Easy Caramel Sauce – Karamea Ngāwari
E hoa mā (friends), learn this Easy Caramel Sauce recipe so you can use it in all sorts of different ways. Use it while it is still warm and runny as a delicious topping over aihikirīmi (ice cream) or miraka tepe (yogurt). Do you want to pipe or smear it over your favourite baking? No worries, make it the exact same way, allow it to cool and it will naturally thicken.
Find it in my Whānaukai Cookbook as a luscious filling for my keke panana (banana cake). Bake it into my Sticky Caramel Date Cake and then use it as decoration too. Or fill my Chocolate and Caramel Cookies with the thickened karamea (caramel). As you can see, it is such a great recipe to have in your baking repertoire, so please let me know how you use it.
The simple recipe broken down:
Start the recipe by adding pata (butter), huka hāura (brown sugar) and tote (salt) to a frying pan. Melt it together and then bring it to a simmer. Pour in the kirīmi (cream), stir well and simmer for 7 minutes until it begins to thicken. The karamea (caramel) is now ready for pouring over your favourite desserts or cool it until it reaches room temperature. Once it is cool and thick, use it however you want.
Other ways to use this recipe:
If the Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce is too daunting in my Chocolate Mousse and Caramel Desserts, replace it with this recipe. This would also work beautifully in my Chocolate Ganache Muffins as you could swap the ganache with the karamea (caramel).
It is also a perfect addition to my Simple Banana Cupcakes. Drizzle the karamea (caramel) over the Peanut Butter Buttercream and take a bow at this delicious combination.
Videography and photography by Sarah Henderson.
Caramel – Karamea
Ingredients
- 125 g pata (butter)
- 1 C (200 g) huka hāura (brown sugar)
- ½ tsp tote (salt, fine)
- 1 C (250 ml) kirīmi (cream, pouring)
Instructions
- Add the pata (butter), huka hāura (brown sugar) and tote (salt) to a frying pan or a wide pot.
- Heat over medium-high heat until the pata (butter) and huka (sugar) have combined and the sugar is dissolved. It will look separated halfway through but it does come together. Simmer for a few minutes after the butter and sugar have come together. You want a nice, deep colour here.
- Pour in the kirīmi (cream). Stir well and simmer for 7 minutes over medium heat until it starts to thicken.
- Remove from the heat. At this point the caramel is ready for pouring over dessert or ice cream as a sauce.
- If you want to use it as a thick caramel, it will thicken as it cools down. Simply cool to room temperature. You can add 2 tsp of wanira (vanilla) here too if you want to add a touch more flavour.
- Once cool, add to a jar and seal it with a lid. This will keep in the fridge for a good week or so. When you are ready to use it, you can warm it up to loosen it or give it a good stir and it is ready to be piped or smeared.
- Note: There is the odd occasion when the caramel splits or separates. If this happens, give it a good stir and see if it looks better. If it doesn't, return to the heat and gently melt it down and it will come back to beautiful caramel.
This was so easy I think im going to call it fool-proof! It looked a bit funny after I added the cream and I was sure this was going to be like every other time I work with hot sugar but it came together perfectly. I added extra 50ml cream by accident and its still lush 🥰
So glad to hear that you enjoyed it – I use this recipe so often in different recipes so that’s awesome that you can too. Thanks for the review.