Have you ever tried to make homemade caramel?

If your answer is “No,” then let me give you a piece of advice: never try it.

Homemade caramel, using sugar, butter, and cream, is the hardest thing to make in the world. It’s incredibly finicky: if you don’t boil it long enough it doesn’t get that rich caramel flavor you desire, yet if you boil it one minute to long it’s burnt beyond belief.

Let me tell you, this caramel sauce is exponentially easier to make.

Not to mention, about 10 times healthier!

This recipe only contains three ingredients: sea salt, dates, and water. And all you do is blend them together, then heat the mixture until smooth and creamy. And that’s all it takes!

My favorite way to use this sauce is to drizzle it over pancakes, as shown in the pictures. For these pancakes I used this delicious (albeit high in sodium) pancake mix my friend gave me for Christmas, with a little added protein powder because I needed it after the workout I had yesterday! (Anyone here ever tried TRX? It’s a killer sculpting class that left me incredibly sore this morning!)

Topped with salted caramel, these apple pancakes suddenly became salted caramel dipped apple pancakes. Holy YUM.

And if you know me you know I had to top them with a little extra maple syrup of course!

Next I think I’ll try making thumbprint cookies with this sauce in the center instead of classic caramel. It’ll probably save me an hour or two of ruined caramel recipes, I can tell you that!

But until then, don’t mind me as I inhale this entire stack of pancakes! Caramel sauce and all! 🙂

Three Ingredient Salted Caramel Sauce

• 1/2 c Medjool dates (about 10 dates)
• 1 c water
• 1/8 tsp sea salt