Butterscotch Sauce

I don't know about you, but I am fairly certain I gained some weight during our two Snow Days last week. I don't know what it is, but I always want to cook, cook, cook on those days. So that's what I did. I went on the hot drinks kick, and this is kind of an extension of that.

I made the caramel sauce. It was so easy that I also made butterscotch sauce (you will see why in a few) to go along with it.

The process is essentially the same, just with a slight change in ingredients.

Melt butter in a saucepan and add in brown sugar. This is essentially the only different step :)

Mix this all well and heat on medium heat.
Until it starts to boil. Heat this for about 5 minutes.
Add in your cream.
Notice how the cream does not really go down into the sauce mixture.
At all.
Start whisking. Heat and whisk until you can't whisk any more. It takes awhile.
I never did get all the sugar to mix smoothly in with the cream.
But I'm okay with that.

While I prefer caramel, this is really good. When I ran out of the caramel, I started using it in Caramel Steamed Milk with great success.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Butterscotch Sauce

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar

¾ cup heavy whipping cream (not ultra-pasteurized)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go.

In a heavy bottomed stainless steel 2 quart saucepan, melt butter over low to medium heat. Just before butter is melted, add all dark brown sugar at once and stir with wooden spoon until sugar is uniformly wet.

Stir infrequently until mixture goes from looking grainy to molten lava. Make sure to get into the corners of your pot, and watch closely to notice how the mixture changes. It will take about 3 to 5 minutes before it starts to look like a liquid.

Add all the cream at once and lower heat a little and whisk cream into mixture. When liquid is uniform, turn heat back to medium and whisk every few minutes for a total of 10 minutes.

After liquid has been boiling on the stove for its 10 minutes, turn heat off and let rest for a minute or two before transferring into a heatproof storage vessel. Cool to room temperature.

Whisk in half the salt and vanilla extract. Taste again. Add more salt and vanilla extract until the marvelous taste of real butterscotch is achieved.

Butterscotch makes a fantastic topping for ice cream.

Chill butterscotch sauce in a non-reactive container with a tightly fitting lid only after sauce has chilled completely. It will keep for one month refrigerated, that is if you can keep from eating it all the moment it has cooled down and been seasoned to your liking.

Butterscotch Cheesecake

I love cheesecake. And it loves me.

I have been on a cheesecake kick lately, I just can't seem to get enough of it. It's really not difficult to make, it just takes some time. My mom has actually made REAL New York Carnegie Deli Cheesecake before. It apparently IS fairly involved. I might have to get that recipe.

This butterscotch recipe intrigued me when I saw it in Taste of Home and it just kept calling to me. The Girl has not stopped requesting it.

Traditionally, you are supposed to bake your cheesecake in a springform pan. The sides of this pan can be loosened and removed so you have beautifully perfect slices of pie. I used to have one, but it is in the stratosphere with the rest of my house, and I never replaced it. I have been baking in a pie plate or a regular 9 x 13 pan with really good results, so I will probably stick with that for now.

Mix up a graham cracker crust. This recipe calls for brown sugar, but I apparently just started mixing up my old stand-by one :) Which ever kind of sugar you decide to use, add in the crushed graham crackers and melted butter.

Mix that well and press into your pie plate (or springform pan) (or 9 x 13) and set aside.
Whisk together the milks and INSTANT butterscotch pudding mix. We are going to let this sit for a few minutes so it just starts to set up.
Beat in 3 (count them, three) packages of room temperature cream cheese. Let your cream cheese set out for a few hours. This makes it so much easier to whip and you end up with a much creamier pie.
Add in 3 lightly beaten eggs. Mix on low until the eggs are just combined with the cheese mixture. We don't want to lose any of that fluffiness.
Pour into your graham cracker crust and bake at 325 for 60-75 minutes.
Let cool and place in the refrigerator overnight.
This is the hard part. The waiting. Knowing that you cannot have what you most desire...

Knowing that tomorrow, you are going to have to have this for breakfast because you can't stand it anymore...

But trust me on this one. Tomorrow, it will be infinitely better. It NEEDS that night time to blend those flavors.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Butterscotch Cheesecake

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup cold 2% milk

1 package (3.4 ounces) instant butterscotch pudding mix

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon Spice Island® Pure Vanilla Extract

3 eggs, lightly beaten

Place a greased 9-in. springform pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Securely wrap foil around pan. In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom of prepared pan. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

In a small bowl, whisk the milks and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in pudding and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour over crust. Place springform pan in a large baking pan; add 1 in. of hot water to larger pan.

Bake at 325° for 65-75 minutes or until center is almost set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Garnish with whipped cream and butterscotch candies if desired. Yield: 12 servings.