Easy Homemade Butterscotch Sauce

March 08, 2024

Easy Homemade Butterscotch Sauce

Easy Homemade Butterscotch Sauce is so quick to make you can have it made before you get to the store and back to buy some. And it tastes so much better than store bought.

Many people confuse Butterscotch and Caramel Sauces as they have a similar look and taste. To be honest I use both interchangeably and no one seems to mind or know the difference. But there is a difference. Butterscotch sauce is made with brown sugar, butter and cream while caramel sauce is made with white sugar, butter and cream. I think butterscotch is the easier sauce to make because it is so easy to ruin caramel by burning the sugar. Butterscotch is cooked to a lower temperature, thus avoiding the burned sugar dilemma. I've burned caramel so many times I seldom make it unless I have to.

The other day I needed a caramel sauce to drizzle over Gingerbread Cake but I immediately decided to make a butterscotch sauce instead because I didn't have the time or energy to make it twice if I burned the sugar, lol. The Butterscotch Sauce was just as delicious if not better than the caramel sauce and no one complained one bit.

This is a very forgiving recipe. It calls for cream but even evaporated milk will work in a pinch and there's very little difference in taste or appearance. No worries about the sauce crystalizing because of too much stirring because one of the added ingredients is corn syrup. Now, before you get your panties in a twist, corn syrup is not the same as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Plain old corn syrup is just plain old glucose, one of the components of white sugar. HFCS, on the other hand has been changed from glucose to fructose, which is sweeter and digested differently than the corn syrup. Interestingly, fructose is also a component of white sugar. But whatever way you look at it's all sugar. So if you don't do sugar this post is not for you.

As the title states this is a very easy sauce to make. But just because it's easy does not mean it's not extra special delicious. Make this when you want to pull out all the stops for family and friends. Serve the sauce with ice cream or over gingerbread or plain cake. But DO NOT EAT IT BY THE SPOONFUL, which you and your guests may be tempted to do.

Printable recipe at end of post.

Easy Homemade Butterscotch Sauce

1 cup brown sugar, light or dark will work
½ cup corn syrup
¼ cup butter
½ cup half and half cream or evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of sea salt, optional

How to make it:

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and butter. Stir constantly over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Keep the mixture at a gentle boil, uncovered, without stirring for 2 or 3 minutes or until it reaches 232-235 degrees F (soft-ball stage) on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from heat and gradually stir in the cream and vanilla. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt if desired at this time.

Serve hot or cold over ice cream. The sauce is also good over plain or gingerbread cake. Keep refrigerated when not serving.

Makes 2 cups.

Note: If for some reason the sauce curdles when the cream or milk is added it can be rescued by blending together with an immersion or regular blender until smooth.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and butter.

Stir constantly over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved.

Keep the mixture at a gentle boil, uncovered, without stirring for 2 or 3 minutes or until it reaches 232-235 degrees F (soft-ball stage) on a candy thermometer.