Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Salted Butterscotch Sauce

When you are a doctor, it becomes your lot in life to endure endless questions from your so-called friends about their random eye twitches and mysterious rashes. This is why I never became a doctor…well that and the whole medical-school-is-hard thing. Anyway, my dear friend is a fantastic doctor and when she came to DC for a visit, I wanted to treat her hospital cafeteria weary stomach to a delicious meal. She is worth it and the upside is that when I develop any mysterious rashes, I know who to call! To top off the meal, I wanted something decadent, but simple enough that I could make it in advance and spend all of my time enjoying her company rather than running back into the kitchen to whip up a dessert. This butterscotch sauce was just the thing. It is a fantastically velvet sauce that melts into the waiting frosty mounds of store-bought ice cream. You can keep it in the fridge all day or overnight and then just heat it up in the microwave for 30 seconds before serving. I can’t recommend this enough for your next dessert.
Salted Butterscotch Sauce
There are TONS of butterscotch recipes out there, but the general formula is equal parts sugar and milk and 1/2 that quantity of butter.
Ingredients:
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk (or cream)
2 Tablespoons Scotch
Kosher Salt (to taste)

1. Heat butter in a heavy-bottom pan until melted and add brown sugar.
2. Cook together on medium heat until bubbling away.
3. Whisk in milk or cream.
4. It will get a little crazy in there for a minute, but keep whisking and the sauce will come together into this velvety smooth concoction.

5. Let it cook down until it coats the back of your spoon - 10 minutes or so.
6. Remove from the heat and whisk in the scotch and 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt.
7. Pour over ice cream and devour (I sprinkled a little more salt on top of my butterscotch topped ice cream). This is the point where you can refridgerate it until you are ready to serve. Just pop in the microwave or back in a saucepan for a few minutes and presto...dreamy butterscotch sauce.
Super dreamy....
Don't forget, you are working with boiling sugar here and it gets mega-watt hot. Do not splatter this stuff around while it is boiling or you will end up with a nasty burn.

3 comments:

  1. This is perhaps the most wonderful little joy in the world, seemingly simple but so decadent. I am so lucky to have a friend spoil me like you!
    Lis

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  2. Mom made this last night for dinner/dessert in Boston and it was delicious. She is now intent on name any future children either "Emily" or "Butterscotch"

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