Dairy Free Caramel Sauce

I've been experimenting with the proportions of this recipe for awhile (happily eating the results!) and think it's working pretty well now.  This is amazing!!  And no dairy at all!  We've been using it as an ice cream sauce, on cobbler, in ice cream as a caramel swirl, as a dip for apple slices ....  It's very similar to a cajeta.

Dairy Free Caramel Sauce
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 dark organic brown sugar

Add coconut milk and dark brown sugar to a large sauce pan and heat to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Turn down heat to a slow simmer and cook for about 1/2 hour, until sauce is thickened.  This will thicken up more when cool - you can dribble some on an ice cube to get a better idea of how thick it will be.  Store in the refrigerator.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

When this comes right out of the ice cream maker, it tastes a lot like I remember Dairy Queen soft serve tasting when I was growing up!  This is a good, basic vanilla ice cream flavor.  My taste testers either couldn't tell it'd been made from coconut milk or thought they could detect a slight pleasant coconut taste.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

3 cans Trader Joe's Lite Coconut Milk (only ingredients are coconut milk and water)
2/3 cup organic sugar
1 Tablespoon homemade vanilla

Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan and add the sugar.  Bring to a simmer and keep simmering, stirring occasionally, for 1/2 hour.  Cool to room temp and then add the vanilla.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Process in ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Variations:
Use organic dark brown sugar for a caramel flavor.

For peppermint, add 1 cup dried peppermint leaves to coconut milk and sugar.  Simmer  1/2 hour, strain out leaves, cool, add vanilla.

For ginger, add 2 T thinly sliced ginger to the coconut milk and sugar.  Simmer 1/2 hour, remove the ginger pieces, cool and add vanilla.  For a spicier ginger flavor, use 1 T grated ginger and leave it in.