Caramel Sauce with a Dark Secret 

How did it take me this long to "find" you??? The details and precise instruction in ALL your videos would be wonderful enough! But, add your sweet, easy to listen to voice and accent, along with your beautiful smile and charm and WOW! First of all, store bought caramel sauces are too sweet and filled with other junk. Even homemade versions thus far for me are too sweet as well (I am a dark chocolate fan). But THIS??? Is crazy good!!! The complexities of flavor and ease of preparation make this a stunning drizzle!!! I have definitely gone to the dark side. Thank you, Helen!

Your channel was recommended by Adam Ragusea and any friend of Chef John's is a friend of mine. Love your content and subbed.

On the topic of caramel safety, the reason it's so dangerous is that sugar begins to melt and caramelize at 320°F/160°C, so it is much hotter than boiling water, and we all know how dangerous boiling water is.

Helen's videos give me the serotonin boost that BAs videos used to pre-scandal

Great recipe! I've always had better luck with wet caramels than dry, too. Throw a pinch of five spice or similar in there for extra complexity.

This channel deserves a millions subs. And you gotta love the way she says "technique"!

I tried to make this as a double batch as my first attempt. I used a large Princess skillet that was wider than the burner (first mistake). I could smell the sugar starting to burn and knew something was wrong. The water cooked off and left the sugar full of holes from the bubbles and hard as a rock. I figured my first try was ruined but the pan was so crusted that I'd need to soak it. I added more water and left it over low heat for an hour stirring and scraping occasionally to help the sugar dissolve. Then I forgot about it and when I returned to the kitchen, the liquid was bubbling and there were no more crystals. I had a second chance! It worked out this time and I brought some of the caramel sauce to work and my co-workers loved it! They were surprised that I'd never made caramel before. I think I have weird luck [shrug]. Love your videos, Helen! We've done a number of your recipes

I love that you referenced chef John. You're both go-to channels for me.

Amazing this was simple and tasty. I didn't even burn it, I totally thought I would. Great for beginners!

Helen, I'm also a big fan of Chef John. Most all of my recipes come from him. His Mushroom Ragout, his Chicken Marsala are both ''over the top". Thanks for the caramel help, always good to learn how to do things properly, and not having to use a candy thermometer!!

Helen is such an exceptional explainer of things. 🔥🔥

Love your show, love your accent and speech patterns. This video's favorite phrase? "it will become liquid again." Absolute ear candy.

Hey Helen, a tip from a caramel enthusiast (me): you can leave out the whisking from the first phase; sugar is hydrophilic and the quantity of water specified in the recipe will naturally sip through and moisten all of the sugar in a very short time, no whisk needed. If you pour your water carefully and without splashing, you can also skip the brushing

This looks fabulous!

Love this! Thank you for sharing 😊

I made this recipe this weekend. It turned out perfectly. Thank you so much, Helen! 🤎

I genuinely enjoyed your video and your commentary. I loved your personality and it made me feel a lot more confident about making caramel I made it and it came out amazing, thank you very much!

I just made this recipe with brown butter and it came out beautifully. Thank you for the video. It made me far more comfortable with making caramel.

I love this lady for so many reasons.

Thank you ! I've really been looking for something like this :) You deserve more subs.

Looks amazing

Why I'm visking with the spoon...😂 Becuse I'm drunk...🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂 Thank you...Great channel,demonstrations, presentation, explanation, clarity, comprehensiveness, no irritating background music, speed of talk and presentation.

Such a greatly informative channel with a lovely presenter. Thanks

Thank you for an excellent video presentation! I appreciate the way you go through step by step and encourage us to be careful. I look forward to trying this recipe.

Just made this, doubled the recipe, and it came out PERFECT. The time between bitter and burnt is indeed fine, it does go really fast in the end. Mine disnt foam this much, just a little. It is so good, i used some to fill dark chocolate candies with toasted pecans, and they're so good. Its great on my coffee creations too.

Thanks for a new perspective on caramel sauce. You video was lovely

Great video I’m going to try this

I like everthing in this video......thanks.

I love chef John's channel as much as yours Helen

Thank you for this amazing video,everything is well explained,i like you

Thx Helen 😀

You have no idea how much this helped me… I have made three batches of caramel colored caramel sauce and I’m getting so frustrated because I can’t figure out how to get that dark amber color… This was immensely helpful! Your accent is adorable and your personality is infectious… I forgot my glass of wine for the first three batches… and I’m really sad but I’ll get it tomorrow when I make this recipe!!! THANK YOU!!!

