Sticky Toffee Mess

I have a recipe for sticky toffee ice cream sauce that I've been wanting to make. Sticky toffee pudding is an English dessert that consists of a cake with dates and a toffee/caramel sauce over the top. This ice cream sauce sounded wonderful. I made it as one would in England, using treacle (golden syrup), but dark corn syrup could be substituted.

I dutifully got to work and put the four simple ingredients in the pan to cook. My failure was that I was busy doing other things in the kitchen and let it cook way too long. When the time came for our dessert that evening, the sauce was quite congealed and when spooned over the vanilla ice cream it hardened into one big lump of sticky toffee caramel candy. Don't get me wrong, it tasted delicious with a butterscotch-penuche flavor that I adore. It was just impossible to eat with the ice cream. I chopped up a Heath bar to add to the decadence of this sundae.The next morning I looked at the bowl of solid caramel and decided to give up on the sauce idea and spooned it out into globs on wax paper and made individual candy pieces. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Not that I necessarily need candy nor did I invent it!Sticky Toffee Sauce

3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp soft dark brown sugar

2 Tbsp dark corn syrup or treacle

3/4 stick unsalted butter

2/3 cup heavy cream

Put the sugar, syrup and butter in a pan and slowly bring to the boil, allowing the butter to melt and the sugar to dissolve. Let the mixture boil for a couple of minutes before carefully adding the cream. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until the sauce is thick, sticky and glossy. Serve over ice cream or as a sauce for desserts.