As a kid, I never knew where Butterscotch Sauce came from. We had three choices of toppings at the ice cream shop, and butterscotch was the most mysterious. I mean, chocolate sauce was easy to understand, and so was strawberry topping. But what was butterscotch? It didn’t look like butter, and I didn’t think my grandfather would order me a sundae with Scotch whiskey in it…so confusing!
My Favorite Sweet Flavor!
Even now, this is still one of my favorite flavors. No Scotch whiskey involved (Darn!) just deeply scorched or “scotched” sugar, butter and cream that is accented with a bit of salt.
For best results, use unsalted butter for a crisp clean butterscotch flavor. If you want a salted caramel flavor, you can always add a dash of flaked salt to garnish your butterscotch topping.
One of my favorite combinations is butterscotch and bananas, so I made a pavlova, topped it with unsweetened whipped cream, fresh bananas, roasted pecans and Butterscotch Sauce. You can also drizzle this delectable topping over fruit tarts, pies, cupcakes or empanadas. Even a simple store-bought vanilla pound cake can be improved with a homemade dessert sauce.
So Many Dessert Possibilities!
Of course, Butterscotch Sauce is excellent on ice cream. You can even let your vanilla ice cream soften a bit, and then fold fresh Butterscotch Sauce into the ice cream for a swirl effect. Fresh chocolate chip cookies could then be made into ice cream sandwiches filled with butterscotch swirl ice cream. Ooh, I think I will make those soon!
This is one of those easy dessert toppings that everyone should master. I usually have all the ingredients on hand in the fridge and will whip up a batch when my cake or pie looks a little humdrum. Butterscotch Sauce always makes your best dessert just a tiny bit better!
Butterscotch Sauce
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 12 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
Ingredients
1 cup sugar (200g)
2 oz unsalted butter, melted (62g)
1/4 tsp. salt (1g)
1 ¼ cups heavy cream (300 ml)
Instructions
Pour the sugar into a heavy 2 quart (2 lt) saucepan and heat on the stove over a medium flame. Stir the sugar as it heats. After a 1-2 minutes, you will notice that the sugar begins to clump. The sugar will begin to caramelize and melt as you continue to stir.
When the sugar has melted and is golden brown, add the melted butter and continue to stir. Add the salt and turn the heat down to a simmer. While stirring, pour the heavy cream in a thin stream into the caramelized sugar. Continue to heat for another 30 seconds while stirring.
Once the butterscotch sauce is smooth and free of lumps, remove from the heat and allow to cool. Serve warm or store in the refrigerator for later use.
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