How Do You Make Your Caramel Sauce?

Hi, everyone! Thanksgiving is fast approaching and with that comes stress and planning. Every year, I am the one responsible for the desserts and with 20+ people that can be pretty challenging. Our guests are such a wide array of people which means I need a wide array of desserts. I’ve decided on five delicious, but somewhat time-consuming desserts. One of those is a caramel apple pie. Apple pie is such a thanksgiving classic, but I really wanted to add a little twist, hence the caramel.

I already have a go-to caramel sauce that I absolutely love. When it comes to caramel sauce some people think a really thick sauce works best, but I tend to disagree. Caramel sauce with a thinner consistency always works better…at least in my opinion! As I was reading some of the various blogs I follow, I stumbled upon a recipe from the blog Serious Eats titled, “How to Make an Easy Caramel Sauce”. Even though I already have a favorite recipe, I’m always down to try something new. One thing that I immediately noticed about this recipe was the fact that this blogger doesn’t use butter in her sauce.

Her reasoning was, “Butter is a relatively delicate emulsion of fat and water. So delicate, it breaks as soon as you melt it, never to become creamy and smooth again.” I have never made a caramel sauce without butter and it always turns out creamy and smooth. Without butter, I find that it becomes waaaay too thick and basically the consistency of caramel candy.

My caramel sauce recipe is as follows:

• 12 Tablespoons of cubed unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Pinch of salt or more if preferred
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Seriously, it’s that simple. To me, the mixture of butter and cream creates a richer and more decadent caramel sauce that isn’t too thick. Please excuse the picture quality, but check out this picture of my homemade cheesecake with my caramel sauce from last Thanksgiving. It was beyond delicious and my recipe of the sauce pairs perfectly with this dulce de leche cheesecake.

Honestly, it all comes down to preference. As for me? I think I’ll stick to my tried and true recipe for my apple pie.

Simple Chocolate Cake

This week I wanted to share with you all a recipe that has been in my family for years. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also my great grandfather’s favorite cake. This chocolate cake is so simple and it requires no eggs, butter or oil. The secret ingredient that makes this cake so simple and delicious is miracle whip…yeah you read that right. I know this may seem like a weird ingredient to add into a cake, but trust me it works.

The reason why mayo is used instead of more common ingredients like eggs or butter is because during World War II the ingredients that are now so common weren’t as readily available. The rationing required a little creativity and ingenuity which then created an amazing cake. Instead of doing a step by step with pictures, I wanted to really show the process of how this cake is made with a video. Check it out below and let me know what you think!