#realcomment Thanks Helen. I will try this one for my next special dessert- not something I do very often but there are always those important occasions. Nice variation on the dry method that moves really fast! You and Chef John are my two favorite RU-vid instructors!!

omg! what a delicious caramel!! I made it and did what another commentator said: I used soy sauce instead of salt. Also, I added salted caramel whisky and omg! so so delicious!! thank you for sharing this recipe! love you so much xoxoxoxo

Love your recipe, I hit it in the first try.

i think i can learn a lot from this channel, i am going to subscribe.

Yum!!! Just yum!! Im in the process of organising Christmas lunch/dinner and butterscotch sauce is my go to for the trifle but I might do a jar of caramel just to mix it up. 😍😍

You are the best. Explaining really perfect . Thanks though

JUST discovered your channel. Chef John, grams, wine for yourself ? You just won a new subscriber.

OH I LOVE YOU!!!!! You MUST offer online courses!!!! I am opening a bakery and it is taking for EVER to open our doors, but patience patience patience. I have made caramel before, but I found your voice so calming and sweet and love love love the accent so much. Btw I do love the idea of a darker flavor to the caramel. Customers will appreciate the extra effort and uniqueness. I'm a new fan!

Yes..Food Wishes is awesome too!

i love this woman

I tried taking sugar to this black tea stage and making simple syrup and it makes for some great complexity in cocktails.

Yum!! This is perfect! Could you do a tutorial on caramelized white chocolate and a recipe with this yummy caramel you made? My request. :)

Very nice

you make it seem so easyyy s2

ok i just made this!! your video was very helpful. i MAY have made it in a pan that was to big 😬 it got toaasty and dark FAST. 😅 i will try a smaller pan next time.lol. thanks

Drooling at those crepes,going to compare my recipe.

This video is so underrated.

Thank you now I get it

I like your narrating and accent 💕

thanks for the Caramel Sauce video.

I love your attitude "so what, l got more reading done ".

Yummy yummy yummy

Got here from Adam Ragusea's channel. Loving it so far! :)

Hi Helen I don't know if you'll see this or have time to answer, but here goes. I typically do a dark dry caramel sauce, & I do love to add butter for the flavor, but every time I do the butter separates & is hard on top once I refrigerate the sauce. I make the sauce for iced caramel frappuccinos. Would doing a wet caramel help the butter to stay emulsified, or is there another reason it separates? I've also realized I've been adding cold ½ n ½ (that's usually what I've got) when I should be letting it come to room temp.

Ive only watched five of you videos and subscribed! I'm 60 and have worked in the food industry for the better of that!! Thank-you for your positive knowledge on so many levels of food !

Thank you for sharing, please try your caramel on a cortland apple from a nearby farmers orchard,( to insure freshness) cortland is a less sweet apple. You make a fantast6ic caramel. i am going to try dark brown sugar for my caramel.

Great video! Getting ready to teach my daughter to make caramel sauce and she’s so excited. Do you have a crepe video? It’s one thing I’ve always been too scared to try!

No big deal!! Spoon or wisk...!! It does the job!!Nothing fixes it better!! That's what you have the 🍷 for. Thanks for sharing.

Remind me again - why use unsalted butter, then add salt? Why not use the salted butter I already have in the fridge?

Great👌👌👌👌👌

Is this recipe ok to use this as a cupcake filling? Thanks so much!

"first get all your ingredients ready" ... next shot shows all ingredients plus glass of wine and kindle 😄👏👏👏 well done!

So I made this one time and I cried because it split, then I made it again but added the butter in larger pieces so it would slowly seep in like one of those easy hollandaise sauces

wondering if light and /or dark brown sugar can be used as well the white?

If you want flavoring, you can add a touch of vanilla extract at the end. Myself, I add a generous splash of bourbon after all the cooking is complete.

I would advise adding the salt at the beginning, sometimes adding salt after the caramel is made can cause it to crystallise

I accidentally made this instead of normal caramel. Is there any way to de-bitter it? Do i just keep adding salt or should i add more cream?

Hi , should I bolu the Heavy cream too? Tq

Hah, I saw the wine at the back of the ingredients composition and ...hit the button, subconsciously.

