Hi, it’s Colleen and today I’m excited to share one of my family’s favorite winter treats…. a recipe for Hot Caramel!
Hot Chocolate is something that just about everyone adores. I bet that you have a least one incredible memory from your childhood as well as your adult life tied into a warm cup of chocolate decadence…Am I right? How about trying something a little different and possibly create a new memory?
I like chocolate but I LOVE caramel!
So years ago I experimented with mixing in leftover homemade caramel into warm milk and I was smitten with the result! When I had kids we introduced them to hot chocolate around age 3, then when they became a little more sophisticated around 7-8, I introduced them to the Hot Caramel. My daughter who is now 9 has never looked back! She always likes the idea of a cup of hot chocolate but only ever drinks about 20% of it. She’s not the worlds biggest chocoholic (obviously she takes after me and not the 2 chocolate monsters I live with…aka my husband and 12-year-old son).
You can make your own caramel for this, use a store bought caramel sauce or you can simply use caramel candies. I either make my own or use the candies and can hardly tell the difference. You can enjoy it straight up or go a little crazy as I did above and top it off with some freshly made whipped cream and a caramel drizzle (swoon!!)
- Caramel Sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 TBS corn syrup
- 6 TBS heavy cream
- 2 TBS unsalted butter
- Dash or two of vanilla
- Hot Caramel
- 2 cups milk
- 1/3 cup Caramel Sauce
- Optional Toppings
- Fresh Whipped Cream
- Caramel Drizzle
- In a small saucepan, combine water, sugar and corn syrup. Cook over medium high heat undisturbed for about 10 minutes. Every so often you can swirl pan, but do not stir. Sauce will begin to turn amber. Swirl your sauce every so often and keep on heat until it has a nice amber color…maybe another 3-6 minutes.
- Carefully remove from heat, quickly whisk in the cream – be careful as sauce can expand quickly. Be sure you are whisking while you pour in the cream.
- Stir in butter and vanilla. Let sauce come to room temperature. At that point you can cover and chill for later use…keeps well in a sealed jar for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Mix 1/3 cup caramel sauce with 2 cups milk in a saucepan (or more to taste). Heat through over medium heat, stirring often. Serve.
- If topping with drizzled caramel, put 6 Kraft Caramels and 1/2 TBS heavy cream into a bowl and heat in your microwave in 30 second bursts until mostly melted; stir until smooth. Scrape into a baggie, snip the corner and drizzle over whipped cream – Mmmmm!
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Mmmm, this does sound decadent. I think it would be good on a cold winter day. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Yum!!! It looks awesome. I am a big hot chocolate fan but this looks really good.
I am always the one who chooses a caramel sundae over chocolate or hot fudge. Cannot wait to try this drink!
This looks so incredibly delicious! YUM!
This sounds delicious, but I’m confused by the directions in step 2. What are you pouring into the saucepan? Or are you pouring the cream mixture into something else?
The first section provides the steps to make your own caramel sauce (if you choose) To make the Hot caramel, follow The second part where the bold letters say Hot Caramel. You can choose to make this with homemade caramel sauce, store bought caramel sauce or caramel candy (like the wrapped Kraft caramels). Hope that makes sense.
Hi Dani, I think the recipe is fixed now. Take a look and see if it makes more sense.
I too was confused about what was being added or what t was being added to since the cream is already in it.
The first section provides the steps to make your own caramel sauce (if you choose) To make the Hot caramel, follow The second part where the bold letters say Hot Caramel. You can choose to make this with homemade caramel sauce, store bought caramel sauce or caramel candy (like the wrapped Kraft caramels). Hope that makes sense.
Heidi, take a look at the recipe now. I think it is fixed. Sorry about that!
This sounds awesome, Colleen!! We have an ice day today, seems like the perfect time to try it!!
Oh yeah, I knew that this was going to be a killer recipe when I saw the photos. Yum. 🙂
Now I have to go and check out your Chambord and Crazy Good Hot Chocolates!
Oh, I’d take this over hot chocolate anyday. So yummy. I might add a shot of expresso too!