Sometimes, I want to surprise family or friends with a sweet treat.

This super easy and quick salted caramel sauce does the trick. A few years back I discovered a recipe for caramel sauce in (the now defunct) Everyday Food magazine that featured just brown sugar, cream and butter, cooked up quickly and required no candy thermometers or other gadgetry. The result was rich and decadent without being overly sticky and sweet. I don’t like to mess too much with a good thing, but over the years I began to flavor ours with vanilla bean, cardamom and a good flake salt.

We like to pair the sweet sauce with tart apples, thinly sliced for dipping, but it is lovely on ice cream (especially with nuts on top) or drizzled on a fruit tart or galette.

Easy Salted Caramel Sauce with Cardamom and Vanilla Bean
Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

1/4 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in small cubes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
Generous pinch flake salt (we use Himalayan pink salt)

Slice open the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the cream, add cardamom. Combine spiced cream, butter and sugar in a small heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat mixture over medium heat until boiling and butter has melted. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for five minutes (take care to not let the mixture boil over). Remove from heat and stir in salt. Store in refrigerator.

—SCB