Homemade Butterscotch Sauce Recipe - Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking (2024)

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHAT YOU GET: Creamy, rich, a little nutty, and deeply caramel-like Butterscotch Sauce. My Homemade Butterscotch Sauce recipe adds a perfect touch of sweetness and warmth to contrast your frozen treats. This sauce can be made in under 6 minutes using just 5 ingredients and tastes even better than store-bought versions.

I don’t know about you, but one of my all-time favorite flavors is butterscotch. While this sauce is complex in its rich caramel flavor, it’s one of the easiest things to make. It’s just a matter of combining a few basic ingredients in a saucepan and gently bringing them together over medium heat. You will not believe how foolproof this recipe is!

While my Homemade Butterscotch Sauce goes very well with ice cream, it tastes just as good or even better on other desserts. Use this sauce to drizzle your favorite cakes and cupcakes, and it will take the flavor and look to a whole new level. You can also swirl this sauce into the ice cream itself rather than just use it for drizzling! Try this using my Homemade Ice Cream, Gelato, and Brownies recipes.

What’s The Difference Between Butterscotch And Caramel?

Instead of starting with a base of white sugar like you would do for caramel, butterscotch is always made with brown sugar. That means you already have an instant caramel flavor built-in without having to go through the same, sometimes temperamental, the cooking process of making caramel.

Using brown sugar instead of regular granulated sugar adds loads to the flavor profile of this rich sauce. You can imagine what happens when the sweet molasses flavor of brown sugar is heated and caramelized — it only gets sweeter, stickier, and nuttier, which is what creates the unique flavor of my Homemade Butterscotch Sauce.

If you don’t have brown sugar on hand, but do have white sugar and molasses in your pantry, try to make your own brown sugar!

How To Store And Reheat Homemade Butterscotch Sauce

You can store your Homemade Butterscotch Sauce by transferring it into an airtight container and popping it in the refrigerator for 8 weeks. Though this sauce tastes lovely cold, it’s even better reheated in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Tools You Need To Make Homemade Butterscotch Sauce:

• Measuring cups and spoons
• Medium saucepan
• Multipurpose silicone spatula
• Airtight container

How Do I Prevent My Homemade Butterscotch Sauce From Curdling?

To prevent your Homemade Butterscotch Sauce from crystallizing or curdling, make sure you use a heavy bottom saucepan. A thin bottom pan has “hot spots” and heats up unevenly which causes the butter to be heated up too fast and separate from the sugar. If the temperature changes dramatically – hot or cold – butter curdles from sugar. Keep your mixture at a constant medium temperature.

When combining the butter, cream, and brown sugar over medium heat, gently swirl the pan until the sugar has dissolved. If you stir the pot instead of swirling, this will cause the caramel to clump and the butter will not be incorporated.

After all the sugar has dissolved and melted together with the butter over medium heat, bring it to a simmer. Once it begins to simmer, DO NOT stir anymore. Further stirring will cause the sauce to crystallize, which you don’t want in a creamy sauce.

What Kind Of Cream Should I Use?

The cream which I use and recommend for most of my recipes is fresh dairy cream. This needs to be at least 35% fat content to whip well. This kind of cream will spoil in a few days even when refrigerated because it has no additives. It’s basically just natural cream skimmed from milk.

In some places that don’t have dairy industries, there are manufactured products usually made with milk powders and fats. These are good for some applications, but they are not fresh cream. This is sometimes called “All-purpose Cream.” I don’t get this here in the US, but I know it splits when any other ingredient is added to it, so I would not recommend using it in this recipe.

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips For Making The Best Homemade Butterscotch Sauce:

• If you would like to use a Truvia brown sugar, you can reference my Sugar Substitute Chart. You can also use golden brown or demerara sugar for this recipe.
• The cream used in this recipe can be table cream or double cream. It does not have to be a heavy whipping cream.
• I don’t recommend using milk to make your sauce because it will not have the same effect and could curdle.
• Make a double recipe and store it in your fridge for months on end. Rewarm and use as needed.
• Use salted butter for extra flavor in your sauce.

Looking For Different Flavors?

• 3 Ingredient Homemade Raspberry Sauce
• Homemade Chocolate Syrup
• Homemade Marshmallow Sauce
• Gemma’s Signature Salted Caramel Sauce
• Vegan Caramel Sauce
• Spiced Rum Caramel Sauce
• Homemade Applesauce

Ingredients

Instructions

Recipe Notes