Salted Caramel Sauce

Or, Christmas Gift Idea #4

It' s #29 in the Food Network Magazine's 

insert this month.

I am taking these for a mass birthday party tonight

but they are really cute hostess gifts as well.

I have never made caramel before and my candy

making experience is limited at best, but nothing

ventured, nothing gained.

Here is what I can share:

Do not "simmer" the sugar water as the instructions 

would have you do. 

After 1/2 hour of simmering

 (not the 12 minutes the instructions suggest) 

 and the mixture not getting anywhere near a dark amber, 

I Googled more instructions. 

As best I can tell, you should allow the water to boil. 

I had to make a second batch and that one 

did turn dark amber in about 12 minutes. 

Ina would have you stir the sugar water, 

these instructions tell you to swirl it. 

For some reason, I think you are not supposed to 

stir sugar water when making candy, so I did not. 

The first batch I just poured in the cold cream which 

bubbled quite impressively and proceeded to form a 

big ol' ball of goo that I eventually

turned into a sauce.

With the second batch I warmed the cream a bit but

when I poured it in it went NUTZ!

Up and over the sides of the pan, 

all over my stove. 

Now, I don't know if that was a result of the warmed cream or 

of taking the sugar water all the way up to a boil.

A bit more research and I found Alton

suggests you let the sugar water cool a bit

before adding the cream. 

That sound like good advice. 

All that aside, it's really delicious sauce. 

My friend asked what you do with it. 

I suggested

over ice cream, 

over gingerbread cake,

or by the spoonful. 

You decide.