Saturday, August 11, 2012

Guinness Extra Stout Caramel Sauce


are you a caramel freak ?...

grab your keys
go buy the Guinness
make this caramel sauce !!!


sometimes the best things happen on the way to the destination...

my goal, or destination, was sweet red cherry preserves swimming in malty Guinness syrup.

i ended up with this incredible extra stout vanilla maple caramel sauce

i looked around for Guinness reductions and found quite a few. most were for "dipping" sauces or for savory applications like beef, steak, lamb, pork, ribs etc... they didn't quite sound like what i was looking for...i didn't quite know what i was looking for !  one found HERE at Key Ingredient.com is meant for dipping Irish Soda Bread...a simple reduction of equal amounts of Guinness and sugar...YUMMMM!   and another found HERE has balsamic and honey...sounds tasty...might try that one, but i'm a little tired of balsamic at the moment.

so...with that in mind i poured the whole bottle of Guinness Extra Stout in the pot with some brown and white sugar.  fascinated by the foaming and bubbling, i stirred and stirred, tasted and re-tasted...Vanilla!...needs vanilla to mellow out the bitter taste.  still bitter...hmmmmm....Maple syrup?...that did it.

friends and guinea pigs were so mesmerized by this glistening amber pot of gold that ideas started to fly.  strawberries?...pretzels?...brownies?...milk shakes?...BBQ ribs?...ice cream sundae?...caramel cappuccino?...frappuccino?...chocolate?...BACON ?

A BIG SPOON ?... 

enough said...make the sauce !


GUINNESS EXTRA STOUT VANILLA CARAMEL SAUCE
i will preface this with...
i have only made this once and it was incredible.  i pretty much made it up as i was going...or at least i haven't seen any recipes like it for you to refer to.  so bear with me on the instructions.
basically you are just reducing the ingredients down to a caramel consistency.

1 large bottle (1 pint 6 oz.) Guinness Extra Stout
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp maple syrup (might want more, but don't hide the Guinness flavor)
2 tsp vanilla bean paste, or 1 scraped vanilla bean.  i used  paste


start with a large heavy bottom pot...large because this will bubble up quite a bit...a lot.
add Guinness, sugars and maple syrup.  start on low until sugar dissolves.  bring it up to medium and reduce, reduce, reduce.  stir, stir, stir...this will help prevent burning and keep the foaming up to a minimum.  i suggest you keep a watchful eye.  when it starts to thicken, add the vanilla paste.  do a taste test.  at first mine was a little too bitter so i added the maple syrup...check yours to see if you might need more than i have suggested.  keep cooking and stirring until it gets to a caramel texture.  be careful not to let it burn.  when it coats your spoon, it should be done.  let cool to room temp.

NOTES...i never refrigerated my jar...i carried this around and gave spoonfuls away the next day.
I DID make the Caramelized Sweet Cherries that i will try to post about soon.
my point is...this could get really hard if refrigerated.
AND...what is left in the jar has turned a little more syrupy, darker, with crystallization on the sides.  still delicious and great for a "dipping sauce".
SO... i do not know the shelf life or stability of this, but IT'S DELICIOUS !


10 comments:

ally said...

oh my gracious. this is the ultimate, cannot be topped, caramel sauce!!!
xo
http://allykayler.blogspot.ca/

Anonymous said...

As a fan of both Guinness and caramel this is going to have to be made!! Over chocolate ice cream... or maybe over fruit (pineapple, cherries, blackberries??). Sounds delicious!!

Jules and Ruby said...

hi Ally, hi anonymous...this will go on ANYTHING. hope you try it. thanks for stopping by

Anonymous said...

Can not wait to try this! I just found your site looking for skyr. Lovely recipes....I will be back for more.
In thinking of caramel sauce...a bit of cream or butter? to keep it soft? pourable? to keep in the fridge better? Who knows..it is worth the try for me!
Wendy

Jules and Ruby said...

hi Wendy...thanks for finding me through the Skyr post. i've only made this once, but i should make it again...it was delicious!. i'm a novice with caramel sauce so i don't have an answer for you. i bet the cream or butter would work well...at least it sounds good. give it a try and let me know. i bet it will be gone before you find out if it helps it last longer...Xj

Erin McD said...

Amazing, I made this today. I did a double batch, used 1/2 cup more brown sugar than the combined recipe would normally called for and only one vanilla bean. yielded 1 1/4 pints. Turned out amazing.

Jules and Ruby said...

hi Erin...thanks for the great report. great idea to double. this would be great for gifts.

Agos said...

Sounds so good! I'd love to try it on top of a cheesecake :)

Jules and Ruby said...

hi Agos...yes indeed. it would be delicious. i might have to make a cheesecake soon.

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