoon the sauce straight into your mouth; no one will hold it against you.
