Salted Beer Caramel Sauce plus 5 More Edible Homemade Beer Gifts
Jackie Dodd-Mallory
(Senior Editor)
'Tis the Season.
To drink too much, eat too much and blame it all on seasonally appropriate Holiday Cheer. Â I can get behind that, excess seems to agree with me. And while we’re at it, DIY’ing a few holiday gifts infused with beer is another great excuse to break into that beer stash. After all it’s better to give, right? Especially if a byproduct of that giving is figuring out what to do with that "leftover" beer. It can’t go to waste, that just doesn’t make economical sense.
1. Chocolate Pretzel Beer Toffee
A surprisingly easy to make candy that’s always a big hit. It also makes a great addition to a cookie tray, but be careful it’s hard to stop eating this stuff, it has a crack like presence.
 2. Stout & Sriracha Beer BBQ Sauce
A little break from all the sweet treats, this is a great sauce to pass along to friends and family. Don’t forget to print out a few recipe ideas to go along with, like these Oven Roasted BBQ Beer Ribs or these  Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Wings.
 3. Chocolate Stout TrufflesÂ
These are pure decadence. A beerified version of a traditional holiday favorite.
A little treat reminiscent of childhood, with a grown up flavor of craft beer.
Bring Beer Nuts to entirely new level.
 6. Salted Beer Caramel Sauce (recipe below)
Ice cream socials will never be the same.
Salted Beer Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ cup beer see note
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, cut into cubes
- 1 cup heavy cream room temperature
- 1 tsp flakey sea salt
Instructions
- Add the sugar and beer to a very large heavy bottom saucepan over high heat (caramel will bubble up to 10x's it's original volume). Stir just until the sugar has melted then stop stirring.
- Allow to boil untouched (you can swirl the pan a few times to evenly distribute caramel but stirring will cause crystallization) until the caramel reaches a deep amber, almost reddish color.
- Add the butter, stirring continuously until all the butter has melted. Remove from heat.
- Slowly whisk in the cream and salt until well combined.
- Return to heat, cooking until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes
- Allow to cool for ten minutes before transferring to a glass jar.
- Keep refrigerated until ready to use, heat the caramel to thin, if desired.
Notes
Comments
Bev @ Bev Cooks December 3, 2013 um 5:13 am
Fabeerlous! (sorry)
I want all of it. Just a few more weeks and I can actually drink an entire beer again. Aahhhhhh.
Sophia @ NY Foodgasm December 3, 2013 um 12:56 pm
I LOVE and must make ALLLLL of these! Yummmm! Pinning!
Anna @ Crunchy Creamy Sweet December 3, 2013 um 6:11 pm
Where should I leave my address so I can get all of these? 'Cause I need them! ALL! Pinning!
Laurie {SimplyScratch} December 4, 2013 um 5:29 am
ohhhhmyyyywoooorrrd. Seriously I want to GET all these as gifts! That beer caramel sauce is amazing!
Maria G. December 4, 2013 um 5:45 am
I have heard a lot about usage of beer in bakery and in preparation of different sauces. I guess that this sauce should be great in combination with beef steaks. Am I right?
Jackie December 4, 2013 um 9:46 am
Not really. This is a very sweet sauce. It’s a basic caramel sauce recipe with a hint of beer flavor, it’s not savory at all
dishing up the dirt December 4, 2013 um 2:42 pm
I’ll drink in excess to all of these goodies!
Cassie December 4, 2013 um 3:33 pm
I am dying for a taste of this!!
DessertForTwo December 4, 2013 um 6:41 pm
I’m so with you–bring on the excess! We have January for diets and salads 🙂
lynn @ the actor’s diet December 4, 2013 um 10:46 pm
Beer and pretzels and chocolate? Ho ho ho.
allie @ the apothecary bee December 5, 2013 um 7:19 am
these look amazing!!! i love the simplicity of each recipe idea, how they highlight the beer instead of adding it as an afterthought. i suppose i should expect nothing less from the beeroness!
i cannot wait to try the stout + sriracha bbq sauce. what other beery bbq combinations work well, if you’ve tried them?
Meredith in sock monkey slippers December 5, 2013 um 9:55 am
I’m just…wow…there are no words to describe the happiness in my heart right now!
Emmash December 22, 2013 um 10:14 am
Hot darn. I’m in the middle of making the caramel sauce, and having major issues. The beer and sugar mixture is bubbling so much, it’s threatening to spill over. I can’t make it past 250 F. And I’m using a 4.5 L pot for a double recipe… :/
Jackie December 22, 2013 um 7:42 pm
It does bubble up quite a bit, caramel always does. Use a very large pot to make sure that doesn’t happen
Patti December 28, 2013 um 8:57 am
It bubbles up much more than standard caramel sauce. Use a HUGE pan.
Jessie December 21, 2014 um 10:05 pm
The carbonation in the beer is what makes it bubble up so much- you can pour it into a glass for hours and let it go flat or boil it first, then let it cool again before beginning the caramel process to help alleviate some of this problem. Even still, err on the side of a bigger pot than you think you need.
Rebecca December 17, 2014 um 11:15 am
I would like to make the caramel sauce for xmas gifts but I can’t find where it says how much it makes!
Courtney January 24, 2015 um 9:29 am
Just fyi- your temp is waaaay off on the caramel sauce. 350 made a pan of burnt sugar. 235- soft ball will make a much more appealing much less burnt product
Jackie January 24, 2015 um 4:41 pm
No it’s not. You don’t get enough flavor if you stop at soft ball, a true caramel sauce recipe is much higher. Here is a good articles about it written by a pastry chef http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caramel-Sauce-105889
Here is another one:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Sauces_Condiments/CaramelSauce.htm
Shannon March 31, 2016 um 9:47 am
This looks amazing!!!
Food_Buddha December 23, 2017 um 1:44 pm
This recipe works best when you have a gas range as the electric just won’t get you to the point you need without burning. The first time I made it, I was in a place with an electric range and it burned. The next few years, I had a gas range and it was wonderful. I am realizing now with my electric range (again) it is not able to get the job done correctly.