Salted Caramel Sauce, Camp Version
Sugar, butter, and powdered milk cooked down in a pot over a stove. Pour it on anything.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 145
- protein
- 1 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 45 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Granulated sugar | 1 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 6 tbsp | ghee if it will be warm out, it does not go rancid |
| Whole milk powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for half and half |
| Water | 3 tbsp | to reconstitute the milk powder |
| Kosher or flaky salt | 1 tsp |
Method
- Stir the milk powder into 3 tbsp of warm water in a mug until smooth. No lumps. Set it beside the stove where it stays warm.
- Pour the sugar into a dry pot in an even layer. Put it on a low, steady flame. A windscreen helps more than a bigger burner here.
- Whisk while the sugar clumps and melts. Once it is fully liquid, stop whisking and just tilt the pot to move the pale spots into the hot ones.
- When it turns the color of an old penny, pull it off the heat and drop in the butter a piece at a time. It will foam up hard. Keep stirring.
- Pour in the milk slowly. Stir until it is one smooth sauce, then stir in the salt.
- Let it cool a few minutes. It thickens as it drops in temperature.
Caramel is one ingredient doing all the work: sugar heated until it browns and turns bitter enough to be interesting. The other three just stop it. Butter and milk drop the temperature and cut the sauce with fat, which is why they go in off the heat and why the pot foams when they hit.
The home version uses half and half, which is not a thing you carry. Whole milk powder reconstituted thick does the same job, and it has enough fat that the sauce still comes out smooth. Two real cautions: a canister stove runs hotter and less evenly than a home burner, so keep the flame low and watch the color instead of the clock, and molten sugar burns are serious. Long sleeves, and do not walk away from the pot.
Packing
Sugar and salt premeasured in one bag, milk powder in another, butter or ghee in a screw-top jar. Carry it out in that same jar once it cools.
Variations
- A spoonful stirred into instant coffee with a little more milk powder makes a passable latte.
- Pour it hot over crushed shortbread or graham crackers and let it set.
- Cut the butter to 4 tbsp for a thinner sauce you can drizzle straight from the pot.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/create-your-own-homemade-salted-caramel