Homemade Caramel Gets A Decadent Upgrade With This Ingredient Swap

Though honey has gained popularity in recent years as a healthier alternative to refined sugar, true honey-lovers know that honey isn't just a sweetener. It's a luxuriant, flavorful blend of nectar from over a million wild blossoms infused into a sticky, golden syrup with a deliciously nuanced, earthy sweetness. One decadent way to use it is to make homemade caramel — a process that's not only a bit simpler than using refined sugar, but also richer and deeply versatile.

Even if you've learned how to caramelize sugar flawlessly every time, you may never go back after making caramel with honey. As mentioned, the process is easier because there are fewer ingredients, less risk of burning or overcooking it, and it pretty much always turns out silky smooth with none of the potential gritty graininess sugar caramels can develop. All of these advantages are due to the differences in the way honey-based caramel is made versus the traditional stuff.

For instance, honey caramel is always smooth and velvety because it's in a liquid state to begin with, whereas sugar is usually packaged in crystal form. There's also less risk of honey caramel burning because it caramelizes fairly quickly and easily at lower temperatures than sugar. It also requires fewer ingredients because honey already contains water, so there's no need to add any. Since honey quickly becomes a thin, runny liquid once it's heated, all you need to make a simple honey caramel is honey, butter, and heavy cream.

Since honey-based caramel comes together so much faster than sugar-based versions, keeping a close eye on it becomes doubly important. Though it's easier to keep honeyed caramel at a simmer because you're using lower temperatures, it can still burn or boil over if you're not paying close attention. The butter and honey first forms a beautiful, golden yellow mixture that slowly darkens to a slightly more butterscotch-y shade of golden brown. That's when you know to add the heavy cream and finish up your sauce. Honey caramel naturally has a warmer, earthier flavor than sugar caramel — if you detect a touch of underlying bitterness, it's not because you did anything wrong.

You may want to be more judicious about how you use honey-based caramel since its natural astringence may clash with other potentially bitter ingredients, such as dark chocolate. You can either embrace the less-sweet nuances of honey caramel by pouring it straight over ice cream, or elevate its sunnier floral notes by folding it into a homemade three-ingredient caramel apple dip. The tangy cream cheese, sugary candy bars, and tart apples soften any bitterness to create pure honey flavor. You can also elevate fruit- and dairy-based desserts with it, such as New York-style cheesecake or honey apple crumb cake, since honey, dairy, and fruit tend to bring out the best in each other.