Butterscotch Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is butterscotch sauce made of? ›

Generally speaking, caramel is made by cooking down white granulated sugar until it caramelizes into a liquid mixture then adding it butter and cream. Butterscotch is made by cooking brown sugar with the butter and cream all at once. This saves time and is much simpler.

Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter. Some recipes include corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt. The earliest known recipes, in mid-19th century Yorkshire, used treacle (molasses) in place of, or in addition to, sugar.

Butterscotch is similar to caramel in flavor and use, but its formula relies on a combination of ingredients: brown sugar, butter, cream and vanilla. It is creamy, luxurious, complex and elegant.

They look and taste similar, but there are subtle differences. What's the difference between caramel and butterscotch sauce? This is a common question since both are cooked sugar concoctions. But the main difference is caramel is made with granulated sugar while butterscotch is made with brown sugar.

Butterscotch is butter and brown sugar that has been slowly heated together to create a soft-crack candy. Just like caramel, the brown sugar molecules break down and, thanks to the addition of molasses in the sugar, caramelize into a richer, deeper flavor than classic caramel.

If the sauce cools down and you still find it to be too thin, then it's undercooked. You can place it back on the heat for a bit to let it thicken up even more. If it's too thick, gradually add a bit more cream until it reaches the desired consistency.

The primary taste of butterscotch comes from its main ingredient, brown sugar, which imparts a deep, caramel-like sweetness. This sweetness is characterised by notes of toffee and a hint of molasses, a complexity due to the molasses content in brown sugar.

Our Butterscotch Type, Natural Flavor Blend has rich butter and sweet brown sugar notes with hints of vanilla and cream. This extract can be used in a wide range of baked goods and other food applications requiring a water soluble flavor.

Both also contain butter and cream. Otherwise, they are made the same way with the same ingredients. Contrary to popular opinion, butterscotch does not necessarily contain scotch, though it often has vanilla extract, salt, and other flavors added, as does caramel.

Since butterscotch is a warm flavor that pairs well with other fall flavors (cinnamon, clove, vanilla, dark rum, apples and waffles) you can use any flavor combo (including a maple bacon flavor) to taper off the sweetness of butterscotch tones.

What the heck is butterscotch? ›

Historically, butterscotch was a hard candy made with unprocessed sugar. The suffix "scotch" means "to cut". When sugar or candy is hot it's difficult to get a clean break, so one must score it while warm to facilitate getting a clean edge later. Today, butterscotch is considered a flavor, much like caramel.

Alas, it turns out that butterscotch, traditionally a mixture of brown sugar and butter, never did contain Scotch. While there is no definitive etymology of the word, theories range from scotch being a corruption of the word “scorch,” to the possibility that the candy came from Scotland (this one is dubious).

Instead, thanks to the Maillard reaction, we get a lovely, nutty, mellow flavor akin to toffee or butterscotch. This is due to the browning of the lactose and lysine in the milk. Once you've adjusted your palate to the difference, dulce le leche becomes more identifiable.

One of the trendiest of caramels these days is Dulce de Leche. What distinguishes dulce de leche from butterscotch and caramel is the 'leche', meaning milk.

Butterscotch is made from cooking down brown sugar with butter, and its flavor is sweeter and softer than that of caramel. Dulce de leche is made from slowly cooking cow milk and sugar together. Dulce de leche made with goat milk is known as cajeta.

Similar to caramel, butterscotch is made by heating sugar. The main difference between the two is that butterscotch uses brown sugar instead of white. The ingredients are also combined in a slightly different order for butterscotch: your start out by melting butter with brown sugar.

Making butterscotch sauce involves melting butter and then adding brown sugar. Brown sugar is key to the sauce's distinctive flavour, as its molasses content imparts a rich, toffee-like sweetness. Cream is usually added once the sugar and butter are combined and the sugar has dissolved.

Alas, it turns out that butterscotch, traditionally a mixture of brown sugar and butter, never did contain Scotch. While there is no definitive etymology of the word, theories range from scotch being a corruption of the word “scorch,” to the possibility that the candy came from Scotland (this one is dubious).

Butterscotch, on the other hand, is made with brown sugar instead. Butterscotch originally was just a hard candy. The suffix “scotch” is not related to alcohol, but to the method of cutting. Hard candy is difficult to break into clean pieces, so the candy is “scotched” (scored) to make it easy to cut later.