Butterscotch Sauce

This Butterscotch Sauce has all the brown sugar and buttery flavor of butterscotch candies in a rich, caramelized sauce. It is rich, flavorful and decadent. Pour it on apple butterscotch pies, hazelnut pear tarts, vanilla bean ice cream, or even classic chewy blondies!

Move over caramel sauce. Butterscotch Sauce is in the house!

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It’s damn good. And you can make it in 5 minutes. Say what now?!

I know, right?! Why have I been buying that stuff from the store that contains neither brown sugar nor butter???

Because let’s get one thing straight….

Traditional butterscotch flavor comes from two things: brown sugar and butter.

The two combine to give you a rich, caramelized sauce with molasses undertones from the brown sugar.

It’s like caramel’s fancier, more exotic cousin.

And it is so good you will want to pour it on everything. I do mean everything!

If you would use caramel, you can substitute this butterscotch sauce.

This recipe is based on one from American Woman’s Cookbook (1939 Edition), but the first time I made it as written in AWC it crystallized. And nobody wants a sandy butterscotch sauce.

So I added a little corn syrup to the sugar while it cooked and finished it off with some heavy cream to keep the smooth, saucy texture even after it cools.

I also added salt because salt enhances flavor and that is why you’re here right? Cool. Me too.

You can omit the corn syrup and it will still work but it’s like cheap insurance against crystallization. Trust me when I tell you that you can have a culinary degree and assiduously dissolve the sugar crystals on the sides of the pot, and still crystallize this sauce. But don’t worry, I’ve fixed that for you, so you can have creamy, smooth butterscotch sauce without a care in the world. 🙂

The sauce will slightly separate in the fridge over time, but it will emulsify again when heated.

Oh butterscotch sauce, where have you been all my life? I might have known I had a butterscotch obsession based on my love for the best old fashioned butterscotch brownies…

5 from 1 ratings

Butterscotch Sauce

by Chef Lindsey

This Butterscotch Sauce has all the brown sugar and buttery flavor of butterscotch candies in a rich, caramelized sauce. It is rich, flavorful and decadent. Pour it on pies, tarts, ice cream, or even blondies!

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 25 minutes mins

Servings: 2 Cups

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Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup cold water
• ▢ 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• ▢ ¼ cup butter cut in small cubes and room temperature
• ▢ ¼ cup heavy cream room temperature
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon sea salt fine

Instructions 

• Stir together sugar, water and corn syrup and cook until 234°F (soft ball stage) in a large sauce pan.
• Add the butter; stir to incorporate.
• Add the heavy cream and salt; stirring until incorporated and salt has dissolved.
• Continue to cook until thickened, 1-2 minutes more, if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 963kcal | Carbohydrates: 171g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 95mg | Sodium: 536mg | Potassium: 255mg | Sugar: 169g | Vitamin A: 1146IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 166mg | Iron: 1mg

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Calories: 963

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