Butterscotch Sauce
This has been on amazingly fun week of ice cream-related treats! The banana split ice cream cake was definitely a highlight of the summer so far, and we've thoroughly enjoyed trying our hand at a lot of different from-scratch ice cream toppings. To close out the week, we're sharing with you an absolutely fantastic recipe for butterscotch sauce. Given our love of peanut butter and hot fudge, butterscotch has never been one of our go-to flavors when it comes to ice cream and sundaes, but we do enjoy it on occasion. As we've found out as we tackle more and more DIY food projects, our appreciation for a lot of things has grown immensely when we make it myself. Not only is there the satisfaction in making it from scratch, but the flavor just can’t compare to anything you get from a bottle or jar at the store. Butterscotch is definitely one of those instances – we could easily see this sauce taking up a permanent residence in our ice cream sundae rotation. It’s thick, rich and full of warm, buttery flavor. It basically tastes like the world’s best Werther’s Original (in liquid form, of course).
We've always thought that caramel and butterscotch were similar, but after making both we can appreciate the differences between them. While caramel is made from melting down and cooking granulated sugar until just before it burns then adding cream and a small amount of butter, a butterscotch sauce is made by gently boiling together butter and brown sugar along with cream. There is a definite difference in flavor – the butterscotch is much sweeter thanks to the brown sugar and has that melt-in-your-mouth quality that can only be derived by a lighter dose of butter.
We love that we have so many ice cream options now; we feel like an ice cream sundae party with a toppings bar is in order!
What are some of your favorite toppings? We still need to tackle peanut butter; are there any others you’d like to see?
One year ago: Malted Milk Ice Cream
Three years ago: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Four years ago: Hearty Whole Wheat Bread
Five years ago: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip
- Yield: 2 cups
- Prep: 5 minutes
- Cook: 5 minutes
- Total: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- ½ cup ( 113.5 g ) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup ( 220 g ) dark brown sugar
- 1 cup ( 238 ml ) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon fleur de sel, or other flaky sea salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Method
- Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar, cream and salt, and whisk until well blended. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat slightly and gently boil for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Serve warm or at room temperature (the sauce will thicken as it cools). Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and re-warm before using.
