Butterscotch Sauce- with Corn Syrup or without

[fmcoxe6188]

Hi all

I am making Butterscotch sauce for the first time-and have found several recipes for it-some containing corn syrup and some not. Does anyone have any experience with this? Which makes a "better" sauce? What benefits does the corn syrup add?

Thanks in advance!!

[fmcoxe6188]

Thank you all! I made corn syrup free butter scotch sauce last night- great success. Im glad I went that route as well-its to be served over cake.

This is a great amount of information though- thanks so much for sharing!! Ill be saving this thread for future reference!

[Erika L]

Yes, the corn syrup changes the texture. If you boil the sauce and it has corn syrup, the result will be a sauce that's runny when warm and chewy when cold. If you make a sauce without corn syrup, it'll just be thinner when hot and thicker when cold but it won't have chewiness. I make both and use them differently. With corn syrup--over ice cream. Without corn syrup--for pound cake. Same thing when making caramel candy: if you include corn syrup, you get soft caramels; if you leave it out, you get hard candy. So to answer your Q, it depends on what texture you want the finished sauce to have.

[cyberroo]

If you aren't experienced at caramelizing sugar, the corn syrup will give you some insurance against crystallization. That's the real benefit, and I'd recommend using a recipe that includes it, unless you're comfortable with making caramel.

I think that it also adds some weight or "chewiness" to the sauce - at least that's what it does in a fudge sauce.

[scubadoo97]

don't forget a couple of tsp of real scotch whisky. It is butter scotch

[kmcarr]

The sugar in corn syrup is the monosaccharide glucose; standard crystallized sugar is the disaccharide sucrose. Glucose is often added during candy making to inhibit the formation of sucrose crystals, particularly during the initial boiling process where water is being evaporated and the sugar solution is becoming more concentrated.

[adamshoe]

Umm... so which are you advocating for? I'm guessing the corn syrup, but not sure. adam

[kmcarr]

adam,

I was only giving the facts. I don't have enough experience with confectionary to recommend to anyone. But, as cyberroo says below, addition of the corn syrup can give the novice a little more protection against mistakes.