This South Asian Spice Is The Upgrade Your Next Batch Of Caramel Sauce Needs

Caramel sauce is one of those deceptively simple ingredients that make ordinary things feel fancy and sophisticated. Draped in ribbons of its golden-brown deliciousness, plain vanilla ice cream transforms into an elegant dessert, and a blank, boring slice of cheesecake becomes restaurant-worthy. Even chocolate brownies and cakes take on an extra layer of decadence once caramel sauce is added, especially if it's the good stuff that's buttery, rich, and not too sweet.

While it's fairly easy to make delicious caramel sauce from sweetened condensed milk, you can take it over the top with one simple ingredient: star anise. Not to be confused with licorice or anise seed, star anise comes from the Illicium verum tree native to China and parts of Vietnam. You've likely seen its distinctive, eight-sectioned, star-shaped pods in the whole spices section of the grocery store, or in Asian grocery stores.

Unlike anise seed, its much milder Mediterranean cousin, star anise has a strong, bold sweet flavor that's punctuated by notes of licorice and cinnamon, making it an ideal addition to caramel sauce. Warmed in a silky ribbon of caramel, anise infuses the sugary sauce with warm, spicy, earthy notes that smooth away any potentially cloying sweetness and bring forward those classic toasted, buttery notes classic to caramel. Add the star anise while whisking the warm caramel together, removing it before serving to prevent the flavor from becoming too strong or tasting burned. Of course, this sweetly spiced condiment is wonderfully customizable with a few pointers.

Whether you're making it the traditional way on the stovetop, caramelizing a can of sweetened condensed milk, or whisking together maple syrup and olive oil to create a silky, sweet sauce, star anise easily elevates simple caramel sauce. In fact, using it in an olive oil-based caramel would be divine, as the earthy, floral notes in the anise and olive oil would mingle to underscore the warm, fruity sweetness in the maple syrup.

To infuse these kinds of nontraditional caramel sauces, or your favorite store-bought version, warm them lightly and add the star anise, letting them mellow together for several minutes until the sauce is very fragrant before removing the whole spices. Using whole star anise rather than the ground kind matters because whole spices retain their flavor and freshness longer, and because you don't want to leave the star anise in this particular version, as the flavor would eventually become overwhelming. Leaving it whole imparts plenty of flavor and makes it easier to remove once your sauce is sufficiently infused.

Perhaps the best part of making star anise-infused caramel sauce is using it on your favorite desserts, pastries, and even breakfast foods. Its warm, spicy, buttery deliciousness is perfect on slices of apple pie, drizzled over peach scones, blueberry oatmeal, or even stirred into your coffee for a delightfully decadent latte.