ADDENDUM

"You have to be a crazy person to just sit there and eat caramel sauce right out of the jar," said my grandmother.

Just then we looked up and saw my brother scooping caramel from jar to mouth. To be fair, he was gearing up for a caramel sauce taste test. 

My brother declared the one on the right "funky, dank, and luscious." It was the all-around winner.

It's fine to eat caramel by itself. But don't make your final judgements until the sauce has mingled with vanilla ice cream. 

And go a little darker with it than you think you should. The caramel you might like encased in bittersweet  chocolate is different from what works drizzled over vanilla ice cream. It's all about the contrast between the creamy and the burned.

CARAMEL SAUCE

printable recipe

Makes enough to fill a recycled Bonne Maman jar.

ingredients:

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/3 stick salted butter

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water

1/3 vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped out

directions:

Measure out heavy cream and butter and set aside. Place sugar and water in a medium-sized saucepan. Swirl (by the pot handle) around until all the sugar is wet. Add more water if you need to. Place over medium heat. Don't walk away. Swirl around (by the pot handle) if it's not caramelizing evenly. Cook until it's almost at desired color (Grade B maple syrup or darker). Remove from heat and pour in the heavy cream. Careful. It will rise up and spatter. Whisk until combined. Add the butter. Cool for 20 minutes and then whisk in vanilla bean seeds. Store scraped vanilla bean in the caramel. It will keep for a few weeks in the fridge.