Treats

Our family enjoys cooking – a lot. We consider both the process and the product a real treat. Over Christmas, we had an Indian meal made by Laurel and her husband, Gautam, and a Greek meal made by Amber and her husband Jesse. The little boys helped cut out Christmas cookies, Dave and his Mom made sure we had fresh bread and soup for lunch, and I pitched in wherever needed. Not only did we eat great meals, but we had wonderful times in the kitchen cooking. We indulged ourselves with food and family.

It’s not surprising that we also give gifts that are created in the kitchen. Amber made nasturtium vinegars for her clients for Christmas and Dave made limoncello. One of the most successful food gifts this year was a butterscotch sauce that Laurel found the recipe for in the December issue of Real Simple. This sauce doesn’t get too hard in the fridge and it doesn’t separate when you warm it in the microwave. It tastes great on an apple cake, but it tastes even better on vanilla ice cream where the rich, buttery brown sugar flavor of the butterscotch comes into its own. This sundae is full of butter and cream and sugar – not good for you in any nutritional sense of the phrase, but definitely good for you in a spiritual sense. In the depths of winter, when your relatives have all gone home and it feels like a million years until spring, make up a batch of butterscotch sauce, invite friends for supper and indulge yourself and your friends with a treat you’ve cooked yourself. 

Butterscotch Sauce

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add brown sugar and cook, stirring frequently until smooth, 2 - 3 minutes. Add cream. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 10 – 12 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract and salt. Let cool. Refrigerate for up to a month.