Salted caramel

The main secret is not to get distracted: work step by step and watch the temperature. The thickness is controlled by the amount of cream. Use it as a sauce for syrniki, bakes and pancakes, as a filling for cupcakes, or — with nuts stirred in — as a filling for cakes.

Ingredients

• sugar — 250 g
• butter at room temperature — 70 g
• hot double cream 33% — 150 ml
• sea salt — 2 pinches

Method

1. Take a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Spread the sugar in an even layer. Set it over a slightly below medium heat.
2. Do not stir at first. Once the sugar starts melting at the bottom, stir gently — but not vigorously.
3. Adjust the heat so that the sugar does not burn.
4. Warm the cream in a second pan.
5. Once all the sugar has melted to an amber colour with no grains left, add the butter and whisk briskly.
6. The caramel will bubble hard and give off steam — take care not to burn yourself. Remove it from the heat.
7. Add the hot cream and stir again.
8. Pour the caramel into a bowl and add two pinches of coarse sea salt. Leave it to cool; it will thicken to about twice the consistency.
9. Transfer to a jar and keep it in the fridge.