1.) Place butter and sweetener in a saucepan or nonstick skillet over medium heat.   Whisk continuously and vigorously (use your arm muscles!) until the butter is melted and the sugar is completely whisked into it. It should like a creamy smooth sauce and take about 1 minute of whisking/melting to look smooth. If the butter is still seperated from the sugar  then you need to keep whisking vigorously.

2.) Once the sauce is smoothly combined, allow it to simmer, bubble and brown gently while whisking every 15-30 seconds until it turns a golden color (should be about 2-3 shades lighter than the caramel in my pictures!) This should take  2 minutes (give or take a bit).  Careful not to let it turn fully brown (that means its burnt).    It should be starting to bubble up and be golden in color. If it’s not bubbling, you might need to turn up the heat a bit! 

3.) Once it looks like a light golden shade of brownish and is bubbling,  then quickly add the heavy cream, and keep on whisking (LIKE CRAZY WHISKING)!     The sauce should bubble up a TON.   Let it cook for another 30 seconds -1 minute until it looks like a super bubbly, gooey underneath caramel sauce consistency then remove from heat. Keep in mind it will harden up a bit and thicken as it cools, so take off the heat when the consistency is still a little runnier than you are aiming for in your final product. 

4.)Stir in vanilla extract and salt.   Taste and add more salt if desired. 

5.) Let caramel sauce  cool for 5-10 on the counter before using.    If you’re using it in another recipe, the best time to use this sauce is  after it has  cooled slightly – sometime between 5-30 minutes after (depending on thickness you’re aiming for).    

6.)  You need to store this caramel sauce (or any recipe using this caramel sauce) in the refrigerator.       Once it has cooled in the fridge, you can easily heat it up in the microwave to get it back to the SAME consistency as when it was fresh.   Just reheat it for 10-15 seconds, then remove and stir very well.  Then place it back into the microwave and Heat it for another 10 -15 more seconds, remove and stir, and continue these intervals until it’s your desired reheated consistency. Usually it takes me two rounds of 15 seconds to reheat to the consistency I prefer – gooey enough to drizzle but thick enough to stay in place on whatever treat I’m adding it to.