The difference between the Day 2 goodie and the Day 8 goodie is only a few degrees but I felt that even that smallest difference deserved its own mention.

When cooked to the appropriate temperature, this rich, buttery sauce will produce perfect caramel candies. When cooked for only a few minutes, you end up with an out-of-this-world Salted Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce. The possibilities are almost endless. The caramel sauce can be used as a topping for ice cream, pies, bread pudding, or pancakes. You can swirl it into brownie batter. Or even simpler – just dip a spoon in the jar 🙂

I bought the jars for this year’s at The Container Store. Each jar will hold 1 cup of sauce. (If you’re wondering, I’ll be making an octuple batch of sauce this year). I also picked up some cute Christmas fabric at Joann’s – I’ll cut circles with a diameters 3 inches larger than the jar lid and then fasten the cloth circles over the jar tops with ribbon for a Christmasy touch.

Get the recipe: Salted Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

The 12 Days of Homemade Christmas 2010