Oooey Gooey Caramel Sauce (Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free)

Summer!  A time of ice cream and yummy treats! 

This summer I'm on a mission to get my daughter to eat things (so far I'm losing *scowl*), so I came up with this recipe as a kind of stepping stone.  The next step is a nice and thick hot fudge sauce to go on top of banana splits.  I figure if nothing will get her to eat things like frozen cherries, that something like a banana split, complete with caramel and hot fudge, will.

I'm trying to cut back on the daughter's consumption of cow based dairy to take it easier on her gut, so this recipe contains coconut cream (refrigerate a can of coconut milk over night, remove solidified cream from the top and use that.  Do not use coconut milk as the caramel won't come out thick with it).  If your child, like my son, is allergic to coconut, feel free to sub out heavy cream for the coconut cream.

How thick does this caramel sauce come out?  Well, let's put it this way.  Unless you are planning on making home made Milky Way bars and store them in your fridge you're going to want to remove the jar of caramel sauce out of the fridge for about ten minutes to come up closer to room temperature or you're going to have problems scooping it out of the jar.  Now THAT, my friends, is caramel!

To those allergic to dairy.  I used ghee (clarified butter) in this recipe.  Ghee has the dairy fat removed in it, so a lot of dairy allergic people tend to find they are okay with it, but if you are not, feel free to use coconut oil instead.  You need the fat, though, so don't drop it out completely (it helps it not set up into hard candy on you).

Your caramel's color is going to depend on how dark your honey is when you start.  Mine turned out pretty dark because my big jug o' honey is starting to get dark with age, but if you use light colored honey I'm betting that this will come out lighter for you.  Either way, though, it's delicious!

Oooey Gooey Caramel Sauce (Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mild tasting honey
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup liquified coconut cream (scoop cream off the top of a can of coconut milk that has been refrigerated.  Heat cream in microwave for about 20 seconds or so and then measure out the 1/4 cup of cream)
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt (I used Himalayan Pink salt for this)
• 1 TBS ghee (or coconut oil)
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (make sure it's gluten free), or 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped

Instructions:

1. Heat honey and maple syrup in a heavy bottomed medium sized saucepan over medium high heat.  Once mixture starts to boil (watch it carefully so it doesn't burn!), reduce heat to medium low and simmer until the mixture thickens and darkens a bit, about 10 minutes.
2.  While the mixture is simmering, heat your coconut cream in a small bowl in the microwave for about 20 seconds (you want it hot but not boiling).  If you are using a vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract, add the vanilla bean seeds and pod to the cream before heating it.  Once hot, let the cream hang out in the microwave or on the counter until you need it.
3.  After the 10 minutes of boiling are up, add the baking soda.  The mixture will bubble furiously.  Remove mixture from heat and mixing constantly add coconut cream (remove vanilla pod before you do so if using), salt and ghee.  Keep off of heat until ghee is melted and incorporated into the mixture.  Return mixture to medium heat and allow to come back to a boil.  Lower heat to medium low and simmer for about two more minutes.  Remove from heat, add vanilla extract (if using).  Let cool, and try not to burn your mouth too much eating it off the spoon a lot as it is cooling (not that I would know anything about that) and store in a jar with a screw lid.  

I'd suggest storing this in fridge just to be safe.  Should keep for at least two weeks in the fridge.  Let sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before using to let it soften back up. 

Enjoy!