Spiced Caramel Butter Sauce

Microwave Method:

Put the butter in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with wax paper to catch the butter spatters. Microwave on high for 45 seconds-1 minute until the butter is melted.

Remove bowl from microwave and add the white and brown sugars. Stir well, breaking up any brown sugar lumps. Stir in the rest of the base ingredients until well combined.

Dip a pastry brush in warm water and brush the inside of the bowl to wash down the sides where the sugar granules have stuck. This will help prevent your sauce from being grainy. If sugar crystals are reintroduced to the sauce after it has begun to cook, then it causes more crystals to grow. Interesting, ain’t it? If you don’t mind a grainy sauce, then skip this step. Personally, I kind of like it. (Grin.)

Put the wax paper back over the bowl. Microwave on high for two minutes. Using oven mitts, take the bowl out of the microwave and stir. Wash down sides of bowl again with pastry brush and water.

Cover the bowl, return to microwave, and cook on high another 2 minutes (this is now 4 minutes that you have cooked your sauce). Stir again.

Cover and cook for two more minutes in the microwave on high (this brings cooking time to a total of 6 minutes). The sauce will be super hot and will be bubbling around the edges. Be careful and use oven mitts to take the bowl out of the microwave. Stir until everything is smooth and creamy. You’re done!

Transfer the sauce into a glass jar and allow to cool. Store in refrigerator. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not pour the hot sauce into a cool or cold jar. It could cause the jar to break. To warm the jar, keep the lid on and run some hot tap water over it, wipe off the water with a cloth, and then pour it out. Again: this syrup is very hot!

To summarize:
– melt the butter for 45 seconds-1 minute
– add the rest of the ingredients, stir, cook for 2 minutes on high
– stir, cook for 2 minutes on high
– stir, cook for 2 more minutes on high

Stove-top method:
Melt the butter in a 3-quart sauce pot over medium heat. Add the remainder of the ingredients. Stir until well blended. Wash down the inside of the pot with a moist pastry brush that has been dipped in warm water. Cook and stir the sauce over medium heat just until the first bubbles start to appear. Stirring is important because the sugars burn easily. When stirring, make sure that you stir the sauce at the bottom of the pan otherwise it will burn. Remove pot from heat and pour into a warmed one-quart jar or two warmed pint jars. Allow to cool before putting on the lid(s). Store in refrigerator.

For the Spiced Caramel Butter Sauce:

Mix 1/2 cup of the warm caramel butter sauce with the pumpkin pie spice.

Serve with fruit and cheese of choice. I like to use apple and pear slices, and a sharp cheddar cheese cut into sticks.