Thank you Werther’s Original Sugar-Free Candy for sponsoring this post on how to make an easy sugar-free ice cream sauce.
As a child I remember visiting my grandmother and always seeing a jar of gold-wrapped Werther’s on her coffee table. For some reason the jar stayed mostly untouched when the grandkids were around — we avoided them like they were mysterious coffee-flavored treats. These days Werther’s hard candies are one of my favorite sweets. I can honestly eat them by the handful. So when I was asked to try Werther’s new sugar-free varieties and create a recipe, I was excited to experiment.
I admit I was skeptical at first. “Sugar-free” often means compromised flavor, and I usually stick to sugar-free gum at best. But when a box of sugar-free Werther’s arrived — including Original, Caramel Coffee, Caramel Cinnamon, and Caramel Apple — I dug in. The sugar-free Original tasted a touch smaller and leaned more toward butterscotch than the deep caramel of the original. It wasn’t better or worse — just different — and impressive for a sugar-free candy. Caramel Apple tasted exactly like those caramel apple suckers, Caramel Cinnamon had a cinnamon-bubblegum vibe that reminded me of Big Red, and Caramel Coffee (which I don’t usually enjoy) got a thumbs-up from a friend who didn’t know it was sugar-free. My personal ranking: Original first, Caramel Apple second, Caramel Cinnamon third, and Caramel Coffee fourth. With that decided, I started brainstorming a use for them.
The idea for an ice cream sauce came from daydreaming about liquefied Werther’s — something spoonable to pour over ice cream without the stiffness of whole candies. The solution was simple: hot cream plus crushed Werther’s. Heat the cream, add crushed sugar-free candies, whisk until smooth, cool, and you have a delicate sugar-free caramel-butterscotch glaze perfect for ice cream.
This sauce isn’t the heavy, corn-syrup-thick topping you find in stores. It’s more of a cream glaze: silky and pourable, not gluey. I drizzled it over chocolate ice cream and it added a subtle butterscotch note without being overly sweet, which many commercial caramel sauces can be. It tasted like Werther’s in liquid form and sparked ideas for other uses — pour it over cakes, swirl some into frosting, or just enjoy it straight from the bowl.
Making this at home is quick and requires only two ingredients: a bag of crushed sugar-free Werther’s and heavy cream. The preparation is straightforward and brief — heat the cream, whisk in the crushed candies until melted, cool, and refrigerate. In minutes you’ll have a versatile glaze that keeps the candy’s classic flavor but without added sugar.
I’m already imagining more recipes: glazing cakes, swirling into hot coffee substitutes, folding into frostings, or using it as a dip for fruit. Best of all, the sugar-free versions are flavorful enough that I’ve become a convert. After checking the Werther’s Facebook page, I see lots of other people are pleasantly surprised by the sugar-free lineup, too.
Werther’s Sugar-Free Caramel Butterscotch Ice Cream Sauce
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Ingredients
- 1 2.75 oz. bag crushed Sugar-Free Werther’s hard candies (Original recommended; other flavors like Caramel Coffee, Caramel Apple, or Caramel Cinnamon will create different variations)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
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Instructions
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Pour the heavy whipping cream into a small saucepan and warm over medium-low heat for 5–7 minutes until the cream is hot but not boiling. Add the crushed Werther’s candies and whisk continuously until the candies are fully melted and the sauce is smooth. If the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat and keep stirring. Once smooth, remove from heat and let cool in the pan for 10–15 minutes. Transfer to a glass bowl and refrigerate until completely chilled.
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When ready, pour the sauce over ice cream, cakes, or desserts and enjoy.
Nutrition
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Come back on Wednesday for another candy-inspired recipe — this one will leave you feeling sour.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are my own.