Real Butterscotch Ice Cream Sauce Recipe

See my butterscotch ice cream sauce web story here.

[NOTE: The video in this post is for butterscotch creme brulee, but in it, I make butterscotch so you can see how it’s done.

If you have never had true homemade butterscotch ice cream sauce, you owe it to yourself to try it.

It’s deeply flavorful with a chewy texture that is irresistible. Let me tell you all about it!

Why Make This Particular Recipe?

This is real butterscotch ice cream sauce, friends.

By that, I mean you cook butter, sugar, and molasses together until the butter browns and the sugar caramelizes. That’s real butterscotch.

You’ll be able to taste it in the depth of flavor and see it in the thick, chewiness of the sauce.

And the butterscotch is perfectly complemented by the coffee flavor.

If you’d rather, you can also leave out the coffee extract and just have a delicious plain butterscotch sauce.

PRO TIP: This is a very molassesy butterscotch sauce. If you want a less molassesy flavor, either substitute dark brown sugar for the sugar and molasses or cut back on the amount of molasses you use.

How to Make This Sauce

First, you’ll make butterscotch.

Then, stop the cooking by adding cream. Boil for a few minutes, and then add your flavorings (if using).

Here’s what you’ll need:

• butter: use unsalted here and then add your own salt. Use fresh butter, because it’s an integral part of the flavor of butterscotch. Make sure it’s a tasty part!
• sugar: If you prefer, you can use dark brown sugar in place of the sugar + molasses
• molasses: As written, this sauce is molasses heavy. You can cut back on the amount by up to half or use brown sugar as mentioned above
• salt: this recipe is salt-heavy. Salt is also an integral part of the butterscotch flavor profile. I used Morton’s brand kosher salt in this recipe
• heavy cream: stops the cooking process, and mellows the flavor a bit
• coffee extract: this is technically optional, but not if you like this flavor combination, then you’ll want to use it.

How to Make the Butterscotch

Making the butterscotch is the most important part of the process.

1. First, melt the butter and add the sugar and molasses (or brown sugar) and salt
2. Stir to moisten all the sugar
3. Cook and stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved. The butter won’t cleanly mix in with the sugar at this point
4. Keep stirring and heating until the butter and sugar come together
5. Watch carefully and stir contantly. As the butterscotch cooks, it may break and separate again and then come together.
6. You will know it’s ready when the mixture darkens a bit in color and starts to smell like caramelized sugar. It may smoke just a bit.

Once the butterscotch is done, pour in the cream and stir over low heat until smooth.

Take the mixture’s temperature. If it’s below 230F, cook until you reach that temp.

If you don’t have an instant-read thermometer, I strongly recommend you get one. I use mine for everything from taking the temps of cakes and custards to making candy.

Then stir in your coffee extract (or vanilla extract if making a classic butterscotch sauce)

Tips for Success

It’s easier to accidentally burn butterscotch than it is to burn caramel, because the molasses color can mask the caramelization.

At least until you’ve done this a few times, consider erring on the side of less cooking rather than accidental burning.

Once you add the cream, make sure the temp gets up to 230F, and you’ll have a great sauce.

If you can take it all the way to “the edge,” the flavor will be deeper, but it will still be delicious if you add the cream a bit early.

If you’re still concerned, please watch the video I’ve included with this recipe. It’s for my butterscotch creme brulee, but the procedure for making the butterscotch is exactly the same.

Q & A

Serving Suggestions

I can think of no greater compliment to a great butterscotch sauce than homemade French vanilla ice cream, y’all. And my recipe doesn’t require a churn, either.

Use it as a sauce for a birthday ice cream cake.

Use it as a fruit dip.

You could even use it to sandwich cookies together, like these vanilla wafers.

A Note About Measurements

For convenience, consistency, and accuracy, almost all my recipes are written by weight, either in ounces and/or grams, even the liquids.

I strongly encourage you to purchase a kitchen scale and learn to use it.

This is the one I used for years. I love it and highly recommend it:

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11/30/2023 07:35 am GMT

Final Thoughts

Y’all, this sauce is a dream.

If you are a fan of deeply flavorful toffee-ish sauces, then this butterscotch sauce has your name written all over it.

What are you waiting for? Hie thee to the kitchen, people!

Once you taste this sauce, you’ll see that you don’t dislike butterscotch sauce. You just dislike bad butterscotch sauce.

It would be so helpful to me and to other readers that, when you make a recipe, you rate it and leave a comment. Whether it’s a recipe or an informational post, your feedback helps others decide if the post is helpful or if the recipe works as advertised.

If you could leave a star rating, that would be very helpful. Thank you for being here!

Real Butterscotch Ice Cream Sauce

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Jennifer Field

Rich, creamy and perfect over ice cream, cake or any number of desserts, this coffee butterscotch dessert sauce (made with, among other things, sugar, butter, molasses, and salt) is the real deal.

No shortcuts, not that you need any since it only takes about 10 minutes to make!

5 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Dessert Sauces

Cuisine American

Servings 1 1/4 cup

Calories 203 kcal

Equipment

• OXO Good Grips 3.5QT Covered Saucepan
• Frontier Co-op Coffee Flavor, Non-Alcoholic, 2 ounce bottle
• PCO-Approved Instant Read Thermometer

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• 2 oz unsalted butter
• 8 oz granulated sugar See Notes below*
• 1.5 oz molasses (I recommend Grandma’s. Do not use blackstrap. See Notes below)*
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (I will let you use only 3/4 teaspoon if you must, but no less)
• 6 oz heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon good quality vanilla
• coffee extract to taste (1-3 teaspoons) (leave out if you want straight up butterscotch ice cream sauce)

Instructions

 

• Melt the butter over medium heat.
• Stir in the sugar, molasses and kosher salt. The mixture will look like wet brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
• Add the heavy cream and bring the mixture to a boil.
• Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches 230F, about five minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and optional coffee extracts. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
• Serve warm over ice cream. Or whatever.
• Enjoy!

Did You Make Any Changes?

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Video

Notes

*For a milder molasses flavor, you can substitute dark brown sugar for the granulated sugar and molasses. For an even lighter molasses flavor, use light brown sugar.

If you can’t find coffee extract, use espresso powder or freeze-dried coffee dissolved in a tablespoon of hot water. You may have to play around with how much you add, so start small, taste, and add more if necessary.

Substitute a small amount of almond extract for the coffee extract. You could also add a tablespoon of Amaretto or even Frangelico rather than–or in addition to–the coffee flavor.

Nutrition

Serving: 2TablespoonsCalories: 203kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 1gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 220mgSugar: 26g

Keyword butterscotch sauce, coffee butterscotch sauce, ice cream sauce

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