Recipe Testing: Small-batch Caramel Sauce

Hi everyone!  Happy Monday!

To preface this post, I am excited to announce to you a new type of post you'll be seeing on my blog:  recipe testing!  I got the idea to start doing this from Sally's Baking Addiction (aka an amazing baking blog 😍.)  Let me know what you all think about this change in the comments below!

You might be wondering what a recipe testing post will look like.  Essentially, I will be sharing a sneak peek of what it was like for me making something in the kitchen (which will mean my failed attempts at making something 😂) and at the end of the post, I'll share with you how you can successfully make said food.  Without further adieu, let's get started!

In today's recipe testing post, I'm sharing with you my adventure with making a small-batch caramel sauce.  (Believe me, it was certainly an adventure!)

Take 1:  Carcinogenic Caramel Sauce

Suffice it to say, take one of small-batch caramel sauce was a fail.  The sauce got burned to the point of no return.  (See what I did there 😉?!)  This happened for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I was cooking the sauce on too high of heat.  Secondly, I was not stirring the sauce enough.  When my mom came into the kitchen as I was making this, she thought I was making something with chocolate.  That's how burned the sauce was 😬.  Of course, the sauce was promptly disposed of outside, as I documented in the photo above.

Take 1 took me back in my mind to an experience I had in my 7th grade home economics class.  We were learning how to make a basic white sauce.  The class was divided into groups of two and each group was given a portable stove on which to cook the sauce.  My friend and I started making the sauce but didn't realize that we were cooking it on the power burner portion of the stove.  The result:  an unsightly, probably disgusting sauce.

I'm the kind of person in the kitchen who doesn't make the same mistake once; I make it two or three times, just to be sure that it's actually a mistake 😂.

Take 2:  Burned Caramel Sauce

Take 2, even though it was another kitchen fail went much better than take 1.  Although the sauce burned, it was still edible.  The sauce burned probably because I made the same mistakes that I did with the sauce I made in take 1, though to a lesser degree of severity. However, food has to be better than edible; it has to be so delicious that you can't stop eating it.  Take 2 caramel sauce was at that level.

Take 3:  Delicious Caramel Sauce

After 2 strikes, a delicious caramel sauce was requisite.  At long last, the sauce was stirred enough and put on the right heat, yielding a golden brown, buttery, sweet confection.   It was love at first bite 😁!

While this sauce is perfectly delicious all on its own, it would be delicious with apple desserts such as this, this, or these pancakes.

I used this recipe to bring you today's recipe.

That's all for now.  Don't forget to follow me on Instagram!  I look forward to posting again on Friday 😊.

Small-batch Caramel Sauce

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1.  In a saucepan, bring the sugar, butter, and milk to a gentle boil and cook until thickened, 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.

2.  Remove from heat, then add the vanilla extract, stirring to combine.

3.  Enjoy!  Though this sauce can be stored in the fridge for a few days, it is best when consumed all on its own or on a dessert after it has cooled a bit.