Christmas Treats: Salted Caramel Sauce

I've made three batches of this over the past week. I burnt the first batch; the second batch was all given away; the third batch was cooked up for adding to things over Christmas, because, yknow, there's never enough sugar around at Christmas, is there?

400g white sugar
180g butter, cut into cubes
250ml double cream
Sea salt, to taste

Put the sugar in a big pan and set it over a low heat. We got a new oven last week and I set this over the lowest setting as I'm still learning it. Lowest setting meant I could go away and wash up/do other things while I was waiting for the sugar to melt, but it did take a while. I'm sure you've seen enough Bake Off to know not to stir, but swirling and prodding is to be encouraged.

Once the sugar has melted, add the cubed butter and stir rapidly, while it bubbles and spits, until the butter is all combined - takes a couple of minutes. Then add the double cream in a very thin stream, stirring constantly to create a rambunctious inferno of boiling sinfulness. Allow to boil for a minute or two, then remove from the heat and add the salt, to taste.

Pour into a jar. Admire.

I plan to have this over ice cream, and use it to make sticky buns from a recipe I saw in the Guardian at the weekend. And since it has set quite solid, I might try my hand at making some into chocolates. It probably won't end well, but I guarantee I will enjoy it.