Notes from my Kitchen - Homemade Caramel Sauce

I have revisited this recipe as I am hoping you will come to love it as my family and I do. Once you have mastered the steps you will never buy a tin of caramel ever again. I use this sauce for my Caramel Ice-cream recipe and my husband's words "nothing this good can be good for you" says it all! So enjoy, but eat with caution.
I made this sauce to spread over a chocolate tart and got rave reviews. I used the leftover sauce to mix with vanilla icing and iced a vanilla sponge cake for tea, then drizzled some more on top for a dream cake. I piped vanilla icing onto cupcakes, but left a hole in the middle and filled it with caramel sauce squeezed from a ketchup bottle; they looked as if they had come from a bakery. I use it to make my caramel ice-cream and vary the cooking technique to create caramel crisps. I pour some caramel sauce at the bottom of the ice-cream tub, then the ice-cream on top and freeze it. It's the closest thing to real Italian ice-cream I have eaten.
 It is so versatile and delicious,and keeps in the fridge for a couple of days in a sterilised jar too. I am working on a recipe for truffles with caramel and dark chocolate, so watch this space.

1½ cups of sugar

1 cup of water

1½ cups of cream at room temperature

6T butter at room temperature

Place the sugar in a large heavy bottom saucepan and pour over the water. Stir and allow the sugar to dissolve in the water. Place on a medium high heat, keep stirring slowly until the sugar dissolves. Then allow the sugar to cook without stirring. Watch carefully and allow the sugar to turn a caramel colour. Move the sugar around to make sure that it cooks evenly.

Remove from the heat immediately and swirl the liquid until it has all changed colour. Add the cream slowly,  a little at a time stirring after each addition, until incorporated. Mix in the butter 1 T at a time. Allow to cool and serve or store in the fridge until needed.

Hint : if you add the butter too fast and the caramel turns hard, return it to a low heat and stir until it melts again. If you want caramel bits, then break up the hard caramel, return to the heat and leave some pieces for crunch.