I never understood the point of using unsalteed butter when the recipe calls for adding salt. Why not use regular salted butter?

can we addmore cream say 1 cup to 3/4. cup

can we add vanilla extract

Love your accent

Oh.. no.. a dry caramel doesn't take any stirring.. Unless - like you do - you make a very small quantity. Just make a pile on the bottom of a thick bottom pan. The top off the pile is exactly above the central burner of the stove. The sugar in the layer just above the bottom cools down the layer just below it In my pan I can use low-medium hear until the edge of the pile starts melting. (That's when the entire lowest layer that is directly touching the pan has melted.) I stil don't stir, but I flatten the pile somewhat and switch the stove to low. You really don't have to stir until you see the melted sugar through the top.

I've kept caramel in the fridge for years. It never spoils.

I made mine and it crystallized, I added the butter and then it turned into what looks like dry brown sugar granules. I didn't bother to add the cream at that point because I guessed I ruined it and I didn't want to waste my organic cream (it's expensive)! Is there anything I can do with this dry brown sugar mixture now or is it garbage? I'm so disappointed :( Would it re-melt even with the butter in it? It smells heavenly but not sure what to do with it now.

Hello Helen, pj here. I love caramel, and coffee. So here's my question ❓ Is it possible to use homemade caramel sauce with half & half or heavy cream, and maybe some whole milk, to make a caramel coffee creamer. I found out that i have an allergic reaction to those coffee flavored liquids at a grocery store, or star bucks, , i watch many of ur videos, they are all awesome, so if you can, let me know if its possible, I've been doing so much research on the Internet, and had no luck 😢, thank you Helen, regards, pj Cimorelli

When would be the best time to add orange to it? I'm trying to come up with a recipe of orange butter caramel and then using the fat-washing technique to add the flavors to spirits. Thanks!

What to do if the butter is still at the top?

#realcomment I made caramel ONCE after watching a TV chef (Julia?) and it was a terrifying experience. I had a too-large candy thermometer that kept falling off my small pan, wrong kind of pan, electric stove, too hot and when I dumped in the butter per TV chef it foamed madly like an angry volcano. Then it crystalized in the pan into an armored disc that took me the better part of a century to soak out. I lost all interest in even the thought of caramel after that!

How can I make caramel with brown sugar and no butter?

What is the yield of this recipe? How much actual caramel do you get?

That would be rather delicious drizzled on vanilla ice cream.

I like to add a very small amount of soy sauce in my caramel. In the very end and once the caramel has cooled of to like 40-50 celsius or cooler. It adds salt and a complex deep flavour to the caramel. It also makes it look darker. Soy sauce and a bit of salt. Really takes the caramel to another level in my opinion.

Can we make this for creme caramel or It is too liquid and will not stick to the flan? Thanks.

i trust you.

I’ve never tried, but now I’m curious to see if I can! Your so cute, and sweet

Helen, you say that salt will enhance/emphasize the sweetness. My instincts say that this is true, but others, like (the genius) Stella Parks, say that salt will make sugary things taste less sweet. I’ve always wondered about this, and have been confused. Do you know of any definitive/scientific sources as to which is true, and how it works? My Harold McGee books are in storage; I wonder what he has to say about this.

Sigh ❤️

Can you add a shot of bourbon or spiced rum to it?

I want my sauce to remain liquid.How can i succeed that?

#realcomment This looks delicious! Does it matter whether you make caramel in a pan or a pot? Or is it a matter of personal preference?

Mine keeps curdling :(

try coffee for half the water ;)

Oh i will definitely join you to the dark side.. emm.. i mean dark caramel haha. Thank you .. amazing recipe and you have a lovely personality

Seeing Americans using "bonne maman"'s pots is really the best. It makes me wonder if there is one house in the world where "bonne maman" hasn't come yet...

I want to be helen's best friend

The safety here is so important, hot melted sugar can go over 300 degrees Fahrenheit and it doesn't even look like a dangerous boiling pot when it's still really hot. It's easy to assume it's not any hotter than boiling water, you thought burning yourself with that was bad? I think people who deep fry food already understand how hot liquids in the kitchen can get but most of us aren't making candy like this. There was this ridiculous video from those trash content farm fast paced cutesy music DIY channels a while back, showing how to make candy floss by drizzling it on electric beaters! Wow great idea let's fling hot sugar everywhere in an uncontrolled manner... Just be careful and enjoy your caramel 😋 after it cools