M&S have really upped their game this festive season, and one on-trend food item their Christmas range wouldn't be complete without is salted caramel. When I spotted this "Liquid gold salted caramel sauce" there was no way I could pass on trying it...it contains edible glitter. You can't get more festive than that!
I must admit, on reading the instructions I was a bit puzzled what to actually use it for. They advise that it's not suitable for heating, which is a bit odd for a sauce. On the plus side, it's gluten free and vegetarian friendly.
Opening the lid, it had a lovely buttery aroma and the edible glitter was clearly visible giving it a lovely gold shimmer. The texture was rather thick, so I dug in with a spoon and tried some straight away...it would've been rude not to!
It tasted heavenly, the perfect sweet, buttery and slightly salty combination that makes salted caramel the best of all worlds. I felt a bit naughty eating it by the spoonful though, so I decided to use it as intended: by slathering it over a dessert!
I'd bought a reduced price gluten free Apple Pie from M&S the same day, so baked it as instructed, although had a lot of trouble getting it out of the tin. It ended up a gloopy, broken pastry mess. I poured over the salted caramel hoping to improve it:
It looked much nicer with the glittery shimmer, but was still a mess of apples and pastry - so I dug right in. The sauce goes well with the apple pie, but to be honest I preferred eating it solo. I'm not sure what you can actually use this with in practice, maybe it'd be nice cheekily plopped inside a mince pie to give it a caramel surprise?
Overall, however you use it this salted caramel sauce is really good stuff. I'm not sure it justifies the price tag of £2.50, but if you don't have the time to make your own, this is the best quality you're going to get ready made. Plus it's glittery!
8 out of 10.
If you've tried this sauce do let me know your thoughts in the comments - what treats did you pair it with?