On Halloween my friend Holly was in town visiting from Utah. We decided that we needed to make a sweet treat while the kids were Trick-or-Treating. It was decided that Homemade Stove Top Caramel Sauce would be the perfect treat. There are a few methods to making Caramel Sauce but I like the stove top method even though it takes a couple of hours. I feel like the consistency turns out better than the microwaving method.

Stove Top Caramel Sauce

The process of turning sweetened condensed milk into caramel sauce is so simple. You simply extract the water from the milk leaving behind the fat and sugar so that it can caramelize.

*Remember to use a can of sweetened condensed milk and not evaporated milk. It’s easy to mistake one from another because the packaging is very similar. Sweetened condensed milk has sugar in it whereas evaporated milk does not. In general, the sweetened condensed milk is in a smaller can than the evaporated milk.

Items Needed:

• Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used 2 cans)
• 1 large pot with water

Directions:

Remove label from can. Place the can in pot and fill the pan with water until it covers the can completely. If the water does not cover the can completely the can could explode (or so I have read online). I did not want to take any chances so I added water as needed throughout the cooking process.

Bring water to a simmer and keep it there for 3-4 hours or until desired consistency. For a thicker more syrup-like texture cook closer to 4 hours. When ready, use tongs to remove can and allow it to cool slightly before you pour the sauce into a bowl.

Using a whisk, whisk it until it is smooth and creamy. It took me about a minute.

Let cool before storing.

After the sauce was done we decided to use it to make Caramel Apple Slices.

Caramel Apple Slices

Ingredients:

• Apples
• Homemade Caramel Sauce
• Lemon Juice (keeps the apples from browning)
• Paper Towels
• Toppings – Chocolate chips, M&M’s, Nuts

Directions:

• Slice Apples.
• Dip apples in lemon juice and then lay them out on paper towels to dry.
• Once they are dry dip apple slices in homemade caramel sauce and then roll in toppings of your choice.
• Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge. Ours only lasted 24 hours and they were all eaten.