Did you know that caramels are just sugar, cream, butter and vanilla?
Did you know that you can use honey in place of the sugar? 😉
Why swap out the sugar for honey? Cane sugar is highly addictive, but it also is extremely inflammatory. It still has glucose in it, and will affect your blood sugar in a similar way, but the more sugar you can replace with natural non addictive and non inflammatory sweeteners the better!
Ingredients
- 1 cup – Honey (I typically recommend always using unpasteurized local honey, but you will be cooking it to a degree that will negate many of the benefits of raw honey, so any real honey will do.)
- 3/4 cup – Heavy Whipping Cream (or full fat coconut cream)
- 1 1/2 tsp – Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbs – Butter
Instructions
- Generously grease an 8×8 baking dish
- Combine honey and cream in a sauce pan (choose one that is 4-5 times larger than the honey/cream) and bring to a boil stirring continuously.
- Remove from heat once desired temperature has been reached. (240-245 sauce, 260-265 drizzle, 285-300 candy) and add butter & Vanilla.
- Stir until completely combined.
- If making candy, pour in to greased baking dish and let cool before cutting. If making a sauce/drizzle consistency, pour in to a heat proof dish or jar and store in the refrigerator.
Tips
- Once the cream and honey are heating on the stove, you don’t want to walk away from it because it can easily boil over or burn. Make sure your thermometer and greased baking dish are close.
- Choose a sauce pan that is 4-5 times larger than the volume of the liquid. When boiling, the caramel expands quite a lot, and caramel is not a fun mess to clean up.
Serving Suggestions
- The sauce/drizzle is fantastic for making caramel apples, a topping for ice-cream, dipping s’mores, or adding to a cup of hot chocolate.
- My favorite way to eat the candy version, is to sprinkle a bit of flake sea salt on the top before it cools completely, and simply enjoy buttery goodness of a classic caramel. When wrapped individually they are a super tasty treat to take along.
