Tahini Caramel Sauce

By
Anita Schecter
Anita Schecter_BW
Anita Schecter
Professional recipe developer, food photographer, and blogger with more than a decade of experience creating Middle Eastern recipes.
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Updated on 07/17/19
Tahini Caramel Sauce

Mario Tizón / EyeEm / GettyImages
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Total: 25 mins
Servings: 8 servings
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
269 Calories
18g Fat
27g Carbs
2g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories 269
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 18g 23%
Saturated Fat 10g 49%
Cholesterol 46mg 15%
Sodium 54mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 27g 10%
Dietary Fiber 1g 2%
Protein 2g
Calcium 49mg 4%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

If you think you're not that big a fan of caramel sauce but have only ever tasted the ones marked ice cream toppings that come in a jar from the grocery store, you might be in for quite a surprise. Those jarred sauces are very sweet and often not very interesting. Sometimes they work fine, especially when poured on top of an old fashioned ice cream sundae, like the kind found in one of those great roadside places. Mixed in with the hot fudge sauce, nuts, whipped cream, and cherry, the jar caramel sauce adds a nice layer of flavor. But without all the company, it goes back to being just sugar.

If that's all you've ever tasted though, you might be in no big hurry to start dealing with making your own. But, you should! Homemade caramel has a clean, well-balanced flavor that's tempting enough to want to eat off a spoon. And, better still, that lends itself to all kinds of interesting additional flavors.

Adding sea salt to your homemade caramel is a given but you can customize it with lots of other tastes. Peanut butter is a perfect addition and where peanut butter goes, tahini can surely follow. Anything that works well with nut butter is perfect for tahini which is basically a sesame seed butter.

Tahini is already amazing in baked goods and in ice cream so adding it to a caramel sauce wasn't much of a stretch. And the result is not just delicious tahini flavored caramel but more like liquid halva. It's rich, creamy, golden liquid candy that you will quickly want to pour on everything. Of course, it's great as a topping for ice cream but it also goes really well with your favorite chocolate cake!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups heavy cream (at room temperature or slightly warmed up)
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
  • Sea salt (to taste)

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Add the sugar to a heavy bottom pot and heat on low until it melts and starts to brown.

    Tip

    Try to resist stirring it as this will make it more likely to form lumps. Do not leave it unattended because it can burn quickly.

  3. Once the sugar is bubbling and a very light golden brown, pour in the heavy cream. (Note that the mixture will bubble up.) Begin stirring it until the cream is fully incorporated and then stir in the butter. You may find that the mixture has hard lumps. Just continue stirring, on low, until they melt and you have a smooth sauce.

  4. Stir in the tahini (sesame paste) and season with sea salt to taste. Allow the mixture to cool and then store in a lidded jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.

  5. Enjoy!