Salted caramel sauce made low carb and low sugar!
Have you ever wanted to make something for a really long time, finally attempt it only to fail miserably? That has been my experience with trying to make a sugar free caramel sauce. I attempted one last year around this time and after 2 or 3 fails I gave up.
I hate quitting but I'm a perfectionist and I just couldn't get it right so I quit on it. I was also trying my hardest to NOT include any kind of sugar at all which proved to be nearly impossible. To make what I wanted successfully, using a little bit of maple syrup and molasses and I can finally yell VICTORY to a caramel sauce made without a ton of sugar. Yes it might have 1.7 grams in the entire recipe and I can not call it a sugar FREE caramel sauce, but I'm so beyond thrilled with the results I don't care and I don't think you should care either.
If you want a caramel sauce to resemble caramel sauce it needs that brown color. That brown color can NOT be made without a start of something brown! I tried this recipe 2 more times using 3 tablespoons of maple syrup and found I didn't like the color and my kids actually thought it was Too Sweet, go figure lol! My next attempt I tried all molasses and they family hated the flavor but the color was perfect.
My final conclusion was a combination and reduced it to only 2 tablespoons and WOOT WOOT, The best caramel sauce EVER!!!
It's pour-able, it's beautiful and it tastes amazing. It's low carb, it's gluten free and it's practically sugar-free! You could probably make this dairy free by subbing the butter for vegan butter and subbing the cream for coconut milk, although I can't say this will be as good and delicious as I haven't tried those substitutes.
I kept mine refrigerated and just warmed it up for 30 seconds in the microwave, stirred it up and it was just as good as the day I prepared it.
OH the endless, wonderful, exciting possibilities with this sauce!! Enjoy on top of yougrt or ice cream or pie! My picky hubby and children LOVE it!! They enjoyed just dipping some sliced apples into it. I love it has a LOT less sugar than anything you can buy!
Brenda's Notes:
- According to My Fitness Pal there is about 24 grams of sugar per serving in typical store bought Smuckers caramel sauce and 30 grams of carbs.
- You could replace the light cream for heavy cream to reduce the carbs even more.
- If you don't have liquid cinnamon stevia you can use plain liquid or vanilla flavored stevia. You could also use pure stevia extract but just a very little, ¼ teaspoon. Taste and adjust as needed.
- I tried this with many different variations with sweeteners. The first time I made it I used too much arrowroot and it was too thick. Then second time I used all maple syrup instead of molasses and the color was too light for my liking. I tried all molasses and stevia but the kids didn't like the flavor. I think the combination as I have it here is perfection! The kids love it, I love it and it's a whole lot better than typical caramel sauce!
- It hardens in the fridge so just reheat for 30 seconds in the microwave.
Low Sugar Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup Swerve or erythritol
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon black strap molasses
- ½ cup light cream
- 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon liquid stevia
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Melt butter over medium heat in a sauce pan then stir in Swerve, maple syrup and molasses.
- Whisk in cream and arrowroot and bring to a boil.
- Simmer 3-4 minutes until thickened, turn off heat.
- Stir in stevia and salt.
- Cool, cover and refrigerate.
- This will keep for 1 month in the fridge.
- Makes 1-¼ cups.
- Reheat by microwaving 20-30 seconds.
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Mairi Mackay
Looks yummy but the nutritional info says its for 2g serving that seems high calories for 2g is there a typo?
Brenda
Yes it's a typo, my recipe plug in had a glitch and all my servings went to grams. It should be 2 tablespoons.
Wendi Shier
I've been craving caramel sauce lately. I found this recipe and now I'm excited!! I've never worked with Swerve before, so my questions are: would it melt and brown if you just put it into a pan the way sugar does? (the bag says it looks and tastes like sugar...I guess I want to know if it behaves like sugar) and what does the arrowroot powder do? I've made salted caramel sauce many times and I've never added anything but sugar, butter, vanilla, cream and salt. What is the purpose of the arrowroot?
Thanks for your help...I'm so excited to try it
Brenda
The arrowroot is needed to thicken the sauce. The Swerve does not melt and brown as sugar does.
Wendi Shier
Thanks
I will give it a try tomorrow!
Pat Weaver
I tried this today and it is fantastic! I didn't have any cream, so I used my almond/coconut milk instead. Used vanilla stevia and added a shake of cinnamon. I used a different brand of erithritol that I found at Sprout's market made from American hardwood. It came out a little thinner (probably due to milk instead of cream), but after refrigerating, the texture was perfect, and it tastes wonderful! I am diabetic, so this is really a treat! Now if I can somehow figure out how to make pecan pie with this...
Angela+{Mind+Over+Batter}
I feel all Braveheart when I finally get something I've failed at many times. Your caramel looks beautiful. I want to dip that spoon in my mouth and repeat. And repeat. And repeat.
Kellie+@+The+Suburban+Soapbox
What a great idea, I really love this recipe. No need to put it on anything, I would just eat it with a spoon. Or a ladle.
Meseidy
This looks like a great alternative!
Karissa+|+Sweet+as+a+Cookie
Salted caramel is my jam! I love this so much!
Nutmeg+Nanny
Ummm....I sorta want to just dip my spoon into that jar and eat it straight! Or maybe pour it over ice cream...or coffee...or apple pie...
Kirsten/ComfortablyDomestic
Wow! Nice job! I would have thought low sugar caramel would've been next to impossible to pull off. I'm seriously impressed.
Angie | Big Bear's Wife
I would just eat that straight out of the jar with a spoon! haha Questions, where do you find cinnamon liquid stevia?
Brenda
I buy it online through iherb.com
Kim+(Feed+Me,+Seymour)
I am super impressed with your will! I probably would give up. I'm glad you didn't, this looks amazing!
Nikki+@+NikSnacks
What a great alternative to melting sugar and adding heavy cream to the pot!
Ginny+McMeans
Yes, I know exactly what you mean about failing in a recipe. I am actually going to try a cookie (again) today that I have failed at. Your caramel sauce looks like an absolute winner. Yeah, I could lick that spoon.
Ashley+@+Wishes+&+Dishes
I'm glad you kept trying until you got it right! I have that happen to me all the time and I quit after so many tries. Looks perfect!
Heather | girlichef
If at first you don't succeed.... YUM! It really does look like you found the exact right formula, I could (and would) eat this by the spoon.
Bea
Sounds and looks like perfection to me.
Lauren+@+Healthy+Delicious
I can't believe that's low sugar - it looks so thick and luscious! Nice job!
A
This looks fabulous! I notice you store it in a canning jar -- is it possible to preserve this by water bath canning, by chance?
Brenda
I've not tried that but please let me know if you do, I'm sure it would work well.
Cookin+Canuck
I love that you put the effort and time into testing this so many times to find the perfect recipe. It looks so good!
Claudia K
I live in Canada and have never seen Swerve. Would Splenda work in this recipe?
Brenda
Yes you could replace it with that. Swerve is erythritol, but it's brand I like.
Martha+@+A+Family+Feast
We haven't had much luck making homemade caramel sauce either...but I'll give your recipe a try!
Paula+-+bell'alimento
I'm just going to go ahead and tip this into my mouth. Yep.