The Easy Substitute For Making Caramel Without Any Cream

When it comes to confections, caramel is always a favorite. Sweet, sometimes a little salty, and delicious when drizzled over desserts of all kinds, it's a treat to eat but a daunting affair to make. Home cooks can buy jars of pre-made caramel at the store if the thought of whipping up homemade caramel strikes fear, but in reality, it's not so tough to make a divine caramel sauce at home with just a few ingredients and even fewer tools. And if you don't have cream on hand, don't fret — you can simply sub in some milk and butter, which you probably already have in your fridge.

By substituting milk and butter for cream, you eliminate the need to run out and buy an extra ingredient — you likely already have these two on hand. The resulting caramel may be thinner, but when drizzled atop your favorite dessert, you likely won't be able to taste or notice the difference. You can use any variety of milk for this recipe, but just be aware that the less fat in the milk, the runnier the caramel, so the higher the fat, the better.

The process of making homemade caramel only takes a few minutes, and though it does require some skill and attention, if you have the right equipment you can easily get it right on the first try. All that's needed is granulated sugar, milk, salt, water, and unsalted butter, as well as a small saucepan and a heat-resistant cooking spoon or spatula.

The process involves cooking sugar down until it caramelizes, providing that rich golden-brown color to the sauce. The longer it cooks, the deeper the color of the caramel — but be careful not to burn it! Dairy is added to the mix either at the beginning or towards the end of the process in order to thicken up the sauce, add fattiness and body, and round out the caramel's sweetness. Usually, both cream (or milk, in this case) and butter go in; the butter provides an extra level of richness and is especially important when substituting in a lower-fat milk product.

What if you don't want to use dairy at all to make your caramel? No problem — if you're avoiding dairy for any reason, there's still a caramel-making method for you. All you need is brown sugar, cornstarch, and coconut cream (and a little salt).

The combination of coconut cream, which provides a similar level of milky texture and fat content as cream or milk, and the cornstarch, which acts as a thickening agent for the sauce as it cooks, works alongside the already-caramelly color and flavor of the brown sugar to create a condiment that's very similar in texture and flavor to classic caramel (albeit with a slightly coconutty taste). 

There are some other non-dairy caramel recipes that require vegan butter, coconut milk, and other ingredients, but if you want something simple and fast with ingredients you might already have on hand, check out this method.