Well, we are on the official countdown until little baby girl arrives, and that can only mean one thing - baby shower time!! I have had two amazing showers given by friends, family and co-workers and have come away feeling very blessed. I have helped host showers in the past, and I know the amount of work that can go into those couple of hours! So I always want my hostess gifts to be nice and heartfelt. I try to think of something clever that I can make, or at least partially make, that is really special - but doesn't have to break the bank.
I had seen a few recipes for salted caramel sauce floating around online and decided to build a gift around that. Let me first say that I am NOT that great in the kitchen, and boiling sugar can be more than a little tricky, so my first attempt was a massive FAIL. But I didn't let it beat me! I reviewed the recipes, made a couple of adjustments and tried again. This time was a complete SUCCESS! A very sweet success, I might add... For each hostess, I decorated a jar with some vintage fabric and a cute handwritten label, nested it in an ice cream bowl, added a cute towel and tied it all together with a ribbon. And I've gotten nothing but rave reviews about the caramel sauce! I combined ingredients from several different recipes and put together my own version:
SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE
2c sugar
3/4c water
1 1/2c heavy cream
1/2tsp vanilla
1tsp finely ground sea salt
4tbs unsalted butter
Add water to a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Add sugar to the water and cook over medium heat (DO NOT STIR!) until sugar dissolves and begins to boil. Increase to medium high heat and continue to let sugar boil without stirring until it turns a light amber color. Note: you really want to stick close to the stove during this part. Once the sugar starts to change color, it can go from perfect to burned VERY quickly. The boiling process may take a little while, but be patient - it's worth the wait! Just before it starts to turn color, heat the cream and vanilla for 45 sec. in the microwave. Once your sugar is a light amber color (it should have a slight caramel smell too), remove it from the heat and slowly whisk in the cream and vanilla. It's really going to bubble up at this point, so be careful! Once combined, stir in the salt and butter until melted. Carefully pour into HOT, prepared canning jars. You can keep jars of caramel in the fridge for about two weeks - if it lasts that long!!
