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Caramel is probably one of the greatest sweet flavors that there is. Rich, and satisfying, wouldn’t it be great to have a handy caramel syrup on hand to pour caramel flavor everywhere?
For a fun way to use your caramel syrup, why not try pouring some over this Banana Split Cake? Or drizzle some syrup on your Old Fashioned Gingerbread!
Caramel Syrup
Most people only get to enjoy caramel syrup when it comes from a supermarket, usually in those weird little plastic squeezy bottles.
However, despite how commonly people get them from the store, caramel syrup is actually incredibly easy to make at home.
With the addition of a few handy ingredients like corn syrup, you can make a rich, caramel-forward syrup that not only looks and tastes like a rich caramel but stays smooth and pourable for days after making it!
Why Do You Need Corn Syrup For This Recipe?
One ingredient in this recipe that a lot of people, especially those not from North America, might find strange is the inclusion of corn syrup.
Commonly considered to be an unhealthy additive, corn syrup is actually incredibly effective in these kinds of recipes because it is insanely good at helping to stop sugar solutions from crystallizing.
This is because corn syrup is mostly fructose rather than the sucrose of sugar.
Though it might sound a bit complicated, sugar is almost entirely sucrose, which is a sugar molecule containing both glucose and fructose. Glucose has the unfortunate tendency to crystalize into little lumps and become gritty, whereas fructose doesn’t.
Fructose is sometimes called “fruit sugar,” and it is quite like the sweetness of sweetcorn when you taste it fresh from the cob.
By adding a bit of corn syrup to your caramel syrup, the fructose in the syrup helps to stop the whole thing from crystalizing!
Crystallization can still occur even with corn syrup, though. Luckily, there are a few other things you can do to help prevent unwanted crystallization when it happens.
Ways You Can Stop Your Syrup Crystalizing
No matter how many steps you take to try and fight against crystallization, it seems to appear regardless.
Those little granules of sugar that cling to the side of your saucepan can actually seriously affect your syrup, causing it to seize up and solidify.
Though it won’t make it spoil or anything like that, it will make it harder to pour it over anything.
If you notice any sugar crystals starting to form along the side of your saucepan, you can get rid of them with a small pastry brush that has been dipped in water.
Just run the pastry brush lightly over the crystals, and allow the water to melt the crystals and fall back into the boiling syrup mixture. If you keep doing this every time you notice crystals, then you will eventually get rid of all of them and not have to worry about hard little sugar granules in your finished syrup.
How To Store Your Caramel Syrup
Storing your caramel syrup is really easy, so long as you let it cool all the way completely down to room temperature before you try and store it.
Caramel syrup is a sugar syrup solution, which means that it can get hotter than 212 Fahrenheit, so if you tried to put it into a storage vessel while it was fresh off the pot, you might melt or even crack it!
Once you cool it all the way down, store it in a glass jar with a tightly sealable lid, like a mason jar. If you can find one that has a convenient little pouring spout on it, then even better!
Use this stored caramel syrup over ice cream, drizzle onto cakes, or just eat it with a spoon!
How Salty Should You Make Your Caramel Syrup?
Salted caramel sauce is a classic sauce for a reason, and you can easily turn this syrup into salted caramel if you want.
Use as much salt as you like to help create that salty flavor, but make sure you add at least a little bit of salt, even if you don’t want it to taste like salted caramel.
Without a little pinch of salt, the syrup will taste super flat and unappealing – salt just makes sweet things taste even sweeter, so don’t skip it!
Looking for more sweet Icings, Glazes, and Sauces recipes? Try these out:
• How to Make Brown Sugar Sauce
Happy Cooking
Love,
Karlynn
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Caramel Syrup
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup warm water
Instructions
- In a small heavy bottomed pot, combine the white sugar, 1/4 cup water and the corn syrup.
- Cook over low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved completely.
- Turn the heat up to medium high and bring to a boil,stirring constantly.
- Continue to cook and stir until mixture is a light amber color, then remove from the heat immediately.
- Carefully pour in the 1/3 cup of warm water, watching out for any spitting from the mixture.
- Stir in the vanilla and salt.
- Let the mixture cool completely, then store in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks.
- Use in coffee, over ice cream and other desserts.
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