Have you ever relied on your memory of having a certain ingredient in the back of your pantry?

Have you ever gone to use that item, only to find out its not at all what you had thought it was?

That may or may not have happened to me yesterday…

I had spent the whole day coming back to the question of what to make for dinner, and after going through what I had available, I decided on experimenting with a Cauliflower and Chicken curry (which turned out to be so good and I will hopefully share soon!).

So, what ingredient ended up causing the surprise?

Cream. Of. Coconut.

Have you heard of it before? I had, obviously, because it was in my pantry, but what I didn’t know was that Cream of Coconut was not just a fancy way to say Coconut Cream, which was what I had originally assumed it was.

I was prepping my ingredients for my curry and got the can of cream of coconut out because I had had it for longer than my other coconut milks and creams, and thought I should finally use it. As soon as I opened it though, I realized it was not at all what I had expected. I could smell the intense sweetness right away, and once I tasted it, I knew this syrupy coconut mixture was most definitely not useable in a curry.

After some research, I figured out many people had made my same mistake before (and some had actually used it in their dinner dishes with horrible results). It’s important to note that cream of coconut and coconut cream are very different products. Coconut cream is what the name indicates, a thick cream made from the flesh of the coconut and water. It is rich and can be used in anything from curries to desserts to beverages. Cream of coconut on the other hand, is a heavily sweetened form of coconut milk that is mainly used in beverages, the most popular being pinã colada,  and some desserts. In short, it is to the coconut milk family what sweetened condensed milk is to dairy milk.

Luckily I had some regular coconut cream on hand which I was able to use in my curry, but I had to figure out what to do with this other opened can of intensely sweet coconut. A recipe search only brought up cocktail and cake recipes, but I could not afford to have a delicious coconut cake lying around right now. I ended up opting to try my luck at turning it into a caramel sauce for later use although I’m not sure if that was a better choice because this stuff is SO good I can easily eat it by the spoonful!

It has everything you would want from a caramel sauce, wonderful caramel flavor, a thick, luscious mouthfeel, and it ribbons beautifully all while being infused with a satisfying coconut flavor. It’s slightly salted which adds even more depth to the flavors. I can’t wait to use it on anything that calls for caramel.

I’ve made my fair share of caramel sauces, but this one is probably one of the easier ones and comes together with just 4 ingredients, two of which are sea salt and vanilla. It uses cream of coconut and coconut cream because without the coconut cream, the cream of coconut becomes hard and brittle, did you follow that? 😉 Without the coconut cream, it could work for candied nuts or making a sugar cage, but it really gets very hard very fast. The coconut cream softens it and keeps it malleable.

So… If you ever end up having a can of cream of coconut on hand and only find out what it really is once you open it up, this is the perfect recipe for that. It is also the perfect vegan salted coconut caramel sauce whom vegans and non-vegans alike will love!

Salted Coconut Caramel
Makes about 3/4 – 1 cup

1 can Cream of Coconut
3/4 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp Vanilla
2 tbsp Coconut Cream

Pour the can of cream of coconut into a medium pot and bring it to a boil. Allow it to boil until it has reduced and begins to turn amber in color and caramelize. This may take about 25-30 minutes.

Once it has caramelized, stir in the vanilla and salt, followed by the coconut cream. Stir until everything is combined.

Allow to cool slightly then pour into a glass jar with a lid for storage. Store in the fridge and warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds before use.  Use this luscious caramel on anything you like from ice cream, to brownies, to cakes or simply on its own and enjoy!