Easy-Peasy Caramel Sauce

Caramel Apple Spice at Starbucks has me *needing* to have caramel in the house so we can make our own. Finding a caramel that is made with healthy and safe ingredients  that is under $10 a jar is a challenge all by itself so I really needed to figure out how to make it easily. Caramel is milk and sugar, right? So why not utilize some sweetened condensed milk to make it? Its really that easy...

Take one or two cans of sweetened condensed milk...This brand uses organic milk, sugar and sea salt. 

Place the unopened can in a crockpot. Add water up to the rim of the can. Cover and turn the crockpot on low. Allow to cook for about 18 hours. (I let the batch I photographed go for 24 hours) The label will come off in the water.

After allowing it to cook, remove the can(s) from the hot water and allow to cool slightly. Open it and your "caramel" is ready to use. It can be thinned with milk if it gets too thick but since I am using this to dissolve into cider, I am happy with its peanut butter type consistency. I spoon it into a pint sized mason jar, add a used lid and ring and stick it in the fridge until its time to use. The unopened cans are safe to stick on a shelf.


There you have it. No stirring constantly, no softball stages, no candy thermometers...its hands off for most of the time and easy to do when you don't have time to make the real stuff. Its great in cider or as an apple dip. Put it on ice cream or dip a graham cracker in it.

Now if you have a dairy free person in the house, I have a recipe for you that will work really well as a substitute.  I will post that soon!

Let me know what you think!