Written by Kate Tietje
I have always loved butterscotch, but I was only familiar with the “butterscotch” that Dairy Queen served (no, I haven’t been there in a long time). I missed butterscotch. I figured…I should be able to make this myself, right?
Then, there was one night when I really wanted a treat. I try not to eat too much sugar, so I ran through the list of possibilities in my head. I wanted something delicious and sweet but not too sugar-heavy.
I ultimately decided to make some raw vanilla ice cream (raw milk, pastured egg yolks, and a tiny bit of maple syrup and vanilla) and top it with this deliciousness. Most of the treat was cream and butter; sugar took a back seat. Plus, since I only used a small amount on the finished ice cream, it really wasn’t bad (another option is custard-style vanilla ice cream). My favorite thing would have been to top it off with some chopped, crispy nuts…but sadly, I didn’t have any.
This is a great way to make a mostly healthy, yummy treat! And it lasts several weeks in the fridge, so you can use just a small amount at once…if you don’t eat it right away because it’s too awesome. 🙂
Butterscotch Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter (learn how to make your own butter)
- 3/4 cup sucanat or organic sugar
- 3/4 cup heavy cream (I used grass-fed, raw)
- 2 tsp. vanilla (learn how to make your own vanilla extract)
- 1/2 – 1 tsp. sea salt
Directions:
Step 1: Add your sucanat (or organic sugar) and butter to a medium saucepan.
Step 2: Turn to medium heat, cook, and stir until the sucanat melts completely and turns into a thick liquid.
Step 3: Cook without stirring for 5 – 10 minutes over medium heat (it should be bubbling) until the mixture reaches the softball stage.
Step 4: You’ll notice that the edges that are bubbling up are slightly browned — the sugar is caramelizing a bit. That’s okay. Make sure the heat isn’t too high, or it will burn quickly.
Step 5: Test the mixture in a small bowl of cold water to see if it holds together loosely. This is how you know it is at the softball stage. You can also use a candy thermometer to see if it reaches about 235ºF.
Step 6: Remove from the heat briefly and stir in the cream immediately. This will be weird…because the cold cream will make the sugar seize up for a bit. Keep stirring…as the cream warms up, it will come together.
Step 7: Now, when it’s basically a liquid, return it to the heat and allow it to come to a boil. It won’t curdle because of the high sugar content,
Step 8: Boil for 10 minutes without stirring. It will be thickening now into an actual “sauce.”
Step 9: Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Add the vanilla and the sea salt, a little at a time, tasting until it’s how you want.
And that’s it! Pour it into a glass dish to store. Look how thick and awesome this stuff is! It’s beautiful over vanilla bean ice cream…and tasty, too!
Butterscotch Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup sucanat or organic sugar
- 3/4 cup heavy cream I used grass-fed, raw
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 - 1 tsp. sea salt
Instructions
- Add your sucanat (or organic sugar) and butter to a medium saucepan.
- Turn to medium heat, cook, and stir until the sucanat melts completely and turns into a thick liquid.
- Cook without stirring for 5 - 10 minutes over medium heat (it should be bubbling) until the mixture reaches the softball stage.
- You'll notice that the edges that are bubbling up are slightly browned -- the sugar is caramelizing a bit. That's okay. Make sure the heat isn't too high, or it will burn quickly.
- Test the mixture in a small bowl of cold water to see if it holds together loosely. This is how you know it is at the softball stage. You can also use a candy thermometer to see if it reaches about 235ºF.
- Remove from the heat briefly and stir in the cream immediately. This will be weird...because the cold cream will make the sugar seize up for a bit. Keep stirring...as the cream warms up, it will come together.
- Now, when it's basically a liquid, return it to the heat and allow it to come to a boil. It won't curdle because of the high sugar content,
- Boil for 10 minutes without stirring. It will be thickening now into an actual "sauce."
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Add the vanilla and the sea salt, a little at a time, tasting until it's how you want.
Yum! Pinning and lining this up for my made from scratch list to make this winter. Thanks for putting it up!
YUM! I dont need any encouragement though! I will tuck this away for later.
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Thanks for this awesome recipe! I didn’t have any sucanat on hand, so I used a mix of raw honey and maple syrup and it still turned out fabulous. The family is going to love this over some raw milk ice cream tonight!
This is an old post, but I’ve just come across it on pinterest and excited to try!
There’s a recipe that I’m anxious to ‘real-ify’ someday that calls for butterscotch chips. It’s a dessert bar that we made about once a year growing up and I just LOVED – the flavor was so unique! They were called ‘stained glass windows’ (though not very pretty to look at!) and made of colored marshmallows, rice crispies, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter. I could use homemade marshmallow and brown rice cereal, but I’m stumped on the butterscotch chips! Any ideas? I’m wondering if I could make this sauce recipe and use less cream, then mix that with the peanut butter. The finished dessert might be more gooey and have less bite to it, but maybe it would do the flavor trick at least!
Hmm…yes, I think it would be more “gooey” but I think it would work. This gets pretty thick when it’s cooled so you may not need to adjust it at all, or you could boil it just a little bit longer (makes it thicker/stickier/drier).
Just made a match of this for sundaes tonight! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Oops, meant BATCH 😉
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