When it comes to the holidays, people love receiving homemade gifts. Now, I'm not talking about those macaroni necklaces your children give you and you pretend to like. No, no. I'm talking about the more delicious things in life: buttery shortbread, all-natural homemade Baileys and sweet, gooey caramel sauce.
Just by adding a little chai concentrate and a little black pepper into a basic caramel recipe for some kick, you can impress your friends come December 25th. Pour this magic liquid into some little mason jars, tie them up in ribbon and call it a day.
One way of making caramel is by using a combination of sugar, water and lemon juice (which helps the sugar from seizing up easily) to start, but it takes a lot longer. Here's an alternate method of making caramel. If you pay attention with this method, it's much faster. Trust me, if I can make this, you definitely can, too.
This sort of goes without saying, but melted sugar is extremely hot, so be careful!
Chai caramel sauce
Working in batches, sprinkle a thin layer of sugar in a medium pan and place it over medium-high heat.
Combine remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside.
Once the layer of sugar turns to transparent beads, sprinkle a little more sugar on top.
After repeating this several times on the certain areas (or let's call them hot spots) in the pan, you'll notice the sugar becoming more and more fluid.
Slowly add the rest of the sugar to the pan and as it heats, it will start becoming darker and darker in colour. You'll be looking for a dark brown, just almost to the colour of cola. (This will happen progressively faster, so work fast and do not walk away!)
Carefully pour the cream mixture into the pan while stirring quickly. Let cook for 1 minute. The mixture will lighten in colour to a nice, well, caramel.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring into preferred containers.
Enjoy!
- Yield:
- 2 cups chai caramel sauce
- Prep Time:
- 1 minute
- Cook Time:
- 15 minutes
